During two separate discussions of Black Lives Matters protests on Tuesday, Donald Trump claimed that people have called for moments of silence for
Micah Johnson, the gunman who killed five police officers in Dallas and injured nine others, without specifying who or where.On an O’Reilly Factor segment….“I saw what they’ve said about police at various marches and rallies,” said Trump.“I’ve seen moments of silence called for for this horrible human being who shot the policemen.”
Trump repeated the claim Tuesday night, saying at a rally in Indiana, “The other night you had 11 cities potentially in a blow-up stage. Marches all over the United States—and tough marches. Anger. Hatred. Hatred! Started by a maniac! And some people ask for a moment of silence for him. For the killer!”
Except… not really:
This isn’t getting a lot of attention. But it should….There is no evidence this ever happened. Searches of the web and social media showed no evidence. Even Trump’s campaign co-chair said today that he can’t come up with any evidence that it happened.
….A would-be strong man, an authoritarian personality, isn’t just against disorder and violence. They need disorder and violence. That is their raison d’etre, it is the problem that they are purportedly there to solve. The point bears repeating: authoritarian figures require violence and disorder. Look at the language. “11 cities potentially in a blow up stage” … “Anger. Hatred. Hatred! Started by a maniac!” … “And some people ask for a moment of silence for him. For the killer.”
This is loathsome race-baiting. Never has a presidential candidate been so brazen in simply making these facts up, and a reticent media simply not doing anything about it. These aren’t even dog whistles — they are train whistles.