Rep. Robert Hurt, R-Va., said yesterday that President Obama reaped “what he has sowed” in the shooting of five police officers in Dallas last week, claiming that the president’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement is a “Chicago-style politics” attempt to divide Americans for political gain.
“It’s not even clear to me what the Black Lives Matter people really want, other than to draw attention to themselves,” Hurt told Virginia broadcaster John Fredericks. “And I would suggest to you this, John, that it’s really nothing more than a political organization. Again, this is an administration and this is representative of a political style, Chicago-style politics, that says ‘We’re going to slice and dice the American people and we’re going to create enough distrust and angst among them that we’ll be able to use them to our political advantage.’ And that’s what this is, this is just nothing more than, I fear, than that. It’s a political organization that’s used to try to win elections. Period. End of story. To get a candidate a fat, juicy spot in elected office. And I think it’s regrettable. I really do.”
He added that “an objective person can’t conclude that there’s that systemic racism in our society and government that there once was,” claiming that the president’s support of Black Lives Matter only serves to “diminish the harsh reality” of previous racial injustices.
Hurt went on to say that we’re now seeing Obama “reap what he has sowed,” saying that if he were a family member of one of the police officers killed in Dallas, he wouldn’t want Obama to show up to their memorial service.
“This is a narrative that he has drawn, I think very incorrectly, and he has drawn this narrative for political purposes and now we’re seeing him reap what he has sowed,” he said, adding that Obama shares the blame with other politicians “who are gutless and who don’t respect the truth and don’t see this country to be the greatest country on earth that it is.”
“He has sown this racial —he has fanned these flames, I think he has in many ways highlighted these things in ways that I don’t think are fair or right, and now we’re seeing the fruit of this,” he said.
“You know, I’m glad he’s going to Dallas,” he added, “I hope that he’s of some comfort to the families, I kind of wonder how well he will be received, considering he, I think, in many ways is responsible for fanning the flames of this anti-police feeling. And I know if I were a family member, I’m not sure I would want to be spending a lot of time with him.”
