The Verde Independent

Editor:

Bob Burke (“Right-wing hypocrisy…”,CVBugle, Opinion) seems a little conflicted. He says the shooter at the congressional baseball practice wasn’t “a product of the Democrat party, he was unstable. Yet he goes on to say that people “…who are exposed to unfair treatment” (or are told they are victims of such) will “respond in a like manner”, as in the case of the shooter. I’m pretty sure the shooter wasn’t inspired by a right- wing agenda. Bob also appears to be suffering from Rip Van Winkle syndrome, having awakened just 6 months ago to a new president and a world of “political rage and violence” that he lays at the feet of Mr. Trump. He apparently believes that “violence and intimidation” toward minorities is the norm rather than the exception in our country. His long sleep spared him the spectacle of students violently stripping away the 1st Amendment rights of speakers at our universities, institutions not generally known for their right-wing affiliations.

He can only assume that the political unrest and incivility started the day he woke up to a Trump presidency. Maybe Bob thinks it’s justified for a protester in the gathering at Times Square last week to carry a sign listing “Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy, Trump”, the first four being our presidents who have been assassinated. The message was clear. The sign was in full view of the speaker, the crowd, the media, NYPD and “at least a dozen elected officials, but garnered no comment or acknowledgment.”

Meanwhile, on MSNBC, guests and talking heads regularly liken President Trump to Hitler, Mussolini and Franco. How could an unstable individual such as the ballpark shooter not get the message? How could he not understand the marching orders from the elitist left who still do not understand that it was them, not a conservative or Tea Party type movement, who inspired the election of the man they love to hate?

Jim Barber

Mesa