In the aftermath of the racially-motivated shooting in Jacksonville the media has disgustingly attempted to tie Gov. Ron DeSantis to the shooting that left three black people dead, but Tuesday’s Andrea Mitchell Reports took matters to a whole new level as Mitchell and correspondent Trymaine Lee attacked him for calling the shooter a “scumbag.”
Mitchell recalled “yesterday, Governor DeSantis, in Florida, facing audible boos at a Jacksonville vigil for the three victims. At the vigil, DeSantis called the gunman a scumbag and Jeffrey Rumlin, a Jacksonville pastor who spoke after DeSantis, was very direct in his response. He said ‘at the end of the day, respectfully, governor, he was not a scumbag, he was a racist.’”
She then asked Lee “what’s your response to that?” to which he replied by condemning DeSantis for not smearing the entire country as a hotbed of white supremacy, “You know, for so many folks, the issue with that language is it places the onus on one individual and the actions of one individual as opposed to a nationwide sickness of white supremacy in the country and the violence it fuels.”
Lee also objected to the term because it lets legislators, by which he certainly means Republicans, off the hook:
As so long as he is a scumbag or as long as there's a mental health issue you don't have to engage with the idea that there are, you know, co-conspirators online, co-conspirators who create legislation that divide and other people. There are all these other forces that are contributing to this violence, but as long as the act of one individual is just a scumbag, then you don't take the true issue head on.
If Lee truly believes the “true issue” is that the country is that everyone who disagrees with him is a white supremacist that says more about him than it does DeSantis.
This segment was sponsored by Tide.
Here is a transcript for the August 29 show:
MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports
8/29/2023
12:26 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: And yesterday, Governor DeSantis, in Florida, facing audible boos at a Jacksonville vigil for the three victims. At the vigil, DeSantis called the gunman a scumbag and Jeffrey Rumlin, a Jacksonville pastor who spoke after DeSantis, was very direct in his response. He said “at the end of the day, respectfully, governor, he was not a scumbag, he was a racist.” What's your response to that?
TRYMAINE LEE: You know, for so many folks, the issue with that language is it places the onus on one individual and the actions of one individual as opposed to a nationwide sickness of white supremacy in the country and the violence it fuels. As so long as he is a scumbag or as long as there's a mental health issue you don't have to engage with the idea that there are, you know, co-conspirators online, co-conspirators who create legislation that divide and other people.
There are all these other forces that are contributing to this violence, but as long as the act of one individual is just a scumbag, then you don't take the true issue head on.
