Conservatives facing violent riots and protests on college campuses across the country really have themselves to blame, according to the New York Times.
"Without uttering a word to students at the University of California, Berkeley, Ann Coulter on Wednesday made herself the latest cause célèbre in the rapidly escalating effort by conservatives to fight liberals on what was once the left's moral high ground over free speech on campus," the Times' Jeremy Peters reported late Wednesday.
Coulter canceled a planned appearance at Berkeley on Thursday after the group that invited her pulled its support amid threats of violence.
"But across the country, conservatives like her are eagerly throwing themselves into volatile situations like the one in Berkeley," Peters continued, "emboldened by a backlash over what many Americans see as excessive political correctness, a president who has gleefully taken up their fight, and liberals they accuse of trying to censor any idea they disagree with."
Among the "eager" conservatives Peters listed was political scientist Charles Murray, who was met last month with a violent mob at Middlebury College that sent a professor defending him to the hospital. Middlebury's political science chair later apologized–to the rioters, for inviting Murray.
Peters also alluded to the Berkeley riots in early February over the invitation of alt-right speaker Milo Yiannopoulos. Rioters caused over $100,000 in damages to the local community, injuring six people.
Conservatives on Twitter were displeased with the Times' take on the situation.
Oh, geez, @nytimes. "Conservatives are putting themselves into volatile situations on college campuses." That is some shameful stuff.
— Kevin D. Williamson (@KevinNR) April 27, 2017
@KevinNR @nytimes "When are these f**king Conservatives finally gonna stop causing all this trouble on college campuses by just shutting the f**k up?"
— Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) April 27, 2017
"Blacks caused trouble by boycotting buses in Montgomery" https://t.co/lf2QGt1sGM
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) April 27, 2017
New York Times endorses "she was wearing a mini skirt" rape defensehttps://t.co/CFdJPL4mPp
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) April 27, 2017
Same paper that blamed the Tucson and Orlando massacres on Republicans. https://t.co/Me60lYYkzb
— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) April 27, 2017