After a heartfelt plea by Fox's Juan Williams for conservatives to address the rise of white nationalist violence inspired by their hateful rhetoric, Williams' colleagues made excuses, attempted to both-sides the issue, and lied about the motivation behind the rash of white supremacist violence taking place worldwide. Fox's Jesse Watters insisted that the perpetrators of the Pittsburgh, Christchurch, and Poway shooting all “hated Donald Trump.” This is a complete distortion of the reality for each of these shooters who, though felt Trump was not extreme enough, cite his rhetoric along with showing admiration for him as a symbol.

While the perpetrator of the Pittsburgh shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue claimed Trump was not sufficiently anti-Semitic, he echoed Trump and Fox News’ rhetoric that an “invasion” of migrants funded by George Soros was coming to the United States, a conspiracy theory that Fox continued pushing even after the Tree of Life massacre. The Christchurch shooter hailed Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose” but similarly felt Trump’s policies did not go far enough. The murderer in the Poway, California shooting said he had been inspired by both the Tree of Life and Christchurch shooters.