Florida school shooting survivor’s dad responds to Jack Kingston suggesting kids are being coached with left-wing talking points in the wake of massacre: “Not a chance. These students are motivated. These students are intelligent. The only motivation they have is making change.” pic.twitter.com/ys4fopLPMY
— New Day (@NewDay) February 20, 2018
After President Trump refused to even say the word “gun” during his televised address of the devastating mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students and survivors are taking matters into their own hands. Emma Gonzalez delivered a fiery speech at a Florida rally memorializing the victims that also called out complacent lawmakers, while others have announced plans for a “March For Our Lives” in Washington, D.C. and cities across the country on March 24th. And former Georgia congressman Jack Kingston seems to think it’s all a left-wing ruse.
“O really?” he tweeted on Sunday in response to a USA Today story about the march. “‘Students’ are planning a nationwide rally? Not left wing gun control activists using 17yr kids in the wake of a horrible tragedy?” When CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked Kingston about the controversial comment on Tuesday’s New Day, the pundit doubled down on his criticism. “Their sorrow can very easily be hijacked by left-wing groups who have an agenda,” he said. “Do we really think 17 year olds on their own are going to plan a nationwide rally? I would say to you very plainly that organized groups that are out there, like George Soros’, are always ready to take up the charge.”
Camerota quickly corrected Kingston, noting that she had met with many of the student organizers in Florida and saw no Soros-like interference. Even so, the far-right smear campaign against the Parkland survivors, their allies, and gun control advocates is already in full swing. So Camerota invited shooting survivors Delaney Tarr and Brandon Abzug, as well as Brandon’s father Mark. In response to Kingston’s claims of liberal brainwashing, Mark said there was “not a chance.”
“These students are motivated. These students are intelligent. They only motivation they have is making change. They haven’t been contacted by any operatives. They are doing this on their own, with the support of their families and the people that love them.”
Camerota then asked Brandon what it was like to listen to criticism’s like Kingston’s, especially the charge of his being brainwashed, and he responded:
“I think it’s very despicable that he would even have the audacity to say that. Young people all across this country and over the world should feel that they have the power to make things right. Especially in the wake of a tragedy, we really show who we truly are. So to say that just because we’re young we can’t make a difference is not right, and he should apologize for that.”
As of this writing, Kingston has yet to respond on Twitter or elsewhere to Abzug’s demand for an apology.