Liberals blame Trump, Republicans and racism for Atlanta shootings, before police determine motive

Liberals were quick to blame former-President Trump, Republicans and anti-Asian racism for the string of Tuesday night shootings at Atlanta-area massage parlors, despite not knowing what motivated the killer.

The horrific shooting left eight people dead and another person injured, and a suspect in custody has taken "full responsibility," according to law enforcement. Police said two of the victims were White, while the other six victims were Asian-Americans. Racism is not currently believed to be a motive.

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Liberal pundit Kurt Bardella, who recently advised the now-disgraced Lincoln Project, appeared on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" to assume xenophobia was the motive. Bardella has been outspoken over recent violence against Asians and anticipated the Atlanta shootings were the latest example.

"It really is a sickening feeling to start your day, and go through the motions of your day, knowing that going through everyday activities could result in violence [against] me because of the way that I look. And I go back to why is this happening," Bardella said. "Why have we seen, according to new data, this huge uptick in violence against Asian-Americans?"

Bardella, a former House Republican aide, then answered his own question and blamed the GOP.

"It all coincides with the timing of the Republican Party using terms like ‘China virus’ and ‘Kung-Flu,’" Bardella said, noting that Trump used the "inflammatory rhetoric" himself.

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"I’m so tired of going through life with this bullseye put on my back by one of the two major political parties in American," Bardella said. "It makes me sick."

MSNBC’s Willie Geist reminded Bardella that the Atlanta shootings had not been deemed a hate crime but added, "But you can sort of look at the pattern."

CNN published a story following the tragic shootings headlined, "Attacks against Asian Americans are on the rise. Here's what you can do," which implied the "resurgence of hate" is a result of Trump’s rhetoric.

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"As Covid-19 spread in the US, President Trump publicly referred to coronavirus as "Kung Flu" and the ‘China Virus.’ He insisted the appellations were not racist, instead simply referring to the pandemic's geographic origin," CNN’s Ashley Vaughan wrote, although many CNN personalities referred to the coronavirus by its place of origin in the early weeks of 2020.

Many others took to Twitter with similar takes:

Police officials since said the events are not believed to have been racially motivated, and suspect Robert Aaron Long instead allegedly opened fire because he saw the locations as "an outlet for him" to succumb to purported sex-addiction temptations.

Officials stressed the investigation is ongoing, with authorities not making an official determination as to the motive of the attacks at this time.

While authorities have not ruled out a racially motivated hate crime, many were quick to jump to conclusions.

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Long did not resist during his arrest in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta, police officials said. When investigators interviewed him later, he "made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction, and may have frequented some of these places in the past," Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds told reporters.

Fox News’ Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report.