Some liberals can find the strangest things to worry over in the aftermath of a deadly terrorist attack. Appearing as a guest on Monday's CNN Tonight, liberal CNN political commentator Peter Beinart bristled at President-elect Donald Trump referring to the Berlin terror attack victims as "Christians," as the liberal analyst worried that the way Trump, Michael Flynn, and Steve Bannon "view this entire conflict is very dangerous" because they portray a "struggle between the West and Islam."
Host Don Lemon began by quoting some of Trump's recent words on the day's terror attacks. Lemon:
Donald Trump released a statement about the attack in Berlin saying, "ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth, a mission we will carry out with all freedom-loving partners."
He added:
Then, in a statement about the shooting of the Russian ambassador in Turkey, he said the Russian ambassador was, quote, "assassinated by a radical Islamic terrorist." What is your reaction to his approach to these events today?
After getting reaction from Bob Cusack of The Hill, Lemon then turned to Beinart and posed: "Peter, what do you think his biggest challenge ahead in dealing with these kinds of attacks will be?"
Beinart, who is also a contributor for The Atlantic, began:
Well, I think that the statement I think he made in response to the Berlin bombing (sic) is actually quite telling if you look at it. What's fascinating is he never referred to the people who were killed as "German," only as "Christians." Actually, we don't know the religion, as far as I know, of the people who were killed in that attack in Berlin. They were at a Christmas, you know, market, but lots of people go to that.
Donald Trump's description of that attack was basically civilizational. It was basically Islam attacking Christianity, and I think this gives you an insight into what he and people like Mike Flynn and Steve Bannon view this entire conflict is very dangerous. First of all, it essentially makes Muslims in the West seem like enemies within, and it makes it much harder to cooperate with Muslims against terrorism
After Lemon followed up, 'You think it's a coordinated strategy?" Beinart repeated some of the fake news recently peddled by CNN as he claimed that General Flynn had called Islam a "cancer."
Yeah, look, you go back all the way to the beginning of the campaign, you know, after the San Bernardino attacks, talking about not allowing Muslims in, saying that Muslims were cheering 9/11, the, you know, Flynn referring to Islam as a cancer. There's been this entire thrust to essentially say this is a struggle between the West and Islam, which is exactly what ISIS wants. That's the way ISIS describes it as well.
