Dem senator: Trump bears responsibility for ‘wave of violence’
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said on Tuesday that President Trump is responsible for a “wave” of racial and religious violence that has spread throughout the U.S.
“You probably can’t tie him directly to one particular act of violence,” Merkley told CNN. “But to the wave of violence, yes, he bears responsibility.”
Merkley also said that Trump did not go far enough in condemning the deadly stabbing in Portland, Ore. on Friday that left two men dead and another injured. Trump, he said, should call the families of the victims and should address the matter in a speech.
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Two men were stabbed after they tried to stop their attacker’s racist rant against two Muslim women on a Portland train. Trump remained silent on the matter until Monday, when a tweet was sent from the official @POTUS Twitter account.
The Oregon Democrat blamed Trump’s divisive rhetoric on the campaign trail for spurring others to violently act on racist or xenophobic sentiments.
“I feel like much of what has happened with these hate crimes falls directly from who he is,” he said.
As a presidential candidate, Trump drew accusations that his rhetoric and policy proposals were discriminatory in nature, though he repeatedly denied that he was in any way racist.
“I am not a racist, in fact, I am the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered,” Trump told The Washington Post in June 2016.
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