Back in 2019, numerous progressives could not wait to jump at the chance to virtue signal their support for now-convicted hate crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett.
The “Empire” actor was found guilty Thursday night on five out of six accounts after he filed a false police report in January 2019 claiming that was he attacked early in the morning coming home from Subway by two men who were hurling homophobic and racial slurs during the assault. The account seemed odd for a number of reasons and occurred less than two weeks after another hate crime hoax — the infamous Covington Catholic incident in Washington, D.C.
Nonetheless, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) rushed to his Twitter to declare that the “attack” was evidence of the “surging hostility toward minorities around the country.”
The racist and homophobic attack on Jussie Smollett is a horrific instance of the surging hostility toward minorities around the country. We must come together to eradicate all forms of bigotry and violence. https://t.co/2accVEJrCG
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 29, 2019
Sanders — of course — is about as useful as a rock at judging political events and their implications for society.
Consider that in 2011, Sanders promoted an article stating that the American dream was more likely to be found in Venezuela than in the United States. The economy in Venezuela since then has plunged so badly under the socialist-run regime that reports emerged of citizens having to sell their hair and eat zoo animals just to scrape by.
In other words, the economy is a complete disaster and Sanders has failed to convince anybody that he did not actually mean to show support for socialism in Venezuela.
Similarly, Smollett’s original story also devolved this week into patent absurdity, as the Hollywood actor confessed to using hard drugs and engaging in promiscuous behavior with one of the men initially suspected of carrying out the attack —Abimbola Osundairo. Prosecutors even presented evidence that appeared to show a dry-run of the attack. Smollett’s story never added up and the jury delivered justice, but not the decision that Smollett was presumably hoping for.
To make matters worse for Sanders, the far-left politician has even more lapses in judgment that he should be embarrassed about in regards to Smollett.
Yet even after Smollett was re-charged for the alleged hate crime hoax, Sanders still endorsed the prosecutor who dropped the initial charges.
Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx refused to prosecute the original charges against Smollett in February 2019 after police accused him of filing a false police report.
As noted by the National Review, an anonymous prosecutor in Foxx’s office told the press, “This case was handled markedly different from any other case at 26th Street. No one knows why, and more importantly, no one can explain why our boss, the head prosecutor of all of Cook County, has decided to so demean and debase both our hard work, and our already tenuous relationship with the Chicago Police Department,” anonymous prosecutor in Foxx’s office wrote after the announcement.”
“Smollett was re-charged [in January 2020] with a six-count indictment following an investigation by special prosecutor Dan Webb that began in August,” National Review added.
Regardless of the apparent mishandling of the case, Sanders lent his support. Foxx responded that she was “honored today to have the endorsement of Senator Sanders.”
Sanders has not released a statement since Smollett was found guilty.