“Blood Libel”: Right-Wing Media React To Obama's Remarks On Orlando Massacre

Special Programs Guns & Public Safety

Written by Bobby Lewis

Published

President Obama delivered remarks on the recent massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, FL, and included observations that current gun laws fail to stop terror suspects and disturbed individuals from legally purchasing assault weapons. Right-wing media were quick to attack the president's “insulting” comments.

President Obama Delivers Address From Orlando On Mass Shootings

Obama Speaks In Favor Of Making It More Difficult For Terrorists And Disturbed Individuals To Purchase “Extraordinarily Powerful Weapons.” On June 16, President Obama spoke from the scene of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, FL, to shine light on how “our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or even just a disturbed individual to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons”:

President Barack Obama said grieving family members in Orlando pleaded with him Thursday to take steps to prevent further gun carnage.

“Our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or even just a disturbed individual to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons, and they can do so legally,” Obama said after meeting families of victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting that took place Sunday.

“Today, once again, as has been true too many times before, I held and hugged grieving family members and parents and they asked, 'Why does keep happening?' And they pleaded that we do more to stop the carnage. They don't care about the politics. Neither do I.”

[...]

The President said that since the last two terror attacks on U.S. soil were “homegrown” and committed by “deranged individuals,” it would take “more than just our military” to prevent further massacres.

“As good as they are, as dedicated as they are, as focused as they are, if you have lone wolf attacks like this, hatched in the minds of a disturbed (person), then we're going to have to take different kinds of steps to prevent something like this from happening,” Obama said.

Obama said while the motives of the Orlando killer may have been different than that of killers in Newtown or Aurora, “the instruments of death were so similar.” [CNN, 6/16/16]

Right Wing Media Recoil At President Obama’s “Insulting” “Blood Libel”

Fox’s Greg Gutfeld: President Obama’s Address “Was Insulting"; “He’s Basically Questioning Our Morality.” Immediately after the president’s address, Fox News’ The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld said Obama’s comments were “insulting” because “it is pathological to deny the terror and instead focus on the instrument of terror. Gutfeld claimed the president aimed to “denigrate” people concerned with the threat of terrorism.

GREG GUTFELD (CO-HOST): I thought it was insulting. I really did. It's pathological to deny the terror and instead focus on the instrument of terror, and it allows you to connect it to a greater context of other crime, rather than focusing on a laser on Islamism. If he needs to see it through the prism of guns, and that gets him to the table to fight terror, fine. But do not denigrate who people who believe and know that the number one threat is Islamism. He said it's not common sense to consider defending yourself in an area like a club. Only one percent of the mass shootings that take place happen where you could defend yourself. The rest of them are in gun-free zones -- that's common sense, Mr. President. It took three hours, when that standoff, for that standoff to end in Orlando, it took three hours. And the reason was it took three hours to get the second gun there. So if that time gets shrunk, how do you shrink it? By having people defend themselves. I'm willing to compromise, destroy ISIS, and prevent terrorists from getting guns. But his unbending mind, his unwillingness to see, to see what the threat is, and to spread it thin and to focus it politically and then -- he's basically questioning our morality. He's questioning our morality. That if we're not on his side we're insulting these victims, and that's disgusting. It’s just absolutely disgusting. I expect more from him. And I’ve defended him. I -- it bugs me. [Fox News, The Five, 6/16/16]

Daily Wire Editor-In-Chief Ben Shapiro: “Obama Stands On Bodies of Pulse Victims, Blames Republicans.” Ben Shapiro wrote that President Obama was “posturing self-righteously” “on the still-warm bodies” of the Orlando victims to “pillory his political opponents as somehow in league with ISIS.” Shapiro also asserted that “only Obama is responsible politically” (emphasis original) for the Orlando attacks:

On Thursday, President Obama descended on Orlando, Florida to push for gun control while standing on the still-warm bodies of those slain by an open jihadist at Pulse nightclub. Posturing self-righteously, Obama called the jihadist at issue a “lone wolf” and added, “Our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist – or just a disturbed individual like those in Aurora or Newtown – to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons, and they can do so legally.” 

[…]

Of course, the notion that Obama doesn’t care about politics is absurd on its face. Only Obama is responsible politically for what happened in Florida. It was his Iraqi and Syria policy that made ISIS a regional force and an international threat. It is his continued insistence that “radical Islam” not be used rhetorically that discourages Americans from reporting actual threats. It is his misguided focus on gun control that prevents real measures from being taken to destroy the perverse philosophy of jihadism. [The Daily Wire, 6/16/16]

Breitbart’s Charlie Spiering: “Obama Now Blaming Republicans For Being Directly Responsible For Orlando Shooting. At The Memorial Site!”

[Twitter.com, 6/16/16]

PJ Media’s Glenn Reynolds Accused President Obama Of “Blood Libel.”

[Twitter.com, 6/16/16]

Fox’s Dana Perino: Discussing Gun Control Is “What The Terrorists Want.”

[Twitter.com, 6/16/16]

Fox’s Tammy Bruce: To Obama, “Everything Is Political & We’re All Props.”

[Twitter.com, 6/16/16]

The Blaze’s Dana Loesch: “The President Who Allowed Prosecutions For Gun Crimes To Plummet Lectures Congress On ‘Doing The Right Thing’ Of Bypassing Due Process.”

[Twitter.com, 6/16/16]

Fox’s Charles Payne: “I Thought This Was Be Moment To Grieve For The Dead And Pray For The Injured.”

[Twitter.com, 6/16/16]