Buttigieg: We Need to Acknowledge Mass Shootings Are ‘White Nationalist Terrorism’

On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” in the aftermath of two mass shootings, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg declared this is “white nationalist terrorism.”

Buttigieg said, “This is terrorism and we have to name it as such.It is very clear that the loss of American life in Charleston, in San Diego, in Pittsburgh by all appearances now in El Paso too is symptomatic of the effects of white nationalist terrorism. ”

He continued, “We cannot keep America safe from this threat to the American people if we are not prepared to name a confront it. We need an administration that is ready to do that and we can’t keep pretending that this is just random or that this is something we can’t confront. What you have here is two things coming together. One, the weak gun safety policies of this country. And two, the rise of domestic terrorism inspired by white nationalist. We need to acknowledge this is a problem, that American lives are at risk and we got to do something about it.”

He added, “There is a measure of responsibility that you can’t get away from when you have case after case of racial rhetoric coming out of the White House and when you have an actual incident of white nationalist terrorism like the killing in Charlottesville related to people saying ‘Jews will not replace us’ and the president saying they were very fine people there  people. Of course this is part of a climate where people who are in the grip of this hateful extremist ideology feel validated and they feel validated from all the way at the top and that is part of our problem.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN