The Memo: Questions sharpen for Trump after New Zealand massacre

Lots of examples included.





The Memo: Questions sharpen for Trump after New Zealand massacre


https://thehill.com/homenews/the-memo/434347-the-memo-questions-sharpen-for-trump-after-new-zealand-massacre



By Niall Stanage - 03/16/19 05:51 AM EDT



Friday’s mass shooting in New Zealand is sharpening scrutiny of the rhetoric of international political figures, including President Trump.

Even trenchant Trump critics have not accused him of a direct line of culpability for the shooting at two mosques in Christchurch that left at least 49 people dead. It was the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s modern history.

But the massacre has reinvigorated criticism that Trump has empowered extremists and Islamophobes globally since his 2015 call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."

George Selim, senior vice president of programs at the Anti-Defamation League, declined to be drawn into specific comments on Trump in a Friday interview with The Hill, but said, “You need look no further than what the [alleged] shooter himself has said about political leaders in the United States.”

The alleged shooter, Brenton Tarrant, is said to have published a lengthy manifesto on the internet before the attack.

In a question-and-answer section, the person thought to be Tarrant addressed the question of whether he was a Trump supporter.

“As a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose, sure,” the document states. “As a policy maker and leader? Dear god no.”

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