MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Wednesday proved, yet again, that there's no vile slander he won't use in order to harm the Republican Party. On Morning Joe, the show's cast blamed the Republican Party for the murder of eight people, including six Asian-American women, in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Scarborough, despite recognizing the problem of jumping to conclusions without evidence, jumped to conclusions when he asked Republican-turned Democrat Kurt Bardella, "While we can't jump -- police officers won't want us jumping to any quick conclusions now, it certainly looks like some of your greatest fears in that column last week were recognized in Atlanta last night."
According to Bardella, "This is a systemic problem right now that's reached crisis point" for which the Republican Party is to blame, "Why have we seen, according to new data, this huge uptick in violence against Asian-Americans? Why are we seeing 150% hate crimes against the AAIP community all coincides with the timing of the rhetoric of the Republican Party using terms like China Virus and Kung Flu."
If calling COVID-19 the China Virus is racist and xenophobic, that's bad news for the media which has spent the last several weeks and months worrying about British, South African, and Brazilian variants.
Bardella was not done:
How do you clap when says “China Virus?” How do you look the other way when the leader of your party continues to use this type of inflammatory rhetoric? We know just after watching the events of January 6th that the supporters of the Trump movement will take their words literally and perpetrate violence against the targets of them. And I'm so tired of going through life with this bullseye put on my back by one of the two major political parties in America. It makes me sick.
At the conclusion of Bardell's remarks, host Willie Geist added, "You know, it's another case where President Trump, former-President Trump, never understood the power of his words. It was a throw- away line. He thought maybe it was funny or stirred up his base, but a lot of people who tune into everything he says take it more literally."
Police later claimed that race did not appear to be a factor, but that the shooter, "apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places, and it’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate."
Morning Joe did not have this information during the 7:00 eastern hour, but that just makes their blaming the GOP even more irresponsible.
CNN's Chris Cuomo on Wednesday tweeted a similar smear:
This wildly irresponsible MSNBC segment was sponsored by Subway.
Here is a transcript for the March 17 show:
MSNBC
Morning Joe
7:03 AM ET
JOE SCARBOROUGH: This was a widespread problem last week and while we can't jump -- police officers won't want us jumping to any quick conclusions now, it certainly looks like some of your greatest fears in that column last week were recognized in Atlanta last night.
KURT BARDELLA: Yeah, Joe. Even setting aside the tragedy in Atlanta, we know that this week there was someone walking the streets of New York City who was verbally assaulted by a white woman getting in a cab yelling “go back to China at them.” We know that there is in California someone being prosecuted as a hate crime for spitting on Asian-Americans who were just dining at a restaurant. I mean, this is a systemic problem right now that's reached crisis point. And it really is a sickening feeling to start your day and go through the motions of your day knowing that going through everyday activities could result in violence being portrayed on me because of the way that I look and I go back to why is this happening? Why have we seen, according to new data, this huge uptick in violence against Asian-Americans? Why are we seeing 150% hate crimes against the AAIP community all coincides with the timing of the rhetoric of the Republican Party using terms like China Virus and Kung Flu. I think about last fall when 164 Republicans voted against a resolution put forward by Congresswoman Grace Meng to condemn violence against Asian-Americans. Like how do you vote against something like that how do you tell people who look like me with a recorded vote that our lives mean less than other people's? How do you condone rhetoric that has been proven to show in sites of violence and hate and makes the world more dangerous for people like me, how do you condone that behavior? How do you clap when says “China Virus?” How do you look the other way when the leader of your party continues to use this type of inflammatory rhetoric? We know just after watching the events of January 6th that the supporters of the Trump movement will take their words literally and perpetrate violence against the targets of them. And I'm so tired of going through life with this bullseye put on my back by one of the two major political parties in America. It makes me sick.
WILLIE GEIST: Kurt, I hear you. It's powerful. You know, it's another case where President Trump, former-President Trump, never understood the power of his words. It was a throw- away line. He thought maybe it was funny or stirred up his base, but a lot of people who tune into everything he says take it more literally.
