By Ben Blanchet
Copyright huffingtonpost
Michael Fanone, a former DC Metropolitan Police Officer who was attacked by a mob of Donald Trump supporters during the deadly Capitol riot, slammed the president on Tuesday over his response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“I think that no American politician has done more to normalise political violence in this country other than Donald J Trump,” said Fanone in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
Trump — in a video message from the Oval Office after the killing of his ally last week — ripped those on the “radical left” who have compared Kirk to a Nazi, claiming that their rhetoric is “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”
Other right-wing figures have similarly hurled blame at Democrats and the left for the assassination, as well.
Fanone said he’s “disgusted” that Americans reelected a president who’s been “so divisive and so destructive,” adding that Trump has used the killing to “sow more seeds of division” and advocate for violence instead of uniting the country.
Fanone – who sustained a heart attack as well as a traumatic brain injury after being beaten and tased by the violent mob during the insurrection – emphasised that the president has a history of using “inciteful” and “dehumanising” language to describe dissenters and political opponents.
Trump has previously joked about the 2022 hammer attack on ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi, urged rallygoers to “knock the crap” out of protesters and, per ex-Defence Secretary Mark Esper, allegedly wanted troops to shoot protesters who spoke out and hit the streets following the murder of George Floyd.
In 2023, Trump echoed Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini when he vowed to “root out … vermin” political foes, declaring that the “threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave, than the threat from within.”
Fanone argued that Trump has further advocated for the use of “political violence” by pardoning hundreds of rioters who were convicted of assaulting officers on January 6, 2021.
“He has told his supporters that if you commit acts of violence, I’ve got your back and this administration will absolve you of any criminal culpability,” he said.
“And that message has resonated with his supporters.”
