Was Symone Sanders Townsend woefully misinformed—or was she intentionally trampling the truth?
On Saturday's edition of MSNBC's The Weekend which she co-anchors, Sanders Townsend said:
"In his remarks during his inauguration, [Trump] promised American carnage. He is now making -- he tried to make good on that promise throughout his presidency, on January 6th after he lost. And now, if he is afforded another term by the American people, he is going to triple down on that. "
Sanders Townsend then asked: "Am I making it up?"
Answer: Yes, Symone: you were making it up.
Because what Trump actually said during his "remarks during his inauguration" [otherwise known as his Inaugural Address], was the absolute, diametrical, total and complete OPPOSITE of what you claimed!
Rather than "promising" American carnage, Trump promised to "stop" the carnage--"right here and right now."
And the carnage Trump promised to stop was that of "mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities," of our "young, beautiful students" being poorly served by our education system, and crime that has "stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential." In other words, Trump was expressing the desire to help, above all, the very Americans that Sanders Townsend would most want to see helped.
Both of the guests on the show dutifully agreed with Sanders Townsend's egregious misrepresentation of Trump's statement on carnage. Rashawn Rae, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, replying to Sanders Townsend's "am I making it up?," assured her, "not at all."
Later, substitute co-anchor Alexi McCammond said: "Symone's right. From that inauguration speech, we all were like, wow, American carnage! This is what we all signed up for."
Note: For the edification of Sanders Townsend, or anyone else unfamiliar with Trump's inaugural address, here's the complete transcript. His promise to stop carnage right here and right now comes in the fifth paragraph.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
The Weekend
4/6/24
8:14 am EDTMICHAEL STEELE: Donald Trump is leaning into a dark and dystopian version of America. And his distorsion of reality is reaching a new low when it comes to immigration. He's now embracing the word bloodbath to falsely blame migrants for crime waves that, guess what?, just not happening. And he described President Biden's economic record as, quote, a migrant job fair.
. . .
SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: When Donald Trump announced -- not even that, when he, on his inauguration, we're just steps from the Capitol, um, over here. In his remarks during his inauguration, he promised American carnage. He is now making -- he tried to make good on that promise throughout his presidency, on January 6th after he lost. And now, if he is afforded another term by the American people, he is going to triple down on that.
STEE{E: Who's that to?
SANDERS TOWNSEND: Anybody! Cause I'm -- am I making it up?
STEELE: Who do you want to send that to?
RASHWAN RAE: Not at all.
. . .JOE WALSH: Immigration's a big issue. And the Biden team needs to know that. And Trump is going to go lower and lower and lower to appeal to the worst of us. This is not normal. And Biden's gotta call that out.
ALEXI MCCAMMOND: I'm curious what you think, or Dr. Ray. It's certainly perpetuated by Donald Trump. I mean, he is saying the craziest stuff. Symone's right. From that inauguration speech, we all were like, wow, American carnage! This is what we all signed up for.
