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The award for the worst response by a Republican lawmaker to the Breonna Taylor riots goes to South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. As yet another city fell into anarchy thanks to Antifa and Black Lives Matter, Scott cluelessly endorsed the lies and expectations that have driven riots in city after city.

On Wednesday, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced the results of the grand jury inquiry into the three police officers involved in Taylor’s death. Only one officer was charged, and it was for recklessly firing his gun into three apartments next to Taylor’s. In other words, the shooting of Taylor herself was found to be perfectly lawful. That was as it should be: The warrant on Taylor’s apartment was completely legal, the officers knocked and announced themselves (despite not having to do so), and they only fired their weapons after Taylor’s boyfriend first opened fire on them, hitting one of the officers. Authorities in Kentucky bravely stood up to the mob, and refused to file criminal charges where none were justified.

None of this matters to Senator Scott, though. As carnage broke out on the streets of Louisville, Scott issued a statement complaining that the police were not being punished:

“The situation in Louisville leaves me angry, sad, and frustrated.

Breonna Taylor’s life must mean more than this. After months of heartache, I cannot imagine what her family is feeling today, but my prayers are with them. I am disappointed that the only charge brought was completely unrelated to Ms. Taylor’s death, especially when we know the initial police reports were falsified. The JUSTICE Act would have given prosecutors additional tools useful in this case, such as increasing penalties for falsifying a police report and new penalties for not using body cameras.

…

I am also praying for the two officers shot last night during unrest that followed the announcement of these charges. There is no doubt that the events of 2020 have left our nation on edge, but we cannot push ourselves over the cliff. Make your voices heard, but do not equate violence with more violence.

Breonna Taylor’s life, and George Floyd’s and Ahmaud Arbery’s and Tamir Rice’s and Walter Scott’s and so many others, must be seen as a beacon for change, not a war cry for bloodshed. Say their name and demand change…not destruction. Justice does not equal revenge.” [Tim Scott]

Scott’s statement is ridiculous. The reason there is no charge related to Taylor’s death is because no crimes were committed related to her death. The police warrant was legal, the search was legal, and opening fire after being shot at was legal. No matter. The senator is “disappointed,” and “frustrated.” Scott, in short, wants to sacrifice innocent cops to a bloodthirsty mob. Their actual guilt or innocence is simply a burdensome technicality.

Tim Scott, unfortunately, has a habit of siding with Black Lives Matter and against reality. He did the same for the four officers charged in George Floyd’s death. By now, Floyd’s autopsy and leaked bodycam footage of his death have totally demolished the already flimsy idea that Floyd was murdered by racist police officers. Floyd, a habitual criminal suspected of committing yet another crime, was clearly on drugs and reacted violently to police’s attempt to place him in custody. Chauvin used the prescribed technique for keeping Floyd subdued, and Floyd’s autopsy suggests the lethal dose of fentanyl in his blood, not Chauvin’s knee, may have been what caused his death. At worst, Floyd’s demise is a case of manslaughter caused by one cop’s carelessness. Scott, though, elevates the left’s lie that Floyd was a martyr for racial justice.

This makes Scott’s prayers for the two officers already shot in Louisville ring hollow. Scott is indulging the lies that put those officers in danger: The lie that police forces are racist, that black Americans are “targeted,” that America needs less policing rather than more. As long as these lies continue to be repeated by lawmakers, more police will be shot, more businesses will be burned, and more innocent people will be hurt by criminals that the ruling class has decided to coddle.

Scott isn’t some idiot on Twitter. He is a United States senator. If he can’t bring himself to care whether people are innocent or guilty before demanding they be criminally punished, then he has contempt for the laws of this country and has no business legislating.

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