After the White House claimed that the string of bombings in Austin, TX was not terrorism, Interm Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said that the bombings were an act of domestic terrorism.
On March 20, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the Austin bombings had no apparent links to terrorism:
.@POTUS mourns for victims of the recent bombings in Austin. We are monitoring the situation, federal authorities are coordinating w/ local officials. We are committed to bringing perpetrators of these heinous acts to justice. There is no apparent nexus to terrorism at this time.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) March 20, 2018
At a panel discussion, Interm Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said that the fatal bombings were domestic terrorism. Manley said that when he looked back on what the bomber “did to our community, he was a domestic terrorist for what he did to us.”
According to section 802 of the Patriot Act:
A person engages in domestic terrorism if they do an act “dangerous to human life” that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, if the act appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.
Trump only views terrorism as a Muslim crime
Trump only sees terrorism as attacks committed by Muslims. For years, Trump has never hesitated to call any attack that could involve a Muslim terrorism. [epq-quote align=”align-left”]When it comes to domestic incidents, Trump has gone out of his way to not call white people terrorists.[/epq-quote] Trump refused to call the neo-Nazi attack in Charlottesville, VA terrorism. This White House is endangering innocent lives by refusing to call acts of mass violence by white people terrorism. I would argue that mass shootings are acts of terror, but to Donald Trump, mass shooters and bombers are just “sick people.”
The Austin police are saying what the White House won’t. The string of deadly bombings was domestic terrorism, as the Trump White House looks the other way and emboldens more domestic terrorists.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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