The new insanity-plea for domestic terrorists: "But, but... Trump's rhetoric!"
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kansas-terror-plot-trump-anti-muslim_us_5bd742ebe4b055bc948ef751
Attorneys for a President Donald Trump supporter who was convicted in a domestic terrorism plot aimed at slaughtering Muslim refugees asked a federal judge to factor in the backdrop of Trumps campaign rhetoric when deciding their clients sentence this week.
Patrick Stein was one of three right-wing militiamen found guilty in April of a conspiracy to kill Muslim refugees living in rural Kansas. Ahead of the 2016 election, Stein and two others plotted with an FBI informant and an undercover agent to bomb an apartment complex that housed Muslims in Garden City.
...
Steins attorneys, James Pratt and Michael Shultz, argued Monday in a sentencing memo that sending Stein to prison for life was unwarranted and that a sentence of 15 years would be appropriate. They said the judge should factor in the backdrop to this case when crafting an appropriate sentence.
2016 was lit. The court cannot ignore the circumstances of one of the most rhetorically mold-breaking, violent, awful, hateful and contentious presidential elections in modern history, driven in large measure by the rhetorical China shop bull who is now our president, they wrote.
Okay, they planned a mass-murder, but these Trump-supporters are the real victims here!