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'He was a Republican': Fox News contributor Juan Williams reminded his colleagues that the man who allegedly attempted to assassinate Trump wasn't a Dem (www.rawstory.com)

submitted 4 months ago by tardigrada@beehaw.org to c/usnews@beehaw.org

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Fox News contributor Juan Williams reminded his colleagues that the man who allegedly attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump was a Republican.

"I mean, it's not only when you think about the president, former President Trump, but also the people in the audience, the people who died, and you understand the danger," Williams explained during a panel discussion on Fox News Sunday. "It just makes you feel like the country is, the level of political polarization in the country is at a danger point."

"It's, I think, a reflection of the divisions within the United States today, not only liberal, conservative, but also on the extremes," he continued. "This young man, they say he's a Republican."

Williams said he found the scenario puzzling.

"The whole thing is just like, especially with the Internet, I think the Internet feeds a lot of the extremism that we're experiencing in the country, drives people," he explained. "The politics of grievance, anger, all the conspiracy theories."

[...]

Williams expected the Republican National Convention to "become a more zealous affirmation of President Trump as a martyr for having been shot at, and I think it's going to change the whole tone."

The FBI has identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. Although a motive for the assassination attempt was unclear, Pennsylvania voter records listed a person with his name and address as a Republican [...]

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[–] LukeZaz@beehaw.org 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

In many ways I find it refreshing how little there is to be said about the shooter. No manifesto, low social media presence — the guy just didn't have that much to dig up. I shudder to think how endlessly he would be getting discussed day after day if he had left a pile of opinions behind, and I am very glad we avoided that.

News orgs, though? Man, they are frustrated. The most they have to work off of is which party he was registered to, plus hearsay and gossip of people who knew him at one point or another. Shit like that is just trying to capitalize on a dramatic event for clicks when absolutely nothing of substance is available. It's vapor. Meaningless.

Assassination attempt aside, I could hardly be happier that the shooter – whoever he was – did not leave behind rhetorical carrion for the vultures. Site after site is clawing at the dirt, trying to force me to care about something that I really don't need or want to care about, and for once, they have nothing to do it with. Good. I have far more important things to worry about.