Twitter melts down after Sarah Sanders insists Trump has never encouraged violence

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Friday that President Donald Trump has never once encouraged violence.

Standing on the White House lawn, Sanders was asked why Trump has yet to condemn a Coast Guard lieutenant who was arrested this week for planning a domestic terror attack on Democratic lawmakers and members of the media. As NPR reported Wednesday:

“A 49-year-old Coast Guard lieutenant charged with stockpiling weapons and drugs is being described as a ‘domestic terrorist’ who was planning ‘to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country,’ according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Tuesday.

“Federal prosecutors say Christopher Paul Hasson, a self-described white nationalist living in Silver Spring, Md., was amassing firearms since at least 2017, while cultivating plans to launch a widespread attack on prominent Democratic lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and several high-profile television anchors from MSNBC and CNN.”

But Sanders insisted that her boss has always condemned violence in any form:

“I certainly don’t think that the president, at any point, has done anything but condemn violence. In fact, every single time something like this happens, the president is typically one of the first people to condemn the violence.”

That was all it took for Twitter to light up with reminders for the press secretary that Donald Trump has often encouraged violence, especially against those who disagree with him:

Donald Trump has built his political career on lies, hatred, and fear. To suggest otherwise is so disingenuous and ridiculous that Sarah Sanders’ nose should have grown six feet long the minute she uttered it.

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