A Thursday interview of Equality Florida press secretary Brandon Wolf by PBS Amanpour and Company’s Hari Sreenivasan was taped before the revelation that the Colorado Springs shooter identifies as non-binary, but that is not an excuse for blaming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and “right-wing influencers” for motivating others to commit or threaten to commit acts of violence.
The reason why is the blame game was still played despite both acknowledging that the motive remains unknown as Sreenivasan asked Wolf to respond to his own tweet, “You know, in response to Saturday's shooting, you tweeted, and I want to read, ‘we don't know a motive yet. But let's be honest, the anti-LGBTQ hysteria being whipped up in this country has had me checking over my shoulder more than I have in six years.’ Tell me about that kind of, well, I guess, lack of safety that you feel. Why do you need to look over your shoulder right now? What is the fear?”
Wolf began his lengthy reply by first going after DeSantis, “Well, it's a scary time to be in LGBTQ person in this country. I live in the state of Florida, and it's not just, you know, the extremists in different parts of our state that have been whipping up this anti-LGBTQ frenzy, it's powerful people in our state. It's the governor of the third largest state in the union who has trafficked in some of the darkest and ugliest tropes in the books. And by the way, he has continued to do that.”
However, it is not just DeSantis that is to blame, “People, right-wing influencers around this country, have continued to do that even as the temperature has risen. People are afraid because there are armed protesters showing up to drag brunches, places where, you know, we are just having a mimosa, eating eggs with our friends, have now become the front lines of a battle, a culture war.”
According to PBS, claiming there are 58 genders or allowing males to compete in women’s sports is not a culture war, but conservatives objecting is.
Wolf then tied these “influencers” to people being “afraid because there are white supremacists being arrested outside of Pride Festivals in places like Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, threatening to commit acts of mass violence. People are afraid because children's hospitals in Boston and other cities have suffered bomb threats over the last couple of years, having to install metal detectors in airport security like terminals to keep people safe in those hospitals.”
Doubling down, Wolf added “And it's not the first time we have seen the deadly consequences of this kind of hateful rhetoric. So, people are afraid because we know what happens next.”
Even if the shooter had been confirmed to be the stereotype of a right-wing hater it would still be disgusting to blame DeSantis and “influencers” for the shooting. That the shooter is not the stereotypical right-winger just makes it even worse and nobody at PBS or CNN International will be held accountable.
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Here is a transcript for the November 22 show:
PBS Amanpour and Company
11/21/2022
11:34 PM ET
HARI SREENIVASAN: You know, in response to Saturday's shooting, you tweeted, and I want to read, “we don't know a motive yet. But let's be honest, the anti-LGBTQ hysteria being whipped up in this country has had me checking over my shoulder more than I have in six years.”
Tell me about that kind of, well, I guess, lack of safety that you feel. Why do you need to look over your shoulder right now? What is the fear?
BRANDON WOLF: Well, it's a scary time to be in LGBTQ person in this country. I live in the state of Florida, and it's not just, you know, the extremists in different parts of our state that have been whipping up this anti-LGBTQ frenzy, it's powerful people in our state. It's the governor of the third largest state in the union who has trafficked in some of the darkest and ugliest tropes in the books. And by the way, he has continued to do that.
People, right-wing influencers around this country, have continued to do that even as the temperature has risen. People are afraid because there are armed protesters showing up to drag brunches, places where, you know, we are just having a mimosa, eating eggs with our friends, have now become the front lines of a battle, a culture war.
People are afraid because there are white supremacists being arrested outside of Pride Festivals in places like Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, threatening to commit acts of mass violence. People are afraid because children's hospitals in Boston and other cities have suffered bomb threats over the last couple of years, having to install metal detectors in airport security like terminals to keep people safe in those hospitals.
And people are afraid because, at the end of the day, we know where this rhetoric takes us. It's not the first time the LGBTQ community has found its back against the wall. And it's not the first time we have seen the deadly consequences of this kind of hateful rhetoric. So, people are afraid because we know what happens next.
