The Trump era has given birth to a whole new wave of right-wing grifters, a collection of ignoramuses, opportunists, cryptofascists, and cynics peddling the lowest form of xenophobic, unprincipled conservatism imaginable.
Some have gotten rich, some have gotten famous, but all of them have taken advantage of the uninformed, angry Trump electorate, poisoning our already troubled national discourse further in the process.
One of the most prominent talking heads to rise to the top of the pile is Candace Owens, an associate of Charlie Kirk, the pathological liar and facial tic-riddled founder of Turning Point USA, the conservative college campus organization best known for a stunt in which its members dressed in adult diapers to protest safe spaces.
Kirk is a perfect example of the kind of vacuous, brain-dead drone that passes as the “intellectual” wing of the Trump movement. Owens, as a protege of Kirk, is no different.
One of the more ghoulish tactics implied by Owens and her ilk is seizing on a tragedy, publicizing it broadly, then conflating it with a larger political point they’re trying to push.
The recent, heartbreaking murder of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts at the hands of an immigrant which the police and the government have labelled “undocumented” but who was working legally in the United States according to his lawyer, has been quickly politicized by the more predatory elements of the right and been wielded like a cudgel to attack all undocumented immigrants.
One murderer does not delegitimatize the millions of undocumented immigrants living in this country peacefully and constructively. He must face the consequences of his crime, but others should not be made to suffer because of him,
Owens took to Twitter to exploit the murder and launch an attack on “illegal immigrants.” She disingenuously claimed that members of the left don’t care about Mollie Tibbetts and are too worried about Trump’s family separation policies. Of course, there is no reason why one can’t be upset about both things, but that reality is inconvenient for Owens.
Leftists boycotted, screamed, and cried when illegal immigrants were temporarily separated from from their parents.
What will they do for Mollie Tibbetts?
What did they do for Kate Steinle?They will NEVER see their parents again.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) August 21, 2018
Twitter user @samlucass saw Owens’s vile tweet and quickly sent a brutal response, stating that she is a member of Tibbetts’s family and that she and her relatives are not so small-minded that they see the murder as an indictment of an entire population of undocumented immigrants. She told Owens to stop being a “f*cking snake” and demanded that she stop using her cousin’s death to spread propaganda.
hey i’m a member of mollie’s family and we are not so fucking small-minded that we generalize a whole population based on some bad individuals. now stop being a fucking snake and using my cousins death as political propaganda. take her name out of your mouth. https://t.co/xxZNBF0Uv9
— sam (@samlucasss) August 22, 2018
Owens quickly revealed herself as the snake Sam accused her of being. Instead of simply backing off and respecting the family’s right to mourn in peace free from political exploitation, Owens said she found it “strange” that Sam was angry with her instead of the murderer, a point made in deeply bad faith. Of course, Sam and her family are furious with the killer, but that doesn’t preclude them from also being furious with hacks like Owens for worsening their emotional wounds.
I find it strange that you have directed obscenities and hate towards people that support the President, but you have not directed a single bad word toward the monster who committed this terrible crime.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) August 22, 2018
I will keep my anger and hate directed toward the savage illegal alien who committed this terrible crime and our broken immigration system which allowed this to happen.
I will continue to pray for your family— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) August 22, 2018
Sam responded calmly and eloquently.
I don’t have this mans twitter handle, or any way to contact him, but trust me, I have had nothing but evil thoughts about this man. HE is a devil. That doesn’t mean that everyone like him is. I think it’s despicable that you’re using her death to push a political agenda.
— sam (@samlucasss) August 22, 2018
TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAR: i’m not a member of Mollie’s immediate family. i am a 2nd cousin but it’s hard to write all that in a tweet. we have a family facebook page where we’ve all been in contact and grieving together. i was only saying we should be able to grieve without politics
— sam (@samlucasss) August 22, 2018
and if this wasn’t already obvious, i don’t speak for the entire family! no one could. i have my political opinions but that’s not why i said any of this — i only said this because i want all family members to be able to grieve in peace. that’s literally all i meant.
— sam (@samlucasss) August 22, 2018
Sam’s final point, that she and her family simply want to grieve in peace, cuts to the heart of the problem with people like Candace Owens. She pretends to care about the family’s loss, but it’s simply an act devised to help her push a political agenda. If she truly cared, she would have backed off the moment Sam tweeted at her, instead of hitting back.
People like Candace Owens perfectly demonstrate the rot at the heart of the Trump movement. She has a massive platform and instead of using it for good and healing, she uses it to stoke hatred and resentment.
