Police Investigate Political Motive Behind Murder Of Black Trump Backer

Many in this country would like for you to believe that politics cuts along color lines…at least, it does if you’re not white. Minorities are supposed to keep themselves on the Democratic plantation. They’re damn sure not supposed to support Donald Trump for president.

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And yet, a surprising number actually do.

One, an African-American business owner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was murdered recently. Police are looking into a political motivation behind the attack.

Bernell Trammell, 60, was shot in front of his business, Expression Publications, in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood on Thursday afternoon.

Along with Bible verses, there were handmade signs on the building like “Vote Donald Trump 2020,” and “Re-Elect Trump 2020,” reported WISN‘s Dan O’Donnell.

Sources said cops aren’t sure of the motive at this time – but investigators are probing whether Trammell was gunned down in the Wisconsin city over his GOP beliefs.

Law enforcement said the suspect drove up in front of Expression Publications where Trammell sat outside, shot him, and drove off yesterday.

Cops responded to the shooting at around 12:30pm.

A well-known businessman and Trump fanatic, Trammell had regularly campaigned for the President and chatted to locals in front of City Hall in downtown Milwaukee.

Now, we don’t know for a fact that this is politically motivated, but it comes at the same time as a number of other politically-motivated attacks seem to have swept across the nation. Given that Trammell was such a vocal Trump supporter and finding him at given times wasn’t exactly difficult, it’s hard not to think that this was an assassination rather than a random crime.

If it is, that’s a problem.

You see, most of the violence we’ve seen in recent days is what we consider pretty low-level stuff. While the riots are destructive, they’re still low-level violence. It generally targets businesses and buildings, not people. It’s still bad–don’t get me wrong on that, it’s uncalled for by any measure–but it’s still not murder.

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Much of the other violence we’re seeing might well be politically-motivated, but it’s also fairly impersonal. It’s opportunistic, something one can avoid to some degree.

Targeted violence like this, though, is even worse. It’s another measure meant to explicitly discourage political discourse, same as much of the other violence we’ve seen, only it now makes it so even speaking out can make you a target.

Of course, police aren’t really sure it’s politically motivated. It may be something else, something far more personal. I actually hope so. Once assassinations start, it won’t be long before both sides are targeting people for their opinions. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how bad things can go from there.

In the meantime, I’ll be praying for Trammell’s family and for police to find his killer or killers as quickly as possible. Regardless of the motive, no one likes the idea of killers walking free on our city streets. Find them, try them, convict them, and lock them away for the rest of their days so they never breathe free air again.

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