On Tuesday's All In, recurring MSNBC guest and Slate columnist Michelle Goldberg asserted that President Donald Trump is going to Phoenix "in the hopes of starting a riot" as she declared that his motivations for holding the rally were "sick." Host Chris Hayes then likened President Trump to a "Molotov cocktail" visiting the city.
Referring to the President's suggestion that he would pardon former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- known for taking tough law and order stances -- Hayes at 8:13 p.m. ET observed that there is a powerful voting block within the GOP who supports such figures. Goldberg began her response:
And those people were not disenchanted with Donald Trump's response to Charlottesville -- far from it. I mean, to me, one of the truly sick things about this rally, I mean, and I think it's one of the more morally shocking things that Trump has done -- which is saying something -- is he's basically going there in the hopes of starting a riot, right? He's basically going there in the hopes of sowing civil unrest because he spoke exactly a week ago he got himself in trouble by talking about, "Well, what about the violent left? What about the violent left?"
She then continued:
Immediately upon the backlash to those comments, he goes to a place where he can be absolutely sure that there will be an angry confrontation where there's been angry confrontations at his rallies in the past. He doesn't usually hold rallies in the downtowns of major cities. He holds them out in the exurbs or, you know, places where he can kind of stay away from protesters. He drops these hints about pardoning this incredibly inflammatory criminal figure who, if he pardons him, it's not just kind of a slap in the face to immigrants in Arizona. it's a sign that Trump endorses and will reward lawlessness among police officers.
The Slate columnist further griped:
It's just -- it's so incendiary, and I think that what he wants is to basically see his comments about the quote, unquote "violent left" instantiated. So, I mean, to me, that I think is the goal of this rally is Donald Trump being able to say, "I told you so," and rallying the people who love his kind of hardass law and order surrounds around him even tighter.
Hayes then made his "Molotov cocktail" comparison as he responded:
We should say that I've seen so far reports are that things are peaceful, law enforcement is doing a job of keeping folks separated. There's real concern in downtown Phoenix. I mean, it's a crazy thing that the President coming presents this problem not from the general security concern of the President, right, you got Secret Service security cordoning, but from this idea that like the President coming is a kind of Molotov cocktail thrown into your town.
