Democrats have been busy accusing President Donald Trump of fueling white nationalism and political violence. However, liberals don’t seem to mind extreme rhetoric as they approve of the target.
A fundraiser for Democratic Illinois State Senator Martin Sandoval included a skit with a person wearing a mask of President Trump being shot. The incident took at the upscale Klein Creek Golf Club. A number of attendees came wearing Marvel character costumes, and one man showed up wearing a Trump mask. It was at that point that a man carrying a plastic gun aimed the make-believe weapon at the man in the Trump mask to stage a mock execution.
Pictures were taken after the event, including one in which Sen. Sandoval poses with the man carrying the fake gun. No-one in the photos seems perturbed by the fact that two attendees just pretended to murder the President of the United States.
Naturally, the mainstream news media was almost completely silent about the whole affair. However, images and news of the event leaked out on alternative news media sites, some local news sites and on social media. As justifiable outrage ensued, Illinois’ State Democrat Party went into damage control mode.
Sandoval immediately apologized, stating that what took place at the fundraising event was totally unacceptable. Democrat Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker publicly condemned the images, stating that the incident was insensitive and wrong. Even so, he made sure to use his apology at a platform to talk about the “epidemic of gun violence” in the nation, presumably a dig at the Republican Party. Illinois’ State Democratic Party likewise used its apology to talk about how the tragedies in El Paso and Gilroy show how “hate-filled rhetoric” can cause violence.
Naturally, the Democratic Party and its members didn’t bother to note the obvious fact that a hate-filled image would be likely to cause far more damage than mere rhetoric. A spokesperson for Illinois Republican Party, Chairman Tim Schneider, pointing out that the images of a mock assassination of President Trump could very well serve as an inspiration to some mentally unstable individual. The man with the fake gun has not been identified, however, the state GOP party is calling for the person in question to be immediately fired if he turns out to be a Democratic Party volunteer or staffer.
This series of events cuts against the Democratic Party’s image as one of peace and tolerance. As the mock shooting at Illinois State Sen. Sandoval’s fundraising event makes clear, nothing could be further from the truth. Many far-left progressives are happy to work with those who agree with them, but those who dare to vocally disagree are viewed with disdain, to put it mildly.
If a Republican politician staged a mock assassination of former President Barack Obama, the national news media would talk about nothing else. Such a politician would be forced to resign amid howls of protest from news media organizations, vocal liberal activists, and progressive organizations. Moreover, Republicans would happily join in — or they would be next. That politician would never work again.
This incident will not receive the same treatment, and everyone knows that.