In an op-ed published in the LA Times, Amanda Knox expressed confusion as to why she’s received so much backlash for not supporting Donald Trump during his bid for the White House this past fall. Trump famously supported Knox during her double-murder trial in Italy, routinely tweeting (of course) about her case, and even making appearances on news stations in Knox’s hometown of Seattle. While in Italy as a foreign exchange student, Knox was convicted of a 2007 double-murder of her roommate and her boyfriend. Knox was later acquitted of all charges, and there was some back and forth by the Italian Supreme Court, but she’s now firmly back on U.S. soil.
Back in October of last year, Knox referred to Trump as “inexperienced, uninformed, and irresponsible” on her website. Trump reportedly caught wind of her words and wasn’t thrilled. George Guido Lombardi — the president’s longtime Trump Tower neighbor — recently revealed in a New York Times piece that Trump was extremely upset to learn that Knox had publicly supported Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, even after he had stood by her in her during her trial. That, Knox wrote in her op-ed, confused her, and seemed, as she put it, extremely “undemocratic and dangerous.”
“He (Trump) is now the president of the United States and reportedly ‘very upset’ with me because I didn’t vote for him,” Knox wrote of learning Trump was angry she hadn’t returned the favor with pledging her allegiance to his run for the presidency. “Do I owe him my loyalty?”
Knox went on to conclude Trump must feel, even though they share differing values and beliefs, that she owed it to him to endorse him:
“The message was clear: Trump defended me in the past; how dare I not defend him now? Never mind that Trump doesn’t share my values. If I won’t endorse him, at the very least I should keep my ‘left-wing lunacies’ to myself.”
Knox included in the op-ed a couple of hate-filled comments she’s received since supporting Clinton instead of Trump. She says one angry Trump supporter wrote the following:
“I’m sorry I ever supported you. You have turned into a left wing lunatic. I see your experience in Italy has left you completely ungrateful to be an American … Donald Trump stood by you, but now you turn around and indirectly attack him? You should be ashamed of yourself.”
(Via LA Times)