The Washington Post shamelessly jumped right into the “no evidence” game on Sunday when Republicans complained that all of the Left’s routinely extreme demonization of Donald Trump could inspire violence. Michael Scherer’s headline jumped right in:
Trump allies immediately blame Biden, Democrats for their rhetoric
Supporters argued that Democratic portrayals of Trump as a threat to democracy led to the violence, though the shooter’s motive was not apparent at the time of their remarks.
This is how a paper proves they're a Democrat rag at the worst possible time. Let's guess that if Trump has been seriously wounded, the Post would have done this story just the same way. They can't acknowledge that this is a favorite leftist tactic, to connect conservative speech to violence...and then suggest the tactic cannot be reversed.
The story began:
Top allies of Donald Trump quickly accused President Biden and his supporters of using rhetoric that led to a shooting and potential assassination attempt Saturday at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pa., even as Biden condemned the attack and called on the nation to unite against political violence.
This elides the point that Biden’s entire campaign has incessantly called Trump a grave threat to democracy that must be neutralized. The Washington Post has aggressively fanned the authoritarian fascist flames. "Democracy Dies in Darkness" was all about Trump.
They never seem to admit Biden's promise to unite the country may be the most insincere campaign promise of our time.
After recounting complaints from Sens. J.D. Vance and Tim Scott, Scherer underlined "At the time of those statements, there was no public reporting on the motives of the shooter."
The "no evidence" line was also later in the story: "Other Trump supporters were quick to blame Biden and the media for the shooting Saturday, despite a lack of information about the shooter’s motives."
It's true that the motive was still unknown. It's also true that conservatives and Republicans have been waiting for years in dread that violence would happen to Trump, after all the demonization. Journalists like Jim Acosta constantly said Trump's "enemy of the people" talk was going to lead to violence. No one said "no evidence" to that. Acosta has never been assaulted any more than Jussie Smollett was.
The worst part of this story was Scherer once again :
Trump himself often uses inflammatory language, having taken office in 2021 by describing the state of the nation as “American carnage.” He has since called his political enemies “vermin,” described some undocumented migrants as “animals” and warned of a “bloodbath” if he fails to win in November.
Earth to Scherer: we know that you know that "bloodbath" was a metaphor for economic destruction, and that the "animals" in question were murderous MS-13 gangsters. And when you call Trump "Hitler" after he says "vermin," who's morally superior?
The second worst part is recounting Biden's remarkable insincerity like it still matters:
Biden announced his 2020 campaign for the presidency by explaining he was motivated by the need to quell the division in the country and prevent the sort of deadly violence that had occurred at a 2017 white nationalist protest in Charlottesville.
Biden has never seriously "quelled division" as president, and neither has The Washington Post. So maybe they could have shown a fraction of humility. But there's a campaign under way, and every day of spin is precious.
