Fox contributor: El Paso shooter “was actually very prescient” in writing that Trump's rhetoric would be linked to the massacre
Published
Citation From the August 9 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): All right, so an important segment. 2020 Democratic hopefuls are wasting no time blaming President Trump for the deadly shooting in El Paso, right? But our next guest asks whether anyone has actually read the gunman's manifesto. Here to explain is the chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner and Fox News contributor, Byron York. You did, you wrote about it. And this terrorist is clear: It's not about Trump, right?
BYRON YORK (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Absolutely not. What has been really fascinating here is, as you said, many Democrats have said, just right out, that President Trump inspired the El Paso shooter. And the only evidence for that, the sole evidence for that, is the manifesto that he wrote. And we've seen some stories quoting little bitty snippets of the manifesto, just a few words here and a few words there, and nobody went to read the whole thing. When you go and look at the whole thing, it's clear that the shooter, Patrick Crusius, was very upset about immigration, there's no doubt about that. But he was upset because of things that he had read from many other sources, and then he expressed all sorts of anxieties and concerns about many other topics. For example, he was very concerned about automation and the job losses that it would cause in the future. And not only automation, but the environment as well. And I'll just read you a little list; he was concerned about a universal basic income, about oil drilling, urban sprawl, watersheds, plastic waste, paper waste, Texas turning blue, college debt, recycling, health care. It was a long list of things in this manifesto.
KILMEADE: Byron, he goes on to say, "My opinion on automation, immigration, predate Trump and his campaign for president. I put this here because some people will blame the president or certain presidential candidates for this attack. This is not the case. I know that the media will probably call me a white supremacist anyway and blame Trump's rhetoric. The media's infamous for fake news. The reaction to this attack will likely just confirm that." Look, do we want to take him at his word or not? You can't have it both ways.
YORK: Yeah. He was actually very prescient in that. But the thing to remember about looking at the whole manifesto is there's a basic insanity to it, because he would take these concerns about pollution. He was worried about the watershed becoming polluted. He was worried about all these things, and then -- which a lot of people are concerned about, these are common concerns, especially of young people. And then he went on to conclude that the answer was to murder Hispanic immigrants. There is the insane disconnect, the criminal disconnect in all of this. So, this is not to excuse what he was doing, but, remember, the question we're talking about is was he inspired by President Trump?
KILMEADE: Yes.
YORK: If you read the manifesto, it's just not there.
KILMEADE: An important column, Byron. This is an insane individual who said he was going to die and never give up, and gave up without a fight. So this guy should never be legitimized, but to blame Trump is just not accurate. Just like to blame Bernie Sanders for the other one is not right.