On Wednesday's CNN Tonight, left-wing analyst Rula Jebreal and Columbia University's Ahmed Shihab-Eldin unleashed against the Republican presidential candidates, in the wake of Tuesday's CNN debates. Jebreal asserted that Ted Cruz was "nostalgic for Arab dictators," and concluded that "this is racist. This is pure bigotry." She later likened the GOP contenders to the Nazis: "Trump is expanding the far right, so whoever is condemning Trump is moderate. But what you are hearing from these people is a criminalization of an entire group of people — something that, actually, we heard...in Europe before World War II." [video below]
Shihab-Eldin, a former Huffington Post correspondent, claimed that "the entire premise of this debate was based on fear-mongering; was based on hate speech; and was not based on the facts. It was based on the manipulation of the public's perception of fear." He also hyped that apparently, "81 times, the word 'terror' or 'terrorist' or 'terrorism' was used. The word 'attack' was used 50 times....The word 'guns' was not even mentioned once."
Host Don Lemon actually tried to push back against his guests throughout the segment, but they doubled-down repeatedly. Lemon first asked Jebreal, "What do you think of the overall tone of the debate last night and the discussion?" The analyst replied by using an oft-used liberal talking point about conservatives/Republicans and ISIS. The anchor tried to correct her, but she pressed ahead:
RULA JEBREAL: I think Baghdadi was celebrating in Raqqa, the capital of ISIS. I think he was very happy, because basically, what they were saying — we are at war with Islam — and they treated all Muslims as a potential threat; and the idea of...carpet-bombing everybody; and also, killing the relatives of terrorists; abrogation of constitutional rights — we're not sure they deserve these rights or not.
DON LEMON: But...not all of them said they want to carpet bomb—
JEBREAL: I mean, I'm talking about the overwhelming majority — because what Trump is doing, actually — the anti-Muslim remarks are being...considered as normal; or as a policy, eventually, template. And they are forcing the other GOP candidates to respond on...these remarks — for example, banning all Muslims, and other GOP — you know, are considering and looking at this as, like — yeah, maybe we can think about it—
LEMON: But I thought, as I watched the other GOP members — and from what I've heard them say, they're the ones who are saying they don't like Donald Trump's plan. He seems to be, pretty much, the only one who's on board with banning Muslims — at least temporarily.
JEBREAL: You know, look, when you call refugees rabid dogs, and you call Muslims all kind of names.....and then, you say...we want only Christians; we don't want Muslims because there's something wrong with Muslims — you're criminalizing an entire group of people. You're actually eliminate — you are marginalizing them. And you're...feeding to this war-monger; this fear; and this prejudice that plays into the hands of ISIS.
Shihab-Eldin, who once blamed Fox News for an "unfair burden on Islam" to denounce terrorism, initially followed a similar path as Jebreal, with his "fear-mongering" and "hate speech" attacks on the Republican candidates. He sparred with Lemon when he got to his point about the number of times the word "terror" or "terrorist" was used during the CNN debates:
AHMED SHIHAB-ELDIN, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY; CORRESPONDENT, VICE ON HBO: Don, the entire premise of this debate was based on fear-mongering; was based on hate speech; and was not based on the facts. It was based on the manipulation of the public's perception of fear....This is not just a Trump problem. It was really, kind of, disturbing to witness what was happening on the stage — a lot of tough talk; a lot of talk about strength; but no real discussion of — of policy and nuance...I mean, just the terminology — if you look at the fact that, I think, 81 times, the word 'terror' or 'terrorist' or 'terrorism' was used. The word 'attack' was used 50 times. And, you know, if this was a debate about how to keep America safe; if this was a debate about how to protect America; how come; how come—
LEMON: But Ahmed — I mean, with all due respect, the debate — hang on; hang on—
SHIHAB-ELDIN: Wait. Don, Don, wait one second; one second — please, please—
LEMON: With all due respect, the debate was about national security—
SHIHAB-ELDIN: The word 'guns' was not even mentioned once—
LEMON: And people are concerned about national security. It wasn't about domestic security. It was about national security, and terrorism is an issue.
Later in the segment, Lemon played three clips of Trump, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee from the two Tuesday debates. Jebreal responded to them by reusing a smear from almost a month earlier:
JEBREAL: This is horrifying. This is really — look, the piece that we actually didn't hear was when — when, I think, that [Ted] Cruz was nostalgic for Arab dictators. This is racist. This is pure bigotry, and — and because some of them are condemning Trump, we're thinking that this is — actually, they are moderate...you know, Trump is expanding the far right, so whoever is condemning Trump is moderate. But what you are hearing from these people is a criminalization of an entire group of people — something that, actually, we heard elsewhere — we heard in Europe before World War II. And it's just something — something that would have never been acceptable in our society. There's something sick about this kind of a debate.
The CNN host and Shihab-Eldin had another exchange near the end of the panel discussion regarding Senator Cruz. Lemon underlined that the Texas senator "did make that distinction between terrorists...and Muslims," and asked, "Do you welcome that sort of statement?" The Vice correspondent went on the attack again, and also repeated his pro-gun control point:
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (from CNN presidential debate): Well, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, 'All horse thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse thieves.' (audience laughs) In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world — in countries like India — where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled — have territory controlled by al Qaeda or ISIS — and we should direct at the problem — focus on the problem, and defeat radical Islamic terrorism. It's not a war on a faith. It's a war on a political and theocratic ideology that seeks to murder us.
LEMON: So Ahmed, he's not missing a chance to take — you know, big Democrats — talking about Democrats — he did make that distinction between terrorists, though, and Muslims. Do you welcome that sort of statement? He's trying to make a distinction between terrorism and Islam.
SHIHAB-ELDIN: You know, with all due respect to Senator Cruz, it's very disturbing...to say all terrorists are Muslims, even while conceding that not all Muslims are terrorists, is very unproductive and very offensive and does not keep us safe. It just—
LEMON: But that's not what he said, though. He didn't say that....he's saying that we should not have a war against people in Islam—
SHIHAB-ELDIN: Right; right — but he's also previous — but he also previously said that about Muslims.
But even — even beyond that, Don — I mean, if you just look at the kind of discourse and the way in which it's been accepted, to the point where we had a two-hour debate that — I agree with you. Perhaps, you know, we should be talking about these issues, but we should be talking about them in the context of all the other issues that also threaten us.
I mean, if you look at the shooting in San Bernardino, those were guns that were used. We don't talk about guns. Guns was mentioned zero times. Now, we found out — you know, from intelligence and government authorities that actually — you know, the shooters behind San Bernardino were actually not posting on social media, and were not part of ISIS, and — you know, were not supporting — I mean, there's just such a level of — of perception that is distorted, and that it can be so openly discussed — I mean, I found it to be really troubling.
Lemon ended the segment by citing "an unscientific survey...from Facebook [and CNN] — did Donald Trump do a good job defending his position to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.? Sixty-three percent of those polled last night — it was 1.5 million people — said that he did do a good job; 37 percent said no. And when we asked, should we accept refugees from Syria, 31 percent said yes; 69 percent" said no. Jebreal remarked, "There is a pathology that is happening in this country that is really scary."
