Without any evidence whatsoever, the Washington Post suggested on Saturday that a local “conservative” radio host incited James Hodgkinson, who supported Bernie Sanders and liked watching Rachel Maddow on television (both of whom are not even mentioned in the article), to shoot House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) and three others last month.
In a story titled, “In Alexandria shooter’s hometown, rage-filled radio host channels middle America’s inner frustration,” the Post’s Peter Holley travels to Hodgkinson’s hometown of Belleville, Illinois, and finds a local “conservative” talk radio host who is easy to demonize.
According to Holley, the host uses the “N-word” on the air and even at Applebee’s along with other “racial and homophobic slurs that some have labeled hate speech.” He writes that “despite being a die-hard supporter of President Trump who has perfected the art of the populist message,” many of the host’s “biggest fans in Illinois are disgruntled Democrats like Hodkinson.”
There’s just one problem. Holley has no evidence whatsoever that Hodgkinson listened to the radio host who describes himself as the “Grim Reaper of Radio” and “proudly talks about his Caucasian heritage to anyone who will listen.”
The publicity-seeking radio host tells the Post that Hodkinson “probably” listened to him but “can’t say for sure.”
“I can’t say for sure if this Hodgkinson guy listened to me, but he probably did,” Bob Romanik, the attention-craving host, reportedly said. “If people would be honest about what drove Hodgkinson to the point of violence, you’d probably see a lot of people right on the same page with him all over the country. But around here, for sure.”
There is evidence, though, that Hodgkinson supported Sanders, hated Trump and Republicans, and watched Rachel Maddow’s show. Neither Sanders nor Maddow are even mentioned in the piece.
According to numerous news reports, Hodgkinson volunteered for Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016 and belonged to Facebook groups like “Terminate The Republican Party” in addition to others like “Expose Republican Fraud,” “Liberal Democratic Socialist Party,” “Boycott The Republican Party,” “I Hate Donald Trump,” and “Healthcare & Education Berners United to Resist Trump.”
The shooter also praised Maddow in a letter to a local newspaper that the radio host hates.
“One of my favorite TV shows is ‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ on MSNBC,” Hodgkinson wrote in 2012 to the Belleville News-Democrat, which the radio host, according to the Post, refers to as the “Belleville News Slime-o-crat.” Hodgkinson also wrote in that note that on a recent episode of Maddow’s show, “she stated that 17 very rich men are supplying the Republican Party with more than 60 percent of their campaign contributions.”
At a local protest, according to the News-Democrat, he was also reportedly “part of a ’99%’ team drawing attention to the amount of money and political power the top 1 percent of Americans acquired.” On the stump, Sanders often railed against the “1%” during the 2016 campaign.
Before he shot Scalise and three others while GOP lawmakers were practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game last month in Northern Virginia, Hodgkinson reportedly asked GOP lawmakers who were leaving the practice whether the players on the field were “Republicans or Democrats.” He also reportedly had a list of Republicans that may have been a “hit list” in his pocket.
The Post’s article was so pointless that even a political editor from left-wing BuzzFeed tweeted, “What’s the point of this?”
“The shooter hated Trump and there’s no indication in the story he listened to this pro-Trump host,” the BuzzFeed editor tweeted.
This is yet another example of why nearly 70% of Americans, according to the latest Marist/NPR poll, do not trust legacy media outlets like the Post.
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