Republicans once kept the fringe at arm’s length. Trump made it mainstream.
“I put out, ‘When are you going to go get him?’ And the U.S. Marshals went in to get him,” President Trump said to Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, referring to Michael Forest Reinoehl, the man accused of killing Aaron “Jay” Danielson, an armed member of the far-right vigilante group Patriot Prayer who had come into Portland, Ore., to confront Black Lives Matter protesters as part of a “Trump caravan” last month. “This guy was a violent criminal, and the U.S. Marshals killed him. And I’ll tell you something — that’s the way it has to be. There has to be retribution.”
Trump’s remarks were part of a pattern: The day after Danielson was killed, the president tweeted “Rest in Peace, Jay,” and angrily demanded that police arrest the “cold blooded killer” responsible for Danielson’s death.
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