If you thought you were sick of hearing politicians offer “thoughts and prayers” just wait until you hear the newest talking point!
Darren Bailey was the latest to say the quiet part out loud on Monday when, just TWO HOURS after the mass shooting at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, he was already telling everyone to go ahead and just “move on.”
In a Facebook Live post the Republican candidate in the race for governor of the state asked for prayers, naturally, but then followed that up immediately by telling citizens to go back to business as usual:
“Let’s move on and celebrate the independence of this nation.”
Wow. WOW. That’s… well, it would have been unbelievable a few years ago, now it’s just infuriating. We mean, they went from “It’s too soon to talk about politics” in the days after shootings to “Let’s just forget it, it’s been nearly the length of a Marvel movie.”
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Social media exploded with righteous fury at the gubernatorial hopeful, writing comments like:
“How depraved must you be, that just hours after a gun toting terrorist opens fire during an Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb that resulted in 6 people dying and scores wounded, for you to call for people to “move on & celebrate”, GOP Illinois state Sen. Darren Bailey?”
“Darren Bailey basically went out and said ‘Mass shooting? Who cares, we gotta light fireworks’. Absolutely not fit to be anywhere near a leadership position.”
“‘Let’s move on’ that’s what he had to say?? That’s the problem moving on so quickly after these shootings! They don’t need your prayers they need stricter gun laws!!”
“Darren Bailey saying, we still haven’t found the Highland Park shooter, but let’s pray and move on. May just be the most Republican thing I’ve ever heard in my life!”
“Trump-backed Illinois Gov candidate Darren Bailey wants us to just “move on & celebrate” after the Highland Park massacre. This is the same douche canoe who raffled off assault weapons to fund his s**tty campaign. So no, Darren. The only thing we’re moving on from is your ass”
Fair. E. Nuff.
Bailey clearly heard about the backlash. His campaign actually did send a statement of apology to Vice:
“I apologize if in any way we diminished the pain being felt across our state today. I am heartbroken by today’s tragic events and the pain and loss felt by so many. My intent was to pray for the victims and those affected by today’s tragedy and for the shooter to be caught and prosecuted without further loss.”
By “move on and celebrate” he meant “apprehend the shooter” makes total sense. We’re sure voters won’t mind being told to ignore a massacre in their backyard. 
So what reason could a politician in the middle of a tough campaign possibly have to send such a message in the wake of multiple deaths (now seven confirmed) and dozens of injuries in his state? We mean, sure, he’s a major Second Amendment guy who doesn’t support gun safety measures — but there may have been a reason why for this shooting in particular he had a directive to tell people to move on.
See, he’s one of the many GOP politicians who have gotten a big bump from having the support of former president Donald Trump. And the shooter — who was arrested on Monday afternoon “without incident” — might be also be a Trump guy. The 22-year-old was photographed at a rally in 2020 and posted a photo of himself draped a Trump flag in 2021. While the suspected shooter’s politics haven’t been confirmed, it’s possible that early word got to Bailey’s camp, and he thought it was even more prudent to brush this one under the rug? It’s also possible he hadn’t heard that information — and was just minimizing the pain and suffering of the Illinois people because it doesn’t fit with his guns-first ideology.
Who can say with some of these guys??
[Image via Fox 32/CBS Chicago/60 Minutes/YouTube.]
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