How the El Paso Killer Echoed the Incendiary Words of Conservative Media Stars

How the El Paso Killer Echoed the Incendiary Words of Conservative Media Stars - The New York Times



When another group approached the border six months later, Ann Coulter, appearing as a guest on Jeanine Pirro’s Fox News show, offered a dispassionately violent suggestion about what could be done to stem the flow of migrants: “You can shoot invaders.”

A few days after, Rush Limbaugh issued a grim prognosis to his millions of radio listeners: If the immigrants from Central America weren’t stopped, the United States would lose its identity. “The objective is to dilute and eventually eliminate or erase what is known as the distinct or unique American culture,” Mr. Limbaugh said, adding: “This is why people call this an invasion.”

There is a striking degree of overlap between the words of right-wing media personalities and the language used by the Texas man who confessed to killing 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso this month. In a 2,300-word screed posted on the website 8chan, the killer wrote that he was “simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion.”

It remains unclear what, or who, ultimately shaped the views of the white, 21-year-old gunman, or whether he was aware of the media commentary. But his post contains numerous references to “invasion” and cultural “replacement” — ideas that, until recently, were relegated to the fringes of the nationalist right.

An extensive New York Times review of popular right-wing media platforms found hundreds of examples of language, ideas and ideologies that overlapped with the mass killer’s written statement — a shared vocabulary of intolerance that stokes fears centered on immigrants of color. The programs, on television and radio, reach an audience of millions.Tucker Carlson went on his prime-time Fox News show in April last year and told his viewers not to be fooled. The thousands of Central Americans on their way to the United States were “border jumpers,” not refugees, he said. “Will anyone in power do anything to protect America this time,” he asked, “or will leaders sit passively back as the invasion continues?”

When another group approached the border six months later, Ann Coulter, appearing as a guest on Jeanine Pirro’s Fox News show, offered a dispassionately violent suggestion about what could be done to stem the flow of migrants: “You can shoot invaders.”

A few days after, Rush Limbaugh issued a grim prognosis to his millions of radio listeners: If the immigrants from Central America weren’t stopped, the United States would lose its identity. “The objective is to dilute and eventually eliminate or erase what is known as the distinct or unique American culture,” Mr. Limbaugh said, adding: “This is why people call this an invasion.”

There is a striking degree of overlap between the words of right-wing media personalities and the language used by the Texas man who confessed to killing 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso this month. In a 2,300-word screed posted on the website 8chan, the killer wrote that he was “simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion.”

It remains unclear what, or who, ultimately shaped the views of the white, 21-year-old gunman, or whether he was aware of the media commentary. But his post contains numerous references to “invasion” and cultural “replacement” — ideas that, until recently, were relegated to the fringes of the nationalist right.

An extensive New York Times review of popular right-wing media platforms found hundreds of examples of language, ideas and ideologies that overlapped with the mass killer’s written statement — a shared vocabulary of intolerance that stokes fears centered on immigrants of color. The programs, on television and radio, reach an audience of millions.

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OscarLevant said:

This is an in-depth, thorough analysis of the El Paso shooter's words, which clearly echo that of the right wing media, words highlighted, etc., and clearly displayed in the mash up.


the Dayton Shooter had no such manifesto, simply put, he was deranged. His former girlfriend stated that (paraphrased) "this wasn't racism, this was about a guy who got the short end of the stick". In other words, he was a disgruntled loser and was mad at the world for his plight.

The El Paso shooter, however, was clearly enabled by the hate-filled language of Trump and the right wing media and was out to shoot immigrants, noting that a few days prior, someone at a Trump rally said "shoot them', and Trump just laughed and said "Only in El Paso can they get away with that". Precisely what followed was the shooting of 22 people, killing them, and maiming many more.

This is a reiteration of a previous post, but it is more in depth, to illuminate the veracity of the premise. Please watch the video.

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Grim17 said:

LMAO... I love it! The El Paso shooter was a "right winger" but the Dayton shooter was just "deranged" with no political affiliation.

You all make criticizing your character way too easy.

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OscarLevant said:

This is an in-depth, thorough analysis of the El Paso shooter's words, which clearly echo that of the right wing media, words highlighted, etc., and clearly displayed in the mash up.


the Dayton Shooter had no such manifesto, simply put, he was deranged. His former girlfriend stated that (paraphrased) "this wasn't racism, this was about a guy who got the short end of the stick". In other words, he was a disgruntled loser and was mad at the world for his plight.

The El Paso shooter, however, was clearly enabled by the hate-filled language of Trump and the right wing media and was out to shoot immigrants, noting that a few days prior, someone at a Trump rally said "shoot them', and Trump just laughed and said "Only in El Paso can they get away with that". Precisely what followed was the shooting of 22 people, killing them, and maiming many more.

This is a reiteration of a previous post, but it is more in depth, to illuminate the veracity of the premise. Please watch the video.

Click to expand...

Grim17 said:

LMAO... I love it! The El Paso shooter was a "right winger" but the Dayton shooter was just "deranged" with no political affiliation.

You all make criticizing your character way too easy.

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Oborosen said:

Same as when Chris Cuomo was talking about the shooters in both instances. When it came to the El Paso shooter, he was fervently pointing out his political affiliation. But when he spoke about the Dayton shooter, political affiliation was a far and away, afterthought.

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OscarLevant said:

As evidenced by the shooter's, themselves. One is motivated by racism, the other is not.

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Grim17 said:

LMAO... I love it! The El Paso shooter was a "right winger" but the Dayton shooter was just "deranged" with no political affiliation.

You all make criticizing your character way too easy.

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Oborosen said:

Both were politically motivated, one was motivated by echo centric standards as well.

He was just trying to defend the left in saying that the Dayton shooters political affiliation didn't matter. Yet he was rather transparent in trying to keep the El Paso shooters affiliation front and center.

Both are pretty fruitless at this point.

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OscarLevant said:

This is an in-depth, thorough analysis of the El Paso shooter's words, which clearly echo that of the right wing media, words highlighted, etc., and clearly displayed in the mash up.


the Dayton Shooter had no such manifesto, simply put, he was deranged. His former girlfriend stated that (paraphrased) "this wasn't racism, this was about a guy who got the short end of the stick". In other words, he was a disgruntled loser and was mad at the world for his plight.

The El Paso shooter, however, was clearly enabled by the hate-filled language of Trump and the right wing media and was out to shoot immigrants, noting that a few days prior, someone at a Trump rally said "shoot them', and Trump just laughed and said "Only in El Paso can they get away with that". Precisely what followed was the shooting of 22 people, killing them, and maiming many more.

This is a reiteration of a previous post, but it is more in depth, to illuminate the veracity of the premise. Please watch the video.

Click to expand...

OscarLevant said:

It's overwhelmingly clear, given the El Paso's manifesto, that his motivation was racist inspired by right wing media.

There is no evidence of same for the Dayton shooter, but there is evidence he was a disgruntled loser who was latching out at life and crying for attention, and killing kids was his way of doing it. that he was a lefty was an incidental fact. His former girlfriend even said so.


Naturally, given that you are blinded by the right, you can't see it.

Click to expand...

OscarLevant said:

This is an in-depth, thorough analysis of the El Paso shooter's words, which clearly echo that of the right wing media, words highlighted, etc., and clearly displayed in the mash up.


the Dayton Shooter had no such manifesto, simply put, he was deranged. His former girlfriend stated that (paraphrased) "this wasn't racism, this was about a guy who got the short end of the stick". In other words, he was a disgruntled loser and was mad at the world for his plight.

The El Paso shooter, however, was clearly enabled by the hate-filled language of Trump and the right wing media and was out to shoot immigrants, noting that a few days prior, someone at a Trump rally said "shoot them', and Trump just laughed and said "Only in El Paso can they get away with that". Precisely what followed was the shooting of 22 people, killing them, and maiming many more.

This is a reiteration of a previous post, but it is more in depth, to illuminate the veracity of the premise. Please watch the video.

Click to expand...