Over the weekend, a man opened fire in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, where he claimed the lives of 10 innocent people.
It didn’t take long at all for authorities and Americans to deduce that this was yet another instance of violence fueled by hate in America.
A 180-page racist “manifesto” was discovered online and authorities quickly attributed the diatribe to the 18-year-old White man who allegedly opened fire on the grocery store. The document seems to indicate that the shooter intentionally traveled almost 200 miles to get to the supermarket that’s location was a sort of central hub within the predominantly Black community.
In fact, authorities have since revealed that the shooter allegedly had plans to continue his violent shooting rampage, had he not been caught, with the very specific intent of killing more Black people.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told CNN, “There was evidence that was uncovered that he had plans, had he gotten out of here, to continue his rampage and continue shooting people. He’d even spoken about possibly going to another store.”
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Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said it “appears” that the shooter had every intention of killing more Black people on his rampage, stating, “we need to drill down further.”
Gramaglia revealed that there is already “some documentation” indicating that the alleged shooter possibly planned to enact another shooting at “another large superstore.”
“He was going to get in his car and continue to drive down Jefferson Avenue and continue doing the same thing.”
Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said this shooting was a “straight-up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community. This was pure evil.”
Not only was it not difficult to deduce the motive behind this heinous, deadly attack, it wasn’t difficult to determine where this hate-filled ideology in this country is coming from.
This morning, we reported on an analysis from Mother Jones’ Inae Oh, who perfectly pointed out that the shooter’s “manifesto” heavily relied on the same sort of white supremacist conspiracy theories that have been repeatedly promoted by the likes of Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, and Republican lawmakers like Matt Gaetz and Elise Stefanick.
Even Republican House Rep. Liz Cheney called out her own party’s leaders this morning for enabling this kind of violent hatred in this country.
But then you have the people on the Right, who proudly continue to support people like Gaetz and Carlson, who blatantly refuse any responsibility for their own actions and ideologies, and instead try to blame a heinous, racist attack like this… On MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
I wish I were joking.
As pointed out by one Twitter user, “Republicans are desperately trying to blame Rachel Maddow and the Left for the Buffalo shooter because their appeals to white supremacy have been exposed. There is an ecosystem of right-wing propagandists using Russian-style disinformation to confuse the electorate.”
Republicans are desperately trying to blame Rachel Maddow and the Left for the Buffalo shooter because their appeals to white supremacy have been exposed.
There is an ecosystem of right-wing propagandists using Russian-style disinformation to confuse the electorate
— 𝙶𝚘𝚗𝚣𝚘 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚞𝚡 (@roland__do) May 16, 2022
A quick search on Twitter exposes the seedy underbelly of the Right’s unhinged delusions:
Um the buffalo shooter liked to watch Rachel Maddow and self-identified as a leftist… https://t.co/rx1GXIr4TR
— Verity (@Verity36405235) May 16, 2022
Heard the Buffalo shooter was a big fan of @maddow Maybe it’s time to stop spreading hatred.
— Joey Backbar (@Joeytellstruth) May 16, 2022
Shooter Declared Love For @maddow Rachel Maddow’s Show In Letters To Editor https://t.co/gv3hZXi5Rv via @dailycaller
WHAT ??? !!!! it wasn’t @TuckerCarlson fault ?? OH NO, now who or what will the racist MSM blame ?— Leslie Mack (@lesliemack) May 16, 2022
but the shooter loved Rachel Maddow and watched her daily so how does that track?
— Dorothy Parker (@DorothyParker2K) May 16, 2022
Hey Joe, just so you know the Buffalo shooter never watched Tucker but loved Rachel Maddow Show. He also considered himself on the Left and wanted conservatism to end.
— Dan Star (@danno321s) May 16, 2022
the fuc*ing shooter was a rachel maddow fan apparently. checks with chart.
— Adam Foster (@therealBuzz_LC) May 16, 2022
“The Buffalo shooter did not say a single thing about Tucker Carlson and wrote that he hated Fox News.
By contrast, the congressional baseball shooter who almost killed Steve Scalise declared his love for Rachel Maddow in writings.
Did Rachel Maddow almost kill Scalise?”
— Chris Corp (@CorpChris_) May 16, 2022
To make matters that much more appalling, all of this hails from an old 2017 article that was posted to Twitter by an ultra Right-wing account at a conveniently perfect time following the shooting, and has absolutely nothing at all to do with the Buffalo massacre. But keep showing your asses, guys.
Featured image via screen capture
