OPINION:
This is religion, lefty style.
CNN host Reza Aslan, the left’s go-to guy for punditry on all-things religious, spiritual and Jesus in nature — who’s Muslim, by the way — took to Twitter to denounce President Donald Trump’s reaction to the London terror bombings by calling the White House chief a — wait for it, wait for it — a “piece of s—t.”
Go Team Jesus, eh? You’d think if a guy who’s billed as an expert on spiritual and religious matters, on all-things-God, might have at least slung the profanity the terrorists’ way, right? Nope. It was all aimed at Trump.
But first, the backstory.
This is what Trump tweeted, in both horror and frustration at yet another terror attack in the West, in response to Muslim Mayor Sadiq Khan’s comment about the attack on his city: “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ’no reason to be alarmed!’”
Some said Trump’s tweet was taking a line of the mayor’s speech to the country out of context.
The mayor, in a statement made Sunday about the attacks, said this, in part: “My message to Londoners and visitors to our great city is to be calm and vigilant today. You will see an increased police presence today, including armed officers and uniformed officers. There is no reason to be alarmed by this. We are the safest global city in the world. You saw last night as a consequence of our planning, our preparations, the rehearsals that take place, the swift response from the emergency services tackling the terrorists and also helping the injured.”
But Aslan, a professor, producer and religious scholar who has written several books — the latest No. 1 New York Times Bestseller is called “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” — took offense at Trump’s remark.
He tweeted Trump was a “piece of s—t,” Mediaite noted.
The tweet was shortly after removed, and Aslan issued an apology.
“I should not have used a profanity to describe the president when responding to his shocking reaction to the #LondonAttacks,” he wrote.
He then included a longer statement of apology.
“When in the first few minutes of the terror attack in London, the president of the United States tweeted about his travel ban, I lost my cool and responded to him in a derogatory fashion,” he wrote. “That’s not like me. I should have used better language to express my shock and frustration at the president’s lack of decorum and sympathy for the victims of London. I apologize for my choice of words.”
Well and good. But here’s a question for the left: How come you denounce the president of the United States with harsher language than used for the terrorists who committed the atrocity in the first place?
Calling the terrorists a collective “piece of s—t” would be understandable. But the left?
No. To the left, it’s Trump, not the terrorists, who is the more deserving of such rhetoric.
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