MSNBC on Friday used the unfolding shooting spree in Munich to bash the Republican Party and connect the GOP convention to it. Regarding terror, Daily Beast editor Christopher Dickey talked to Brian Williams and lectured, “What we're looking at now in Europe and, to some extent, at the Republican convention and in the discourse in the United States, is a lot of talk about war as if we're talking about a massive operation.”
Dickey insisted that the terror threat not be overstated: “Yet we're often talking as if we're going to go to war with a billion Muslims. And I think we need to be very, very careful about that. You are very careful. NBC is very careful.”
Dickey sneered, “But the broader discourse is really kind of hysterical because the reaction that we all feel is we want a simple solution.” He insisted that terror is “more of a law enforcement issue.”
Dickey is the same man who decried the “rampant Islamophobia” and “xenophobic politics” of Europe. He also feared the European right “will continue to be on the rise" in the wake of terror.
On Thursday, Richard Engel used the occasion of the Munich attack to bemoan “intolerant” “right-wing parties of Europe.
See transcript below:
MSNBC live coverage
7/22/16
3:43BRIAN WILLIAMS: Chris dickey is with us. One of the people, again, we tend to talk to when there's been a terrorism outbreak. Chris, we just watched the scene of an armored personnel carrier on the move in Munich. For our viewers, by the way, Chris was Paris bureau chief, Middle East editor for The Daily Beast and Newsweek. He is foreign editor of The Daily Beast. Based in Paris. Chris, when we last spoke, a deranged man had driven a truck through innocent souls watching fireworks in Nice, France.
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CHRISTOPHER DICKEY: Just over a week ago. I think, Brian, one of the things this people need to keep in mind about this as we listen again and again and we talk again and again about terrorism, about mass killings, about all these horrible things that are happening is how few people actually are involved in carrying them out. Because what we're looking at now in Europe and, to some extent, at the Republican convention and in the discourse in the United States, is a lot of talk about war as if we're talking about a massive operation, huge fifth columns, enormous numbers of people. Even when we're talking about countries that have had a number of people go to Syria and train with ISIS and perhaps come back, we're talking about a few hundred here and there. Yet we're often talking as if we're going to go to war with a billion Muslims. And I think we need to be very, very careful about that. You are very careful. NBC is very careful. But the broader discourse is really kind of hysterical because the reaction that we all feel is that we want a simple solution. We want to be safe again. We don't want this to happen anymore. But we have to recognize that there's a very small number of people who are carrying out these acts. And that should always be the perspective that we keep these things in. It's still more of a law enforcement issue than a military issue to a large extent. Particularly inside Europe, inside the United States.
