While addressing a crowd of reporters in Texas, former congressman and 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke called a spade a spade and criticized the media for failing to “connect the dots” after Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso.
According to USA Today, after speaking at a vigil commemorating 20 people who were killed in the shooting, O’Rourke was asked what he thought the president could do to make things better.
“What do you think? You know the s**t he’s been saying. He’s been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals,” he said. “I don’t know, like, members of the press, what the f**k?”
"Members of the press, what the fuck?" Beto O'Rourke and all of us. pic.twitter.com/hJNSBsPUmA
— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) August 5, 2019
Critical of the press’ choice of words when covering Trump’s racist and xenophobic rhetoric, O’Rourke continued by saying, “He's not tolerating racism, he's promoting racism. He's not tolerating violence, he's inciting racism and violence in this country.”
The former Texas congressman stood by his highly-charged sentiments throughout the weekend; while on CNN’s State of the Union, O’Rourke agreed with Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s statement that Trump is a white nationalist.
We know what Trump is doing. He stokes racism. He incites violence. We shouldn’t be asking if there’s anything he can do or if he’s responsible for this when we know the answer. I stand by what I said. https://t.co/zykowSpS6s
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) August 5, 2019
According to The New York Times, the shooting suspect responsible for the El Paso mass shooting wrote a manifesto that resembled fierce Trump rhetoric. CBS News reports that federal authorities are considering the shooting as a possible hate crime.
