Florida Veteran’s Home Vandalized, Set On Fire: He Says It’s Because He’s A Trump Supporter
A Florida veteran’s home was vandalized and set on fire, and he claims it’s because he’s a vocal Donald Trump supporter, WTVT (Tampa) is reporting.
Matthew Smith is a Navy veteran and an unapologetic Donald Trump supporter. The Plant City man was staying with relatives on Monday night, and he returned home Tuesday to find his home gutted by fire and anti-Trump graffiti sprayed around the exterior.
“It’s not what I expected out of America. It should be us figuring problems out together.”
Navy Vet’s home vandalized by “tolerant liberals”
Anti-trump graffiti, racial slurs written on the walls, and then burning of the house pic.twitter.com/ADU2f0cDDS
— Liberal Logic (@LiberalLogic123) November 30, 2016
According to WTFS (Tampa), Smith was staying at his grandparents’ house when a neighbor called him at 3 a.m. to tell him that fire trucks were surrounding his home. As it turns out, it was fortunate that Smith and his family happened to be away at the time; his 8-year-old daughter’s bed had been set on fire, as was his 18-month-old son’s crib. Every room in the house suffered fire damage in one form or another.
“The place was ransacked. Clothes from my room, all the way to the back, just made it everywhere. Papers, important documents thrown everywhere, just torn up. The Christmas tree set up yesterday was knocked down and had been lit on fire. Every piece of furniture was pretty much burned through.”
Inside and outside the home, the walls were sprayed with anti-Trump graffiti, such as “cracker” (a derogatory word for whites), “F**k Trump,” “F**k yo [sic] kids,” and “not my prez.”
Matthew Smith, veteran, finds his home torched, tagged with anti-Trump graffiti in Florida https://t.co/Fj7mlzLmhj pic.twitter.com/WV27JxQAUS
— Usa In Flames (@Usainflames) November 30, 2016
The fire could not have come at a worse time for the veteran and his family. The home that was burned is in foreclosure, and they have no insurance to pay for the personal belongings that were destroyed in the fire.
It is unclear, as of this writing, why Smith was staying with family Monday night and not at his own home.
Smith is convinced that his home was burned and vandalized because he is a supporter of Donald Trump. While he never had any Trump signs in his yard, he’s been vocal about his support for Donald Trump on social media. And, he says, burning down a Trump supporter’s home is just the sort of thing anti-Trump people would do.
“It’s been several months now where there’s protesters breaking the law, damaging property, destroying cities. And, ‘oh just let them do it’ and that’s not how it should have gone down. If you are breaking the law you should go to jail. That’s it.”
The State Fire Marshall is treating the fire as “suspicious” and is looking into possible connections with known arsonists.
Since Donald Trump’s election-night victory three weeks ago, people across the country are reporting vandalism, assaults, and other crimes that appear to be politically-motivated.
Two weeks ago, USA Today reported that politically-motivated violence since Trump’s election is even worse than what the nation saw post-September 11. Vandalism, threats, intimidation, and assaults have all been reported, with Trump supporters having been targeted by Trump opponents, and vice-versa.
In some cases, those crimes appear to have been faked; for example, as reported by the Inquisitr, a Louisiana woman claimed that assailants tore off her hijab while making statements about Donald Trump. It turns out that her story was a lie.
Back in Florida, a GoFundMe campaign has been set up to raise money for Matthew Smith’s family. As of this writing, the campaign has raised $3,700 of a goal of $10,000.
[Featured Image by Runrun2/Shutterstock]
