Idaho Republican suggests it’s ‘plausible’ Obama was behind Charlottesville protest

A Republican state legislator from Idaho has insisted that it is “plausible” that former US President Barack Obama helped organise the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. He is now being slammed for supporting a theory that accuses Obama of taking part in a plot to sabotage US President Donald Trump.

Idaho Representative Bryan Zollinger shared an article last week, suggesting that Obama helped stage the “Unite the Right” march. It also suggested that other top Democrats may have assisted in orchestrating the Charlottesville rally that killed a woman earlier this month. These Democrats allegedly include Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe and billionaire George Soros.

The article Zollinger shared was from a conservative site called American Thinker. After sharing the piece, the Republican state lawmaker began to receive negative comments on his Facebook page.

Zollinger responded to the backlash, saying he thought the article was “interesting” and “thought provoking.” He reportedly added that some of the theories were “plausible.”

He defended his view by saying Obama was a community organiser before he became a US president. On Facebook, Zollinger clarified he was not saying that Obama’s involvement in the protest was true; he was suggesting that it was plausible. Amid the criticism from across Idaho and the United States, he was not changing his mind that there was supposedly at least a kernel of truth in the piece.

Speaking with Idaho’s Post Register on Monday, Zollinger admitted he felt genuinely bad at first that he could have offended somebody and that it was “maybe a mistake” to share the piece. “Since then, the amazing amount of hate and the despicable things that have been said about myself, my wife, my kids, I’ve doubled down,” he said.

American Thinker’s piece questions whether the protest was graced to smear Trump as a racist. “What if Signer and McAuliffe, in conjunction with Antifa and other Soros-funded groups like Black Lives Matter, planned and orchestrated what happened in Charlottesville and meant for events to unfold roughly as they did?” the article reads.

The Charlottesville protest became violent when white supremacist groups clashed with counter protesters. In the aftermath of the fatal Charlottesville rally, Trump was slammed even by members of his own party. He was specifically criticised for blaming “both sides” for the violence. The POTUS added that there were “very fine people” on both sides, referring to the white nationalists and counter protesters.