Is AZ Representative’s Facebook Post To Blame For President Trump Billboard Vandalism?

A Trump billboard with mushroom clouds, swastika dollar signs on Grand Avenue in Phoenix was vandalized by someone with a paintball gun. The sign, which was clearly intended to provoke, made news across the globe as soon as it went up.

During the run-up to the 2016 General Election, the paintball Trump theme littered the pages Facebook, but now some are trying to point to a Facebook post by Rep. Kelly Townsend as the inspiration for the Phoenix attack.

Townsend issued a statement on her Facebook page on Wednesday addressing the allegations: “If I am being blamed for the recent paintball incident of the less-than-artistic billboard of President Trump with Nazi-like symbols because of my Facebook post, then by the same standards, Barak Obama is culpable for all the violent protests incited by his own “If they bring a knife, we bring a gun” comment that he made on the campaign trail in Philadelphia in 2008. Or perhaps if anyone is killed in upcoming protests, it would be of the same lens that we accuse Valerie Jarret for her recent video that gives a tacit approval of bloodshed to accomplish the goals of the civil rights movement. However, it is my belief that each man and woman is individually responsible for their own actions and whoever is responsible for the vandalism should be held accountable. I am not regretful of my comments and have an inherent right to voice my own disdain, and refuse to be silenced by political correctness.”