On Thursday, David Simon, showrunner for The Wire, tore into President Trump for his toxic tweets blaming journalists and inciting fear; saying it was the catalyst that caused a gunman to initiate a mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper, reports Deadline.
“Blood today in an American newsroom. Aren’t you proud, you vile, fascist son of a bitch,” Simon tweeted as a clap back to Trump’s tweet which said: “fake news media … is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
—Suspect in Capital Gazette shooting identified and arrested, previously sent threats to employees—
Simon is a former journalist who worked for the Baltimore Sun. Season five of the Wire had a newsroom set-up to look similar to the Sun.
Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, stormed into Maryland’s Capital Gazette newsroom and carried out a calculated killing on Thursday, armed with a shotgun and smoke grenades. Within 60 seconds, he attacked and targeted the journalists he blamed for exposing his harassment against a woman.
Politics and Journalism
Simon insisted that Trump’s constant online attacks against the media helped create the environment that made a tragedy like this possible. The President refused to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and repeatedly calls the news media “fake” and “enemies of the people.”
Five people died at the Capital Gazette. Simon tweeted that he was unsure if friends of his who worked at the Gazette were safe. He later confirmed that they had in fact died.
The gun has been fired. My friends were killed at their desks doing work that the US President says makes them “enemies of the people.” He said it aloud. Words have meaning, Carol. https://t.co/8hQ98Olczu
— David Simon (@AoDespair) June 29, 2018
Simon also aimed his criticism at Sen. Marco Rubio, who he said has blamed the media.
“From the vantage of someone who is waiting for the death count of journalists shot in their newsroom in my home state, can I simple say that @marcorubio is unfit to be a citizen of a republic, much less a legislator. You should crawl through broken glass to hell, Senator,” Simon wrote.
—‘Queer Eye’ co-host Karamo Brown advocates for deaf and hard of hearing viewers—
Simon just recently returned to Twitter after his cutting remarks got him booted off the social media platform.
He wished death to a Trump supporter and it got him banned.