After Dayton and El
Paso shootings, Mike Huckabee blames violence on 'lack of thought and prayers'
The explanation came from a blog post on Huckabee's website, in which the
Republican politician provided his thoughts on the shootings in El Paso, Tx.,
and Dayton, Ohio.
"Despite all those who are denouncing
the idea of prayers for the victims (do a Google search for 'Thoughts and
prayers are not enough' and see how many hits you get)," the post said. "I
will continue to pray for the victims and their families and for an end to this
mindless violence, and I hope you will, too."
Huckabee, who served as governor of
Arkansas between 1996–2007 and also ran for president in 2008 and 2016, went on to
describe what he called the "single biggest factor" behind mass
shootings.
"In fact, amid all the finger-pointing
and blame-laying and repulsive attempts to turn these tragedies to political
advantage before the bodies are even cold, I would posit that the lack of
thought and prayers is probably the single biggest factor in what is behind
them," Huckabee wrote.
Huckabee also called out specific
politicians, such as Democratic presidential candidates Beto O'Rourke and
Amy Klobuchar, who he said had been guilty of "politicizing the
tragedy."
O'Rourke, who is from El Paso, said
on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe" Monday that he believes President
Trump's "open racism" had issued an "invitation to
violence."
Huckabee's blog post responded to these
attacks on the president, claiming O'Rourke had been untruthful in his
comments.
“Beto” O’Rourke immediately tried to blame President Trump
for the El Paso shooting, accusing him of being an “open, avowed racist” and
“white nationalist” who is inciting racism and violence," Huckabee
wrote. "For example, he said Trump called Mexicans “rapists and
criminals.” Except that Trump didn’t do that. That story has been debunked
repeatedly."