Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank has a new book entitled The Destructionists where he claims the Republican Party is the enemy of all things good and decent. On Wednesday, he took his book tour to PBS’s Amanpour and Company where he warned that the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago could lead to another Oklahoma City-like bombing, but that it is important to remember Donald Trump isn’t uniquely horrible because he followed the same playbook as the Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush eras.
Talking about the raid, guest host Bianna Golodryga summarized Trump’s various legal predicaments and asked Milbank, “So, from a legal perspective, not a good week for the president. Political perspective, though, could be a bit different. What is your take?”
Milbank didn’t answer the question, instead focusing on some of the response to the raid, “Rhetoric really designed to rile people up, and you can see it in the pro-Trump social media. A lot of talk of civil war and picking up arms and bloodshed. We're seeing a lot of violent rhetoric from Fox News, saying it's war. You're -- you are under attack. So, they're very much doing this in a reckless way that has the ability to foment violence.”
In order to write a book with a thesis such as The Destructionists Milbank needs to cherry pick internet craziness and project that onto the whole GOP while ignoring similar examples on the left. Such nuance would not lead him to appear on PBS, however, as he continued:
The last 24 hours does tie into what I've been writing about the last 25 years, because we've had these repeated episodes of violent rhetoric from the Republicans and from conservative TV and radio that have resulted in protracted periods of violence. And there's a lot of concern that we may be headed, here in the United States, for another, say, Oklahoma City bombing of the 1995 variety.
Golodryga, proving PBS is simply Democratic TV, treated this insanity as if it was some bit of level-headed analysis, “That is really frightening to hear.” She then asked if the raid and circumstances surrounding it would weaken Trump’s grip on the party.
Milbank answered that may be true “in the long run,” but the immediate future “As Congresswoman Liz Cheney said, he's playing on peoples' patriotism to say that their country is under attack. They are under attack. So, that causes them to rally around him. It also has the ability to foment violence.”
In case anyone came away with the impression that Trump is uniquely horrible, Milbank was there to remind them that is not so:
This idea of, sort of, rallying people based on their patriotism, saying that people in our party are patriots. The people in the other party are traitors. There's certainly a trademark of Trump's presidency, but this is also something that goes back to the Gingrich era, and certainly happened during the George W. Bush's presidency where they began to say that the people on the other side of the aisle are not just our opponents but they are the enemy. They are our enemies. That began about 25 years ago. And we're really at this point now where, you know, you have the Republican Party saying, the enemy within is the Democrats.
That’s rich coming from the party that spent the last four years accusing everyone they disagreed with of being pro-Putin.
This segment was sponsored by viewers like you.
Here is a transcript of the August 10 show:
PBS Amanpour and Company
8/10/2022
11:07 PM ET
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Because from a legal perspective, it has not been a good week for that former president. FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home in an unprecedented move on Monday. Yesterday, Federal Appeals Court said that the House can obtain his tax returns. And as we just said today, he was deposed by the New York attorney general on -- for his organization's finances. An investigation into that, he had pleaded the Fifth. So, from a legal perspective, not a good week for the president. Political perspective, though, could be a bit different. What is your take?
DANA MILBANK: Right. I think, that's key, Bianna. It's not a good situation legally. But what's really astonishing is the way the president, and even more so the Republicans. Without very much information, nobody really knows what's going on, particularly in the Mar-a-Lago search, but are lashing out at the FBI, at the Justice Department in the most reckless terms. Saying that the FBI, the Justice Department are corrupt, nobody is safe. They're coming after you.Rhetoric really designed to rile people up, and you can see it in the pro-Trump social media. A lot of talk of civil war and picking up arms and bloodshed. We're seeing a lot of violent rhetoric from Fox News, saying it's war. You're -- you are under attack. So, they're very much doing this in a reckless way that has the ability to foment violence.
And that -- in this sense, the last 24 hours does tie into what I've been writing about the last 25 years, because we've had these repeated episodes of violent rhetoric from the Republicans and from conservative TV and radio that have resulted in protracted periods of violence. And there's a lot of concern that we may be headed, here in the United States, for another, say, Oklahoma City bombing of the 1995 variety.
GOLODRYGA: That is really frightening to hear. You've written a piece just this week expressing your concerns on the aftermath of the news of this FBI search on Mar-a-Lago and the increased number of threatening social media posts that we've seen out there. And Fox News just recently, just a few minutes ago, reported that there's been an increased number of threats against Attorney General Garland, FBI agents--MILBANK: Yes.
GOLODRYGA: --and FBI Director Christopher Wray. That having been said, I'm curious as to what this means about the former president's grip on the party as a whole. There had been some questions that perhaps, the January 6th Committee investigation had been weakening the president's hold on the party, that other candidates, perhaps, were starting to rise, and that his time in the limelight—
MILBANK: Right.
GOLODRYGA: -- was fading. Does this change all of that?
MILBANK: Right. And of course there’ve been so many moments over the last several years when we thought his grip on the party was fading, and it turned out not to be the case. Now, these legal developments, in the long run, may loosen his grip, as may the January 6th Committee. But in the short run, what's happening is it's allowing him again to say they're not just coming after me, they're coming after you. As Congresswoman Liz Cheney said, he's playing on peoples' patriotism to say that their country is under attack. They are under attack. So, that causes them to rally around him. It also has the ability to foment violence.
This idea of, sort of, rallying people based on their patriotism, saying that people in our party are patriots. The people in the other party are traitors. There's certainly a trademark of Trump's presidency, but this is also something that goes back to the Gingrich era, and certainly happened during the George W. Bush's presidency where they began to say that the people on the other side of the aisle are not just our opponents but they are the enemy. They are our enemies. That began about 25 years ago. And we're really at this point now where, you know, you have the Republican Party saying, the enemy within is the Democrats.
