If administration rhetoric is responsible for hate crimes then the Clinton Administration must be responsible for hate crimes after Hillary's "superpredator" comment.
Hillary made the comment on January 28 1996 in New Hampshire. James Byrd Jr, an African-American man was dragged to death in Jasper, TX in 1998. abc13.com/june-7-1998-ja…
In December 1995, James Burmeister, a Fort Bragg soldier, killed two African-Americans, Jackie Burden and Michael James, in Fayetteville that happened to be out for a walk. Was Bill Clinton responsible as their commander in chief? abc13.com/june-7-1998-ja…
President Obama frequently criticized police. Is he responsible for the actions of Micah Xavier Johnson, the man that assassinated five Dallas police officers? nytimes.com/2016/07/09/us/…
If presidential or political rhetoric can be blamed for the actions of people that commit crimes based on politics or views, then pretty much any modern era president is to blame for a crime that happened related to any issue they discussed.
Presidents, Clinton, Obama, & Trump never urged supporters to go out and shoot, maim, or brutalize people even though some of their comments have been figurative, not implicit.
When Obama said, "bring a gun to a knife fight" I didn't think he was urging his supporters to arm themselves with guns. When Trump said, "I'd like to punch him in the face" I didn't take that as he was going to come out from behind the podium to punch somebody at a rally.
Did any of their supporters ever commit an act of violence? Sure. I'm going to venture a guess that Micah Johnson was not a Trump supporter. There was also the incident in Fayetteville, NC where a 73 year old punched a black dude. They made amends later. cnn.com/2016/12/14/pol…
So, if rhetoric is responsible for the actions of individuals who commit acts of violence, every president since at least Clinton has had supporters that have done so.
