How much does the Washington, D.C. think tank establishment hate President Donald Trump? Apparently enough to question if the president dying to a disease would be “poetic justice.”
Berin Szóka, president of Big Tech policy think tank TechFreedom, tweeted a “Serious question” on March 9. Two weeks after the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and amid concern over one of the conference’s attendees being infected, Szóka tweeted: “Serious question: could there possibly any greater poetic justice in the universe than for Trump to die of the #CPACvirus?”
He later tried to claim he would “never wish death upon anyone” and that his question “doesn’t express my organization’s opinion.”
Szóka appears to have tried to use his emotions over recent events to excuse his tweet: “Like many, I’ve been distraught at systematic downplaying of this crisis. My tweet came not from a place of malice but from deepest concern.” He has since been pilloried by multiple commentators and media members.
The Bongino Report replied “‘I'd never wish death upon anyone’ - guy who wished death upon someone,” while sharing a screenshot of the since-deleted tweet.
Mike Davis of The Internet Accountability Project called out Szóka and his organization’s Big Tech backing:
“.@BerinSzoka, the head of the @Google-funded @TechFreedom, wished for the death of the President of the United States. By doing this, Szoka disqualified Tech Freedom and himself as credible participants in any policy discussion.”
The Daily Caller’s coverage hammered home that deaths of politicians from this virus are not a matter to be taken lightly:
“Several GOP lawmakers have self-quarantined after being exposed to an attendee who was infected with the coronavirus at CPAC including, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. Trump’s incoming chief of staff Mark Meadows announced Monday that he would also be quarantined after possibly coming into contact with the CPAC attendee.”
Szóka was included in The Washington Post’s Technology 202 Network, which is a panel of “technology experts from across the government, the private sector and the consumer advocacy community invited by The Washington Post to vote in regular surveys on the most pressing issues in the field.”
