President Donald Trump appeared to be gloating late Friday as rioters in Atlanta hit CNN’s headquarters with rocks, shattering glass windows, and detonated a firework in the news network’s lobby. As protests over George Floyd’s death turned violent, the commander-in-chief retweeted a post that read: “In an ironic twist of fate, CNN HQ is being attacked by the very riots they promoted as noble & just. Oops.”
Other right-wing figures similarly mocked the violent development. Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative conspiracy theorist and former candidate, wrote, “I hear CNN called in a SWAT team! Why don’t the network anchors egg on these protesters the way they do when they are destroying other people’s businesses? After all, it’s only property guys!” Arizona representative Paul Gosar cast doubt on CNN’s coverage: “I don’t believe this because @CNN says its a peaceful political protest. This tweet and the pictures must be fake.” Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, advocated against coronavirus lockdowns while deriding the channel: “If it’s safe enough for left-wing nutjobs to riot against CNN, then it’s safe enough for normal people to return to work, go out to dinner, or go to church. The lockdowns are done.”
