In the wake of two horrific mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio over the weekend, numerous elected Democrats — including several 2020 presidential candidates — together with liberal media figures wasted no time in blaming the murderous acts on President Donald Trump.
That rush by Democrats and the media to immediately politicize the tragedies and use them as a weapon against Trump received a well-deserved scolding from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who said quite bluntly, “This crap has to stop.”
Taking advantage of tragedy
C-SPAN posted video of Conway’s press briefing on Tuesday on the driveway of the White House when, in reference to a question about gun control proposals, she said, “We can’t get our advice from people screaming on TV, those who were elected to do their jobs here in Washington really should either return to Congress or come here to the White House to speak to the president about what can be done.”
“None of that is going to be solved by them raising havoc or raising their profiles on TV, just because they’re mired at 0% or tied with the margin of error in the polls,” she said in an obvious shot at underperforming Democratic 2020 candidates like former Texas congressman Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, who has been at the forefront of those loudly criticizing the president over the shootings.
“Or, slash, raising money,” Conway added in reference toward those Democrats who cravenly decided to use the mass shooting tragedies as a fundraising opportunity.
“I was really hopping mad, frankly, that Senator Elizabeth Warren yesterday was raising money off these tragedies” on behalf of other Democrats in Congress. “Why are we doing that?” she asked.
Unsurprising double standard
The president’s counselor also pointed out the great disparity in coverage and tone from Democrats and the liberal media surrounding the El Paso and Dayton shootings, likely due to the overt leftism championed by the murderer in Dayton as opposed to the white supremacy advocated by the El Paso murderer.
“It looks like this Dayton monster, the shooter in Ohio, had leftist leanings and a Twitter feed that was complimentary of Antifa, complimentary of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders,” she said. “Am I blaming them for the shooting? Of course not.”
“I wouldn’t do that any more than I would blame (Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) for the fact that the guy who wanted to shoot up the ICE detention center just weeks ago in Washington state was parroting her language about concentration camps and ICE,” Conway continued.
“I didn’t blame Sanders for the fact that a Bernie Sanders supporter shot up (Republican Louisiana Rep.) Steve Scalise, who was within inches of his life two years ago on that baseball field, and others. I didn’t blame him for that, even though the guy said ‘I’m here to kill Republicans,'” she added.
Telling it like it is
“I mean, this crap has to stop,” Conway bluntly said of the instant politicization of tragedy, “and it’d be nice if they came together in a bicameral and bipartisan way, as Leader McConnell and the president have asked them to do, and turn down the temperature.”
“I’m very proud that I work for a president, we’re all represented by a president, who did not politicize this and respond in kind to those who immediately who saw and were trying to spin gold and votes out of this tragedy,” she said. “It’s not right, it doesn’t heal a single soul, it doesn’t prevent another mass shooting, and he is working assiduously to listen to everybody’s input.”