Over the course of the last few days, our nation has been furious. Not only are we dealing with the dredging up of our nation’s ugly history on race relations, but now we’re being essentially force-fed ever more bad news about the bad apples within the US police force.
The most stunning example of this came from Buffalo, New York just days ago, where a 75 year old man was shoved to the ground by police who appeared wholly unconcerned about him laying unconscious and bleeding from the skull and ears.
On Tuesday, President Trump chimed in.
President Donald Trump tweeted a conspiracy theory Tuesday about a Buffalo man injured by police that has circulated around fringe, far-right online media in recent days, adding to efforts from the president and other conservatives to cast protesters as part of a shadowy “antifa” movement.
Trump suggested that Martin Gugino, 75, who is in serious but stable condition in a Buffalo hospital after being pushed by two police officers at a protest, may be an “ANTIFA provocateur” who was “scanning” police equipment when he was pushed.
The video of Gugino became one of the most-viewed examples of police violence related to the recent protests.
“Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?” the president tweeted.
The Twitterverse was not going to let this ride.
President Trump is now accusing Martin Gugino, the 75 year old white man pushed to the ground by police in Buffalo, NY, of faking his fall and being a member of ANTIFA.
Gugino is a member of two nonprofits and part of the Catholic Worker Movement.https://t.co/73pKnFcTBv https://t.co/CBpvAp1aP7
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) June 9, 2020
The 75-year-old protester who Trump targeted today isn’t Antifa. He wasn’t some anti-cop spy. He works to secure affordable housing in Buffalo. And we all saw him shoved by those cops, then bleeding from the ear after we heard his skull land on the ground. https://t.co/R3Z6YjJHuV
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) June 9, 2020
Watch the faces of Mark Meadows and Jared Kushner as reporters ask them about Trump's crazy Buffalo conspiracy tweet. pic.twitter.com/4MS0utFYRm
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 9, 2020
Gugino remains in the hospital as of this writing.
