Rep. Paul Gosar blames Texas school massacre on ‘transsexual leftist illegal alien’
Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar appears to have quickly — and falsely — blamed Tuesday’s grade-school massacre on a “transsexual leftist illegal alien” in a tweet that has since been deleted.
The right-wing Republican reportedly made his claim in response to a tweet that the alleged shooter was probably a racist who would have supported congressmen such as Gosar. There’s no indication at this point that the claim is true either. News sites including his home state’s AZ Central took a screen shot of Gosar’s reply before it was apparently deleted.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on March 17, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/)
“We know already fool,” Gosar responded. “It’s a transsexual leftist illegal alien named Salvatore Ramos. It’s apparently your kind of trash.”
Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old suspect in the mass shooting that left 19 children and two adults dead, is reportedly from the south Texas town of Uvalde, where the shootings happened. Numerous published witness accounts describe Ramos as a “loner” who worked, fast food jobs, was bullied in high school and struggled in his studies. Little seems to be known about his politics or sexual orientation.
He legally purchased two assault rifles in mid May at which point he also loaded up on ammunition.
Gosar himself is a product of bullying, according to family members who have denounced their brother’s politics.
“Paul was threatened and bullied and hazed growing up,” his younger brother Tim Gosar told MSNBC in November.
He also said the politician is “dangerous, unhinged and reckless” and should be expelled from Congress. In 2018, six of Gosar’s siblings campaigned for his Democratic opponent in Arizona’s congressional race.
Gosar — an election fraud conspiracy theorist — was censured by fellow members of Congress in 2021 after he posted violent anime videos depicting acts of violence against President Biden and fellow Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat.
On the day of the slaughter in Uvalde, Gosar tweeted again that the 2020 election had been stolen from Donald Trump. There is no evidence to support that claim.
