Tuesday night on CNN, AC360 host Anderson Cooper added to the Jeffrey Zucker-led network’s resume of hate against those they disagree with as he compared former President Donald Trump and his supporters to those that carried out the Bosnian and Rwanda genocides in the 1990s.
And to underscore Cooper’s seriousness, a NewsBusters search found that he also leveled these comparisons back on January 12.
To give you an idea of just how callous this comparison was, 8,000 men were slaughtered in July 1995 during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War that killed over 100,000 people. Over in Rwanda, more 800,000 moderate Hutus and Tutsis were killed over three months in 1994 by the Hutu extremists.
Cooper was speaking Tuesday with Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) when he lamented that a feature of our political discourse has been “otherizing people” and make them “other than American, other than patriotic, other than — than human.”
He then continued, invoking Bosnia and Rwanda and explained where Trump and his supporters (specifically, those stormed the Capitol) fit into the analogy:
And we've seen it in Bosnia. We’ve seen it in Rwanda where radios was telling people — you know, Hutus were telling the radio listeners that the Tutsi are cockroaches, you know, to — getting them ginned up for genocide. And you see it in these videos where people who claim they are patriots are in the face of a police officer calling him, you know, as we're seeing it right there, and — and, you know, gouging out the eye of one — you know, squeezing one in — you know, suffocating one in a doorway.
Instead of pushing back and making clear such a claim was outlandish (regardless of how one felt about January 6), Kinzinger concurred, calling it “incredible and that’s that huge problem” in that “we’ve picked tribes in this country” where anyone “not in your tribe” is “seen as the enemy.”
Rewinding to January 12, Cooper had on communist China fanboy and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman when he recalled that they saw each other at their “hotel in Egypt in the midst of the revolution and it was a really scary day.”
Cooper tied what he saw there to reporting in Bosnia and Rwanda because “I hear people talking about civil war in America, as if they know what they're talking about, as if they know what that looks like and unless you've seen it up close, I mean, it is a horrible, horrible thing.”
“I am so upset when I hear these people at rallies — Trump rallies talking about Civil War as if it's some sort of a cleansing,” the CNN host concluded.
Friedman was more than happy to pile on, adding in the Lebanese Civil War because he lived through “four and a half years of” it and learned a “really important lesson” that “[w]hen you break something, when you break a system like that, it is really hard to get it back.”
Predictably, Friedman then dragged in Fox News and the GOP as akin to those that triggered that war (who, in that case, were Phalangists when 27 people were gunned down in Beirut):
[A]nd what is so appalling is people whether they're in the media, whether they’re Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, whether they're in politics, some of these Republicans, whether they're running Facebook, who think they can just stress and stress and stress the system for their own glor — you know, own glory and their own profit, and nothing will happen. And you know, we've said this before, I just want to ask them, do you go home at night to some offshore island, where this doesn't matter?
And during an appearance on Monday's Cuomo Prime Time, Friedman described China's Uighur concentration camps as just some "bad stuff."
Just about everyone has condemned the violence on January 6. But quite frankly, it’s beyond the pale that one of CNN’s lead anchors or anyone would compare the Capitol insurrection to genocides that were among the most shameful events in modern history (with Rwanda one of the most shameful in human history).
While Kinzinger didn’t refute what Cooper said, CNN should look themselves in the mirror after listening to what the Illinois Republican also stated on Tuesday night: “You can disagree [with others], but as we saw on a commercial that's made the round, we have common ground and we're standing on it. This is our Earth. This is our country. This is us and we need to see the humanity in each other and we're just not.”
A CNN host comparing President Trump and supporters to the Bosnia and Rwandan genocides was made possible by Expedia (on January 12), Fidelity (on February 9), and Lexus (on January 12 and February 9). Follow the links to find their contact information on the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CNN transcripts, click “expand.”
CNN’s AC360
January 12, 2021
8:16 p.m. EasternANDERSON COOPER: You know, I remember seeing you in the lobby of a hotel in Egypt in the midst of the revolution and it was a really scary day. I was — I was — I've seen a lot and I was very scared that day. You've been to a lot of Civil Wars. You know, I was in Rwanda in the genocide briefly. I was in Bosnia. We’ve — you know — we’re in Iraq, Afghanistan. You've been around the world, you've seen a lot. I hear people talking about civil war in America, as if they know what they're talking about, as if they know what that looks like. And unless you've seen it up close, I mean, it is a horrible, horrible thing. I am so upset when I hear these people at rallies — Trump rallies talking about Civil War as if it's some sort of a cleansing.
TOM FRIEDMAN: You know, Anderson, I lived through about four and a half years of the Lebanese Civil War and there's one really important lesson you learn: When you break something, when you break a system like that, it is really hard to get it back and what is so appalling is people whether they're in the media, whether they’re Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, whether they're in politics, some of these Republicans, whether they're running Facebook, who think they can just stress and stress and stress the system for their own glor — you know, own glory and their own profit, and nothing will happen. And you know, we've said this before, I just want to ask them, do you go home at night to some offshore island, where this doesn't matter?
(....)
February 9, 2021
8:19 p.m. EasternCOOPER: You know, part of it, I think, just based on what you were just saying, it comes to mind the idea of otherizing people is something I think we saw a lot of over the last four years. I mean, something we've seen a lot over the last decades. But it’s so easy to otherize people, to make people other than, other than American, other than patriotic, other than — than human, you know? And we've seen it in Bosnia. We’ve seen it in Rwanda where radios was telling people — you know, Hutus were telling the radio listeners that the Tutsi are cockroaches, you know, to — getting them ginned up for genocide. And you see it in these videos where people who claim they are patriots are in the face of a police officer calling him, you know, as we're seeing it right there, and — and, you know, gouging out the eye of one — you know, squeezing one in — you know, suffocating one in a doorway.
CONGRESSMAN ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): It's incredible and that's the huge problem, Anderson, is not even our political dialogue. That's huge problem. But that's a result of the fact that we've picked tribes in this country. You're either on the left tribe or right tribe. And anybody that's not on your tribe, if they are not on the other tribe, they are seen as the enemy and I've said before, kinda facetiously but kinda not, I feel like if California got a nuclear missile that, you know, some on the right would say well good, less electoral votes for the Democrats and, you know, if Texas got it some on the left — I just think the bottom line is we have to understand each other's humanity. You can disagree, but as we saw on a commercial that's made the round, we have common ground and we're standing on it. This is our Earth. This is our country. This is us and we need to see the humanity in each other and we're just not.
