The Both Sides Do It! alibi for white supremacist terrorism

This may be a case of giving a tiny amplification to a bad piece of political propaganda.

But Trump and the Republicans playing Both Sides Do It on two mass murders this past weekend, one by a white supremacist terrorist in El Paso complete with a racist-nationalist manifesto justifying it, the other by a young man who murdered his own sister and others outside w nightclub in Dayton OH for which there seems to be no evidence at all of political motivations in the shooting.

It always important to remember that that in the US legal system three is a presumption of innocence on criminal charges. The suspect in the Dayton killings was himself killed by police in the incident. The suspect in El Paso was arrested. In his case, the event was a very public one and the shooter was seen by many witnesses and caught on security cameras.

Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian analyse White House spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway's version of it in Kellyanne Conway's IDIOTIC Statement on Dayton Shooter The Young Turks 08/07/2019:

The FBI in an official statement made clear they were approaching the El Paso mass murder as a terrorist event, the Dayton one as a murder (FBI Statement Regarding Shootings in El Paso and Dayton 08/04/2019):

The attack in El Paso, Texas, underscores the continued threat posed by domestic violent extremists and perpetrators of hate crimes. The FBI is supporting its state and local partners in Texas through investigative, intelligence, and technical assistance. The El Paso investigation is also being supported by the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism-Hate Crimes Fusion Cell, which was established in spring 2019. Composed of subject matter experts from both the Criminal Investigative and Counterterrorism Divisions, the fusion cell offers program coordination from FBI Headquarters, helps ensure seamless information sharing across divisions, and augments investigative resources.

The FBI is also providing assistance to the Dayton (Ohio) Police Department’s investigation into the shooting in Dayton, through the Bureau’s Cincinnati Field Office, with support from FBI Headquarters personnel.

The Guardian reports the following on Wednesday (FBI says Dayton gunman who killed nine explored 'violent ideologies' – live 08/07/2019):

• The FBI said investigators have uncovered evidence that the Dayton shooter explored “violent ideologies”. The bureau has opened an investigation alongside the Dayton police department’s homicide investigation.
• White House aides have sought to elevate reports that the Dayton gunman supported leftwing ideas and endorsed 2020 candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but the FBI said the shooter did not appear to be linked to a “bias motive”.

Claudia Koerner reports in The Dayton Mass Shooter Had An "Obsession With Violent Ideations" And The FBI Is Investigating Buzzfeed News 08/06/2019, "In Dayton, investigators have yet to determine if Betts [the killer] was motivated by a particular ideology, but evidence has so far revealed that he was seeking out information that promoted violence, FBI Special Agent in Charge Todd Wickerham said."

Napp Nazworth at the Christian-fundamentalist-oriented Christian Post wasn't nearly as reserved, coming out with this report on Monday, El Paso, Dayton shootings appear motivated by opposite sides of political spectrum 08/05/2019. Both Sides Do It!

The Christian Post's homepage as of this writing on 08/07/2019 displays this:

The fact is we have a Republican President actively inciting hatred and violence against immigrants and racial minorities and some far-right militants are taking violent, murderous action in furtherence of those hatreds.

The Christian Post is obviously trying to keep itself comfortable for Republicans by tiptoing around the white supremacy and terrorism problems. Richard Land, who passes for a sort of moderate in those circles, writes in the CP (We need more dialogue about the many contributing factors of mass shootings 08/05/2019):

Several vexing problems rending the social fabric of our nation immediately come to mind to jumpstart the honest and frank discussion we must have: Fatherlessness; the failure of our inner cities; racism; identity politics that forever emphasize our differences rather than our common humanity; the mindless glorification of violence in our media and entertainment industry; our failed mental health system; and the systematic disrespect and mocking of police officers, and by implication, disrespect for the law they represent. That’s just the preliminary first draft of a long list of contributing causes.

Here the list with my translations out of RepublicanSpeak in italics:

Fatherlessness [black people! sluts!]; the failure of our inner cities [scary black people!]; racism [black peole! brown people!]; identity politics [feminists! gays! black people! lesbian professors!] that forever emphasize our differences rather than our common humanity [black people are racists!]; the mindless glorification of violence in our media and entertainment industry [the NRA is God!]; our failed mental health system [the NRA is God and Trump is his Prophet!]; and the systematic disrespect and mocking of police officers [scary black people! dope-smoking hippies!], and by implication, disrespect for the law they represent [we should celebrate when white cops murder unarmed black people!].

The Christian Post really isn't much into that leftie idea about the Good Samaritan and all.

They have run some pieces nominally condemning white supremacy as an ideology. (You can't call me a racist and if you do YOU'RE the real racist!)