Walker Defends Trump With ‘Fact Check’

Scott Walker. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Wisconsin voters sure got it right when they kicked former Gov. Scott Walker to the curb.

I noted that Walker played the fool by praising Trump‘s nearly-universally condemned order to hose citizen protestors out of public park for his photo op, but because Walker’s in The Donald cult he had to double-down later on Twitter by retweeting the White House’s latest Orwellian spin on what the whole world saw:

FACT CHECK: NO tear gas was used to clear people from Lafayette Park on Mon. Nat Park Service report: violent protestors threw bricks, frozen water bottles & caustic liquids. Police found glass bottles, baseball bats and metal poles hidden in area. https://t.co/7N0KYT8ynt

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) June 3, 2020

Team Trump is contending that the mixture of smoke and pepper gas devices released to attack the gathering was not tear gas, splitting hairs over the definition of what is or isn’t tear gas — a semantical distinction which means nothing to people who got airborne disabling agents blown into their eyes, noses and mouths.

Or, tear gas.

Which is what the professionals call it, because the phrase is in common use:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Riot control agents (sometimes referred to as “tear gas”) are chemical compounds that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin.”

And, according to the CDC, “several different compounds” fall under this definition, and are employed by security forces, including military and police, in riot control situations.

Which is why this headline was accurate:

Peaceful Protesters Tear-Gassed To Clear Way For Trump Church Photo-Op 

And speaking of tear gas and the truth, the Walker-Trump ridiculous denial in the face of such dangerous behavior would be akin to asking a pew mate at a funeral for a kleenex, and being told, “Sorry, I don’t have a kleenex. All I have is a thin, folded, non-scented-off-brand-pocket-sized-single-use absorbent tissue paper square.”

Walker’s initial defense of what Trump had done to American citizens so he could play dictator Don was bad enough, but keeping the story and imagery alive in the face of a national condemnation in defense of the U.S. Constitution validates what Wisconsin voters decided in November, 2018 when they took away his incumbency: Walker was never a leader, and now he’s just an abject follower.

James Rowen, a former journalist and mayoral staffer in Milwaukee and Madison, writes a regular blog, The Political Environment.