Social media is unfortunately a place where a lot of people — particularly on the left — allow the darkest side of themselves to find expression. We see it daily, but especially after a national tragedy.
So it should be no surprise that in the wake of the horrifying political shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday morning, some astoundingly ugly “hot takes” appeared on Twitter and Facebook.
1.GRANDMA SAYS REP SCALISE ‘DESERVED’ IT:
A grandmother responded to a reporter’s tweet about Rep. Steve Scalise being in critical condition in the hospital by saying he “deserved it” because he was trying to hurt and kill people by taking away their healthcare. WUSA9 Anchor Adam Longo was appalled.
The deleted tweet from a woman who told me she wished Rep Scalise had been more gravely injured. Disgusting. Overwhelming internet response. pic.twitter.com/GfjbUM9cwJ
— Adam Longo (@adamlongoTV) June 14, 2017
Donna Potter of DP Consulting deleted the tweet after she received a serious amount of blowback on Twitter. Instead of apologizing, she first tried to pretend that the offensive tweet was just a joke, then she tried to blame it on a typo, and then she tried to blame it on a lack of caffeine — all while attacking people in her timeline who were offended.
https://twitter.com/DPCconsultants/status/875039879876497408
https://twitter.com/DPCconsultants/status/875126959516372992
https://twitter.com/DPCconsultants/status/875112959718109185
https://twitter.com/DPCconsultants/status/875135311369703425
Then she tried to play the sympathy card:
https://twitter.com/DPCconsultants/status/875131405340114945
And the “Christian” card:
https://twitter.com/DPCconsultants/status/875135311369703425
I didn’t see any apologies. And through it all she continued to post tweets slamming “evil” Republicans and linking to left-wing conspiracy sites.
What a piece of work, eh?
2. WASHINGTON POST CONTRIBUTOR CROSSES FINGERS THAT SCALISE DIES FROM HOSPITAL ERRORS:
Malcolm Harris, who recently wrote an analysis piece for The Washington Post, deleted the tweet, but not before screenshots were taken.
Via Betsy Rothstein at The Daily Caller:
The New Republic featured a story by Harris in August, 2016. Salon has also published his work. The story says he works for The New Inquiry. The New Inquiry site describes Harris as a “writer and editor living in Brooklyn and lists a slew of his work, the most recent of which is July 6, 2016.
Harris is the author of Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials, which is allegedly being published by Little, Brown. In his Twitter bio, he says he’s a full-time staff writer for Vox.
WaPo and Vox PR contacted Rothstein to “severely distance themselves from Harris.”
WaPo says he contributed one story. Vox says he is not a Vox employee as he claims to be in his Twitter bio.
“Mal” had some other deep thoughts about the shooting to share on Wednesday:
Nope nope nope you can't use "respect for human life" to defend GOP house leadership. That's just bad math.
— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) June 14, 2017
If the shooter has a serious health condition then is taking potshots at the GOP house leadership considered self defense?
— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) June 14, 2017
3. HUFFPOST WRITER JUST WISHES THE ‘VIOLENT RESISTANCE’ WERE A LITTLE MORE ‘ORGANIZED’:
Jesse Benn wrote an article at HuffPost last week explaining why a violent response to President Trump is “logical.” So naturally, he’s not against political violence per se — it just has to be done right.
For violent resistance to work it'd need to be organized. Individual acts can be understandable, but likely counterproductive/ineffective.
— Jesse Benn (@JesseBenn) June 14, 2017
Hahaha. As always, this one is my fault.
And for the record, fuck #SteveScalise. https://t.co/kQAKu6ZXzL
— Jesse Benn (@JesseBenn) June 14, 2017
4. SHOOTER’S FACEBOOK GROUP CELEBRATES ATTACK:
An anti-Republican Facebook group celebrated after one of its members shot up the GOP baseball practice.
James T. Hodgkinson, who shot Rep. Steve Scalise and others during a GOP congressional baseball practice Wednesday morning, was a member of a left-wing Facebook group called “Terminate The Republican Party.”
He was a regular commenter in the group, and some members decided to celebrate his disgusting act in a post.
“And it’s one, two, three shots you’re out at the old ball game!!!” member Mari-Ellen Cain wrote.
The post had 13 reactions, most of them “likes” and “hahas.”
5. MARKOS SAYS ‘REPUBLICANS ARE GETTING WHAT THEY WANT’:
The always repellent founder of Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas, responded to a year-old tweet from Sen. Rand Paul (quoting Judge Napolitano):
.@Judgenap: Why do we have a Second Amendment? It's not to shoot deer. It's to shoot at the government when it becomes tyrannical!
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 23, 2016
Republicans are getting what they want. https://t.co/8ZUnso6JCV
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) June 14, 2017
6. TWIDIOT TARIQ NASHEED IMPLIES REP. SCALISE DESERVED TO BE SHOT:
Not this idiot again.
“Twitter personality” Tariq Nasheed implied that Scalise deserved to be shot because he’s a white supremacist.:
So Rep. Steve Scalise, who once spoke at a white supremacist event sponsored by David Duke (google it) was SHOT today in Alexandria.
— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) June 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/ellencarmichael/status/874977817708154881
7. ‘WRITER’ SORT OF SUGGESTS SHOOTING IS JUSTIFIED BECAUSE GOP IS TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE WITH THEIR HEALTHCARE BILL:
Kind of a reoccurring theme. Democrats sure have their constituents riled up about the GOP bill to replace ObamaCare.
Via Twitchy:
Wonder why pic.twitter.com/WCWyndfIgo
— Alex (@PlancksLaw) June 14, 2017
James T. Hodgkinson was a left-wing terrorist whose goal was to kill as many Republicans as he could. While none of these fellow travelers are necessarily terrorists themselves, they sure have indicated in their own sick ways that they can support political terrorism as long as it’s against their “Rethuglican” enemies.
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