Like many conservatives, Newsmax's Greg Kelly wanted to disprove the Texas mall shooter's ties to white supremacy. Last year, Axios reported on the rise of white supremacy with Hispanics. That didn't fit Kelly's narrative, though.
Kelly used the wrong person's image to claim that the shooter couldn't be a white supremacist. And he even tried to tie the shooter in with a prison gang even though he had no criminal history.
"They told us this guy did it, Mauricio Garcia, and oh, yes, a white supremacist with neo-nazi ties," he insisted. "Now look, this is not a white supremacist, and oh, by the way, we abhor white supremacy, but you know what the left does, right?"
"They think anything MAGA must be white supremacist. That is appalling -- This is just pathetic. Alright, now there's a tattoo. Many tattoos."
Kelly claimed without evidence that the shooter's tattoo represents the 'Puro Tango Blast' prison gang.
"This is what they do now. This is what it's all about," he added. "Try to tarnish or somehow diminish the other side by any means possible."
The shooter's social media posts would have been a red flag for Kelly. He had a massive swastika tattoo across his chest and admitted to being a white supremacist. He used those words. Interestingly, MAGA defends white supremacists, and that's because they agree with that ideology. That's the only explanation.
H/T: @Acyn
