Beto O'Rourke Blasts President Donald Trump For Texas Mass Shooting By Patrick Crusius

Credit: CNN

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who is one the 24 Democrats running for president, blasted President Donald Trump for Patrick Crusius’s horrific actions.

Crusius was arrested after being identified as the mass murderer who committed the shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas.

Crusius, 21, left 20 people dead and dozens injured. He wrote a manifesto where he talked about his hate for Hispanics and his love for the immigration plans put forward by Trump and the GOP.

O’Rourke, who formerly served as El Paso’ mayor, had some harsh words for Trump while talking to reporters: “Yes. We’ve had a rise in hate crimes every single one of the last three years. During an administration where you’ve had the president call Mexicans rapists and criminals.”

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He added: “He is a racist, and he stokes racism in this country. It does not just offend our sensibilities; it fundamentally changes the character of this country, and it leads to violence.”

Trump posted a tweet expressing his thoughts and prayers to the families affected: “Today’s shooting in El Paso, Texas, was not only tragic; it was an act of cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people….”

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One person reacted to the news: “I live in El Paso, and this isn’t something that would have ever happened here in a million years. It took the escalation of hate-speech and fearmongering to cause this. And it will take reasonable gun control to prevent this from repeating ever again.

Another commenter said: “The thing is, he wrote in his manifesto that he’s had these views for years but knows the media will just blame it on Trump and call him a white supremacist.”

This social media user shared: “It’s like he’s planting this toxic seed that’s just forming a disgusting cycle of hate crimes that should never happen in the first place. A disgrace of a president dude my god.”

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The person had the following to share: “I think it’s pretty significant that almost every one of these shooters was a man, and somehow that demographic breakdown just gets skimmed over by the media. Gun violence is definitively a gendered problem; that is what needs to be addressed here.”

With 2020 coming soon, the Democrats will try their best to link Trump’s controversial statements to those violent acts.