The editorial staff of the National Catholic Reporter have raged about supporters of incumbent President Donald Trump “having blood on their hands” after a deadly rampage erupted at the US Capitol on 6 January.
The editors openly accused the incumbent president of provoking the chaos, charging in their written address on Thursday:
“Clearly, the current resident of the White House who for months has repeatedly and deliberately lied about non-existent election fraud, and who, even as Confederate-flag wielding thugs strolled throughout the Capitol, is guilty of inciting violence in his morning speech on the Ellipse”, they wrote, further stressing that later in the day, “he would express ‘love’ for what can only be described as domestic terrorists”.
The left-wing editorial continued to enumerate who exactly they meant:
“We’re talking to you CatholicVote.org, Attorney General William Barr and other Catholics in the Trump administration, Amy Coney Barrett, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, rogue prolifer Abby Johnson. Sadly, the list goes on”.
The editors then denounced Trump’s Catholic electorate for paying attention to such issues as Supreme Court justices, school funding, lower taxes for American businesses, etc.
“It must stop,” the editors asserted firmly, demanding Catholics sever their ties with what they call “white Catholic nationalism”.
Addressing how the pro-life way of thinking may be incorporated into a broader paradigm, they railed on:
“And a pro-life movement that embraces white nationalism is not a true pro-life movement”, they pronounced. “Period”.
'Trump’s Critics at Best Ethically Compromised'
However, Catholic League President Bill Donohue offered a different take, querying Friday who actually is “guilty of inciting riots”.
He stood up in President Trump’s defence, arguing that despite multiple accusations, “he never instructed anyone” to resort to violence.
“Nevertheless, his critics argue that he stoked people’s passions, which he did, and can therefore be held accountable. If this is the standard—inflammatory rhetoric—then Trump’s critics are at best ethically compromised”, Bill Donohue contended.
Citing Barack Obama’s calls to “argue with friends and neighbours and get in their face”, Former Attorney General Eric Holder’s instruction to “to kick ‘em when they go low” etc., Donohue thundered that “left-wing commentators and activists have no moral authority to lecture the rest of us about violence committed by right-wing protesters”.
“They nurtured a climate of violence over the past year by giving Antifa and Black Lives Matter their blessings”, he went on.
Unrest at the Capitol
A violent mob overran the United States Capitol in Washington on 6 January, shortly after Donald Trump claimed again that the latest election was fraught with numerous instances of voter fraud.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has since said that Democrats are determined to go ahead in the coming days with impeaching the president over his role in Wednesday's attack, which claimed five lives, if he doesn't quit himself.
Pelosi says Trump should be held accountable but she hasn’t committed to an impeachment vote yet.
Republicans have also increasingly urged Trump to leave office before 20 January, the day President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as the next US president.
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska became the first Republican lawmaker to call on Trump to vacate the Oval Office ahead of schedule.