NYT Reporter Lambasted After Suggesting Trump Supporters Are 'Enemies of the State'
A 9/11-style investigative committee assembled by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to investigate the deadly 6 January Capitol riot had its first hearing on Tuesday - and has already prompted heated discussion on social media.
Katie Benner, a New York Times reporter, was criticized on Tuesday after suggesting that supporters of the former US president, Donald Trump, could be deemed "enemies of the state".
In a now-deleted tweet, Benner suggested that the United States faces a "national security dilemma" due to a need to call a "politician’s supporters enemies of the state".
"As Americans, we believe that state power should not be used to work against a political figure or a political party. But what happens if a politician seems to threaten the state? If the politician continues to do so out of office and his entire party supports that threat?", her tweet read.
Her sentiment did not appeal to all, as many users immediately flocked to Twitter threads to slam Benner for what they consider to be a form of "fascism", as well as an attempt to label everyone that does not share a mainstream position as "enemies of the state".
?After facing a wave of online criticism, Benner quickly removed her post, saying that she "deleted unclearly worded tweets regarding the Jan 6. committee hearing." That did not seem to improve the situation.
?Benner's words come as the select committee formed to investigate the 6 January Capitol riot, for which Trump was impeached - a second time - for inciting, had its first hearing on Tuesday.
With the committee touted as bipartisan, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who is leading, vetoed two Republicans picked by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to become members of the panel. She argued that the two picks, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana, would “jeopardize the integrity of the investigation”.
Out of 13 participants, only two GOP members made it to Pelosi's investigation committee: Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, with McCarthy dubbing them "Pelosi Republicans".
The two are also known for being vocally critical of Trump, as they voted for his second impeachment over "incitement to insurrection" in January. For that, both received labels "RINO" [Republican In Name Only] from the former president, who complained that he wanted to "get rid of them all".
Trump has claimed that the select committee is "highly partisan" and "fake", sarcastically commenting that Pelosi should "investigate herself".
- Source : Daria Bedenko
