Earhardt joined her morning Fox News crew of Steve Doocy and Pete Hegseth in railing against 2020 Democrats for “politicizing tragedy” of mass shootings in order to push for gun control measures. And while that stance is common on Fox & Friends, Earhardt appeared to mock the mental health problems of past and present “lone wolf” shooters as simply “crazy.” Her dismissal of mental health issues contributing to mass shootings has long been a line of defense against suggestions of gun control measures.
“There were mass shootings in the last administration, too, you can’t blame the president for mass shootings these individuals are crazy,” Earhardt said. “In order to take somebody’s life you have to be out of your mind, especially that many people these are human beings and they’re just walking into stores and just shooting them down.”
Hegseth went on to take this a step further, comparing blame of this on Trump to “blaming Bernie Sanders” for the June 2017 congressional baseball shooting which targeted several Republican Party lawmakers, although none were killed.
Doocy noted acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney’s Sunday comments on ABC News in which he said Trump’s rhetoric is not to blame for the recent slew of white supremacist-influenced U.S. mass shootings. He then warned viewers by holding up Monday’s New York Post cover which blares the headline, “Ban Weapons of War.”
Doocy cautioned “there will be calls for more laws,” before Earhardt interjected to explain how the El Paso shooting “really hits home” for the Fox News host.
“You know what also hits home?” Earhardt said. “This is Walmart. We all go to Walmart. We all shop for school supplies for our kids.”
“100 percent,” Doocy agreed.
A hateful manifesto tied to the El Paso shooting suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, prompted several Texas Republican leaders including Governor Greg Abbott to say “mental health is a large contributor to any violence or any shooting violence.” He said he would work with other legislators to create mental health-related legislation.
Abbott’s lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, went so far as to blame video games such as Call of Duty and even laws against prayer in public schools for the reasons behind mass shootings. None of the Texas GOP lawmakers offered any potential gun control legislation.
