Jonathan Capehart's Sunday show on MSNBC devoted a segment today to slamming Fox News for its coverage of the January 6th Capitol breach. And NBC contributor Dean Obeidallah slimed Fox News as Al Jazeera and analogized Donald Trump to the greatest mass-murdering terrorist in US history.
When columnist Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts asked what people would sacrifice, Capehart responded by claiming that Fox News and Republicans on Capitol Hill "have sacrificed their soul." A bit later, Capehart, somewhat out of left field, blurted out that "whiteness is a helluva drug."
But capping all the inane commentary was Dean Obeidallah. He said that Fox News is "the Al Jazeera of America after 9/11." Plumbing even more absurd depths, Obeidallah claimed that President Trump is "the Osama bin Laden of January 6th."
Here is Obeidallah's rant:
We are 20 years from 9/11. I'm Muslim. My community suffered harshly after 9/11. We were told, you're either with us or you're with the terrorists. That's the same question that should go to Fox News and the Republicans. Are you with the United States, or Trump's terrorists? That's the question. It is that simple. I look as Fox News now. They are the Al Jazeera of America after 9/11. Al Jazeera, wrongly though, was described as the mouthpiece for terrorism. They were not celebrating Bin Laden. They were not defending the terrorists. But Fox News is. Fox News is literally having on Donald Trump, who is the Osama Bin Laden of January 6th.
Obeidallah styles himself a comedian. Perhaps calling Trump the equivalent of the mastermind of the most deadly terrorist attack in US history is what passes for comedy in Obeidallah's loony-liberal neck of the woods.
Obeidallah also claimed that "the idea that the media won't call white people terrorists makes us less safe." And he called on white journalists to "call the white attackers what they are: they are terrorists." Capehart concluded the segment by blessing Obeidallah's jejune outpourings with an "amen."
On Jonathan Capehart's MSNBC show, NBC contributor Dean Obeidallah calling Fox News "the Al Jazeera of America after 9/11," and calling President Trump "the Osama Bin Laden of January 6th," was sponsored in part by Hyundai, Gold Bond, Progressive, and Safelite
Here's the transcript. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC
The Sunday Show With Jonathan Capehart
8/1/21
11:00 am EDTLEONARD PITTS: What is there -- what would you sacrifice, you know, for America? What would you sacrifice for the truth? That's a question I would like to ask, frankly, all the Fox characters and all of the Republican leaders.
. . .
JONATHAN CAPEHHART: To answer Mr. Pitts' question about what would you sacrifice. I would say that the folks at Fox, and a lot of people on Capitol Hill in the Republican party, have sacrificed their souls.
. . .
Sophia [Nelson], you and I both know that whiteness is a helluva drug.
. . .
DEAN OBEIDALLAH: What happened on January 6th was an act of terrorism. That's not my words. That's the words of Christopher Wray, the FBI director. That I really urge us all to see this through the prism of terrorism. We are 20 years from 9/11. I'm Muslim. My community suffered harshly after 9/11. We were told, you're either with us or you're with the terrorists.
That's the same question that should go to Fox News and the Republicans. Are you with the United States, or Trump's terrorists? That's the question. It is that simple. I look as Fox News now. They are the Al Jazeera of America after 9/11. Al Jazeera, wrongly though, was described as the mouthpiece for terrorism. They were not celebrating Bin Laden. They were not defending the terrorists. But Fox News is. Fox News is literally having on Donald Trump, who is the Osama Bin Laden of January 6th.
And I can say, as a non-white person, who looks white but I'm half Arab, that the idea that the media won't call white people terrorists makes us less safe and it's fundamentally wrong. So, I'm hoping the media, like officer Daniel Hodgson testified, the attackers were terrorists. That's not hyperbolic. That's the correct definition under federal law.
And brothers and sisters of the media who are not of color, call the white attackers what they are. They are terrorists. And you're either with us or with those terrorists who want to ooverthrow our government.
CAPEHART: I'm just gonna -- I'm going to leave it right there, and just say, amen.
