Five journalists who worked at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, were murdered Thursday when an individual with a longstanding grudge against the newspaper blasted his way into the building seeking revenge for a lost 2015 defamation lawsuit he had leveled against the paper. It was personal animus against that specific newspaper, not some generalized anti-media sentiments. Nevertheless, as news of the attack quickly spread across the country, once again leftists politicized the atrocity by blaming President Donald Trump.

The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman wrote, “What happened today is sickening. This alleged gunman appears to have had a longstanding grudge against the paper and little else is known so far. But Trump is the only president in memory to call the press ‘the enemy of the people.’”

Reuters’ Rob Cox went further, angrily pontificating, “This is what happens when [Donald Trump] calls journalists the enemy of the people. Blood is on your hands, Mr. President. Save your thoughts and prayers for your empty soul.” Others joined in with similar memes.“

The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway observed, "We also didn’t see [the MSM] wonder if the media’s harsh treatment of Republicans led to the mass assassination attempt on a baseball field filled with Republican senators and members of Congress last June. They also didn’t wonder if anti-police rhetoric led to the targeted murders of various policemen in recent years. The blame game seems to work one way with traditional media sources.”

Is it any wonder that 72% of Americans think the MSM intentionally reports misleading news?

The reality is that these mass attacks consistently have one common denominator, and it isn’t the presence of or lack of gun-control laws, nor is it political rhetoric. Rather in almost all of these atrocities the perpetrator is known in his local community to be a problem.

While it may be tempting to play the Left’s game of blaming the lawless actions of individuals on political opponents, one must take care not to conflate the two. Trump chastising the MSM for propagating fake news is not the same as Democrat Maxine Waters explicitly calling on people to harass Trump administration officials. The irony is that much of the MSM is more than willing to excuse Waters over her call to harassment as merely political rhetoric while seeking every opportunity to blame Trump for instigating and fueling vitriol and violence simply because he calls out their lies.