U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks on behalf of Democrat Mike Espy, unseen, and his race in a special election to fill the final two years of a term started by Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran, in Jackson, Miss., Friday, July 20, 2018. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed to temporarily succeed Cochran, and she is running for the seat. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

If you haven’t heard, a lot of things people in politics say are total baloney.

If you’re on Team A and Team B does something, go ahead and say it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened; if Team A does the same thing, look into the camera and — with a straight face — love it.

And if you say Team B must condemn evil — which makes you the good guy — and then they actually do it, therefore putting you in a pickle…for Pete’s sake, never let them obtain redemption. This is very important: You must reject their apology.

If — that is — you’re a giant goofball.

Just ask Cory Booker.

Here’s some of what the senator had to say as of August 4th:

One of the lessons in my faith is that you reap what you sow.

When Donald Trump uses words like “infestation,” “invasion” and “shithole countries”—

When he refuses to condemn Neo-Nazis and white supremacists—

Trump is giving license to this kind of violence. He’s responsible. pic.twitter.com/hf3ugZIO5D

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) August 4, 2019

It should be noted that his message was silly; but that’s what he had to say.

And voilà — wish granted.

On Monday, speaking on the weekend’s abhorrent mass shootings, the President called out the evil of racist hatred:

“These barbaric slaughters are an assault upon our communities, an attack upon our nation, and a crime against all of humanity.  We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil, the cruelty, the hatred, the malice, the bloodshed, and the terror.  Our hearts are shattered for every family whose parents, children, husbands, and wives were ripped from their arms and their lives.  America weeps for the fallen.

“The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate.  In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.  These sinister ideologies must be defeated.  Hate has no place in America.  Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.  We have asked the FBI to identify all further resources they need to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism — whatever they need.”

One might expect Cory to be delighted.

But appearing on CNN, he made clear it’s an “apology not accepted” situation as he excoriated the Leader of the Free World for not taking personal blame for the actions of the gunmen.

The host asked:

“Do you welcome [the President’s] acknowledgement?”

He got straight to the point:

“No. Reconciliation — the kind of healing that we need — starts first with someone standing up and saying, ‘I’ve been wrong. I’ve made mistakes. What I’ve said before has been unacceptable.’ So you can’t speak out of one side of your mouth about the need for us to come together as a country, but consistently do things that divide this nation and pit us against each other, that fuel racial bigotry and hatred. If he wants to show that he’s changed, then this is about reconciliation. Speak to how you have contributed to the hate and the division and the bigotry. … How you have said things that make people with violent instincts and violent intentions all the more likely to do the kind of heinous things. This is unacceptable. There is no repentance in this. There is no contrition in this. And there is no reconciliation from this President who owes the American people — someone who can’t even condemn Nazis — who owes the American people so much more than he’s giving.”

Dear Cory:

A sizable chunk of what you just said is an example of “speak[ing] out of one side of your mouth” while contradicting yourself with the other. Also, if I had to define American politics — that being our two-party system — with one word, it would be “division.” That’s what the Republican/Democrat paradigm is. And every chance you get, you seek to create that very thing — as a left-wing congressman, you want to separate yourself from the Republican President, which does the same to your separate constituencies. This is your primary MO. The same goes for your run for the White House — in every debate leading up to the primaries, you must divide the candidates, with you being far away from everyone else. So goes your supporters versus theirs. “Division” is the only means by which you may bolster your party and protect your seat. For you to ever accuse another politician of engaging in “division” is both A) Ridiculous, given the nature of a binary political system, and B) Abjectly hypocritical.

Furthermore, bigotry means “intolerance for an opposing view.” You’re no stranger to that display.

Thirdly, to suggest the President of the United States — whoever he or she may be — could be personally responsible for what any crazed person might do is foolish.

Cory managed to wrap it up with a stepping stone to the Democratic nomination:

“We are seeing a catastrophic failure in presidential leadership right now. There can be no equivocation about that whatsoever.”

Back to something meaningful, in his speech about the very serious and dastardly killings, President Trump explained that the Justice Department will be partnering with “local, state, and federal agencies, as well as social media companies, to develop tools that can detect mass shooters before they strike.”

Also on the docket as “just a few of the areas of cooperation” toward ending mass shootings: Stop the glorification of violence, reform our mental health system, and prevent the access to firearms by dangerous individuals.

Let’s hope those pursuits can make a difference.

But there is much else to be done in order to prevent the nation’s pending atrocities (like this). And absurd political posturing by a 2020 hopeful does nothing to help.

-ALEX

Relevant RedState links in this article: here.

See 3 more pieces from me:

Rashida Tlaib On ‘Meet The Press’: Trump’s Crimes ‘Demand’ That He Be Impeached

Jon Voight Drops A Bomb On Hollywood: Donald Trump Is ‘ The Greatest President Since Abraham Lincoln’

Retired Pastor & His Wife Say They Were Evicted From Their Senior Living Community For Hosting A Bible Study

Find all my RedState work here.

And please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.

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