The narrative surrounding the Jussie Smollett case has been completely reversed, and what was originally thought to be a racist, homophobic hate crime is now being investigated as a potential hoax.
On Saturday, the Chicago Police Department released a statement that the trajectory of the investigation had “shifted” due to new evidence found during interrogations. They also acknowledged that they had released two suspects, without charges, late Friday evening.
Upon learning this information, and understanding the gravity of it, Democratic politicians scrambled to come up with a way to justify their previous statements.
Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and many other high-ranking Democratic officials were pressed on their seemingly erroneous judgement, and the results were exactly what you’d expect.
Harris was pressed on her previous statement, where she alleged that the attack on Smollett was “an attempted modern day lyinching.”
.@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery.
This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 29, 2019
She responded awkwardly by saying, “Ok, so, I will say this about that case, I think that the facts are still unfolding, and, um, I’m very, um, concerned about obviously, the initial, um, allegation that he made about what might have happened. And it’s something we should all take seriously whenever anyone, um, alleges that kind of behavior, but there should be an investigation.” Harris continued by saying, “and I think that once the investigation has concluded then we can all comment, but I’m not going to comment until I know the outcome of the investigation.”
Booker was pressed on his previous statement, in which he also said,
The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching. I’m glad he’s safe.
To those in Congress who don’t feel the urgency to pass our Anti-Lynching bill designating lynching as a federal hate crime– I urge you to pay attention. https://t.co/EwXFxl5f2m— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) January 29, 2019
He responded by dodging the question, and attempting to change the narrative in saying, “I’m gonna withhold until all the information actually comes out from on-the-record sources. We know in America that bigoted and biased attacks are on the rise in a serious way…”
And Pelosi simply deleted her previous statement on the alleged attack after the new information surfaced.
Three top Democratic politicians are all saying that, now, they are going to wait for all of the facts time come out in the investigation. Ironic, right? Because, while the rest of the country had been doing this, they chose to jump to an entirely unfounded conclusion, and promulgated their narrative for political gain. They chose to engage in the outrage culture, that is crippling this country from within, to advance their political positions. And this isn’t the first time this has happened. In the very recent past, we’ve seen this same situation play out in the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court Confirmation proceedings, the Covington Catholic controversy… and now, the Jussie Smollett “Hate Crime” investigation.
This type of behavior, coined ‘outrage culture’, is incredibly dangerous. It’s a culture that says the actual facts do not matter. Instead, all that matters is your ability to create a narrative to disparage your political opponent, your righteous indignation, and you speaking “your truth.” Well, the fact of the matter is, Harris, Booker, Pelosi, and others all spoke “their truth” based on their believed righteous indignation, that spoke directly to the heart of the political narrative they want to believe, and that narrative seemingly turned out to be entirely false. They jumped to an unfounded conclusion, and now look like fools. As it turns out, facts and objective truth do matter.
