In a video tweeted out on his official account, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said that he believes Trump has "some responsibility" for this past weekend's attack at a rally in Charlottesville that resulted in the death of Heather Hayer. The suspect, James Alex Fields, Jr., has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
The message President Trump sent out to racists and Neo-Nazis all over the country this past weekend is this is okay. pic.twitter.com/k7o161yzuU
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) August 14, 2017
An earlier version of the tweet was more blunt in the actual message, saying that Trump "absolutely" had responsibility for the attack. This tweet was deleted.
Fun game pic.twitter.com/PioKhpp4w5
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 14, 2017
Of course, this is rather odd rhetoric from Sanders, especially considering that one of his supporters (and a former campaign volunteer), James T. Hodgkinson, attempted to massacre an entire baseball team full of Republican congressman two months ago. By the grace of God and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA)'s security detail, the members were not killed, although Scalise did suffer serious enough injuries to spend quite a bit of time in the ICU.
Of course, Sanders immediately condemned the shooter--which was fine, and appropriate, and about all that could be expected. Nobody sane was blaming Sanders for the actions of one of his crazed supporters--although one could have easily surmised that perhaps Hodgkinson's anti-Republican beliefs were stoked by his work with the Sanders campaign. Sanders was not responsible for one of his supporters buying a gun, moving halfway across the country, and attacking the Republican baseball team.
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Likewise, Trump is also not responsible for one of his supporters driving a car halfway across the country and through a crowd of counter-protestors. Both actions are abhorrent. But it's absolutely not okay for Sanders to even imply that this is somehow's Trump's responsibility.
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