Former President Barack Obama’s speech late last week at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign angered a lot of Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump.
Among Obama’s comments were these: “Sometimes the backlash comes from people who are genuinely, if wrongly, fearful of change.”
“More often it’s manufactured by the powerful and privileged who want to keep us divided and keep us angry and keep us cynical because it helps them maintain the status quo and keep their power and keep their privilege,” he added.
“And you happen to be coming of age during one of those moments. It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause,” the former president continued.
Even given all that, there was one comment in particular that enraged Kris “Tonto” Paronto, a hero of the Benghazi attack in 2012.
Six years ago, Islamic militants attacked the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.
“Over the past few decades, the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party,” said Obama to a 1,300-seat auditorium full of college students and others.
He went on to say that Republicans in Congress have “embraced wild conspiracy theories, like those surrounding Benghazi.”
Kris Paronto, co-author of the book “13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi,” later claimed that he wanted to “choke” Obama for these comments.
“It’s disgusting. It just raises the bile inside of me. I had a hard time just watching the speech itself. I just wanted to see what he had to say,” said Paronto in an interview Sunday on “Fox & Friends” with Fox News’ Pete Hegseth.
“And when that came across, I just wanted to reach through the screen and just grab him — grab him and choke him and say, ‘Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me that you’d have the gall to disgrace the memory of my teammates and what we did there that night by calling it conspiracy?’ But that’s a narcissist for you,” the soldier continued.
Paronto is a former Army Ranger who became a security contractor and author.
Paronto is a former Army Ranger who later became a security contractor and author.
Host Pete Hegseth acknowledged the enormous frustration.
As the two continued talking about it, Paronto replied about the Obama speech, “I can’t just sit by … Honestly, the man is a disgrace. Just a complete disgrace.”
Related: Gutfeld and Watters Throw Merciless Jabs at Obama After Nazi Remarks
Paronto also tweeted about the speech, “Benghazi is a conspiracy, @BarackObama?! How ’bout we do this, let’s put your cowardly a** on the top of a roof with 6 of your buddies & shoot AK47’s at you while terrorists lob 81mm mortars killing 2 of your buddies all while waiting for U.S. support that you never sent #scum.”
Some people think Paronto went too far with his comments — just as others believe very strongly Obama deserved to be scolded for what he said last Friday.
Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section below — and check out the video below.
Join the Discussion
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.