"Most Fox News fans were not at all shocked. The big surprise came when one unexpected colleague tried to talk him down from that ledge … while they were on air.
" 'You just can’t ignore the politics of this, even if you wanted to,” Smith opined while speaking with political commentator Chris Wallace about Sayoc’s arrest in Florida." . . .
"Wallace promptly pushed back, noting that attributing the suspect’s actions to Trump would be as misguided as blaming the near-fatal shooting of several congressmen last year to Democrats.
"“I don’t think you can draw any particular link or any responsibility on the part of the president for this action,” he said. “I mean, as Sarah Sanders said … a Bernie Sanders supporter shot up the congressman at the baseball practice. Is Bernie Sanders responsible for that?”
"“Nobody is saying he’s responsible,” Smith replied, before again aiming criticism at President Donald Trump for his allegedly “divisive” rhetoric. “When you talk like this the concern is that one crazy one might get empowered.”
"It’s unclear why the self-described Fox News “reporter,” who’s repeatedly displayed a notable aversion for the president and his supporters, neglected to highlight the media’s own increasingly angry and divisive rhetoric." . . .
" 'It’s a twisted individual and to hold President Trump responsible …,” Wallace tried rebutting, presumably referencing Sayoc’s lengthy criminal history, which includes having threatened in 2002 to detonate a bomb that would be “worse than September 11.”
"Smith ignored this point, doubling down on his argument that the president’s rhetoric — particularly his criticism of the demonstrably left-wing media — has ginned up tension in America.
" 'I think that it’s really incorrect to somehow hold the president, either by implication or directly, responsible in any way for the misdeeds of someone who’s a psychopath or a sociopath,” his counterpart again tried to point out before being interrupted again.
"'Nobody did that, Chris. Don’t say I did. All I said is when the rhetoric gets loud, the crazies come out sometimes,” Smith said, again suggesting that rhetoric alone inspires violence.
"The debate eventually concluded with Wallace again trying to remind Smith that connecting heated political rhetoric to the actions of the clinically insane is never wise." . . .
Maxine Waters would agree with Shep, don't you know?
"Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) published a video on Thursday placing the blame for the bomb threats to her office — and to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — squarely on President Donald Trump's shoulders, despite his clear and repeated condemnation of the attacks. Waters avoided any mention of her own efforts to incite protest, or the similar statements from Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, and Cory Booker." . . .
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