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The New York Times editorial board pointed the finger at President Donald Trump on Friday following another incident of deadly political violence.
In a new editorial, the board said Trump is the chief individual to blame for America sliding into an era marked by political violence.
“Although Mr. Trump has been a personal victim of this violence, he also deserves particular responsibility for our angry culture,” the board declared.
The headline read, “The Nation Encourages Political Violence by Allowing It to Seem Normal.”
The Times published the piece days after the deadly shootings that claimed the lives of Minnesota state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and resulted in the wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, last weekend.
The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, was arrested on Sunday following a two-day manhunt in Minnesota after he allegedly posed as a police officer and killed the Hortmans. The previous day, he carried out a related attack against Hoffman and his wife.
Boelter was found with a cache of weapons, including at least three AK-47 assault rifles and a 9mm handgun, along with a manifesto that listed 70 names and addresses, some of which belonged to other public officials.
The Friday editorial argued that this latest politically motivated attack represents a “surge in political violence during the Trump years” that has imperiled not only American lives but also our country’s collective memory.”
The board recounted several high-profile instances of political violence that have occurred in America in the last decade, listing the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., in 2017, the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot, the attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s, D-Calif., husband, and the two assassination attempts on Trump, as part of the “grim catalog of political violence in recent years.”
It declared that “Fear has become a fact of life for politicians,” elsewhere noting that “Democrats and Republicans alike have been the victims” of attacks driven by “demonizing comments” that people “on both the firth and the left engage in.”
The board then blamed Trump for this, justifying the point in stating, “He uses threatening language in ways that no other modern president has. He praises people who commit violence in his name, such as the Jan. 6 rioters, many of whom he has pardoned, despite their attacks on police officers and others. He sometimes seems incapable of extending basic decency to Democrats.”
“Instead of calling Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota to express condolences about the killings of two of his friends, Mr. Trump insulted Mr. Walz,” the piece stated, adding, “It is no coincidence that hate crimes have surged, according to the F.B.I., during Mr. Trump’s decade as a dominant political figure.”
Other Democratic Party leaders have made the same argument about Trump in the days since the Minnesota lawmaker shooting. Figures like former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pointed to the president when asked this week what has led to more violent incidents that seem to be politically motivated.
The Trump administration has rejected these statements, with White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson telling Fox News Digital earlier this week, “Democrats are wrong to exploit this tragedy and blame President Trump… President Trump – the survivor of two assassination attempts – is uniting the country through patriotism, prosperity, and success. Radical Democrats must stop with their divisive, violent rhetoric.”
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