MS NOW Decries Trump’s Response to French Riots While Blaming His Policies For Unrest

Nicholas Spinnato
October 20th, 2026 3:44 PM

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On Tuesday, MS NOW joined in on decrying President Trump’s rally comments on the recent riots in France over the past couple of weeks. Money, Power, Politics host Stephanie Ruhle claimed Trump had “resorted to fearmongering” in midterm rally speeches and later asked if the the concern should “not be about law and order” but rather should that “people are devastated by the wealth gap.”

Near the start of her show, Ruhle turned to Way Too Early host Ali Vitali and said, “The president took something else from his old playbook. He resorted to fearmongering,” before a clip from Trump’s Rally played.

At his rally, Trump said, “If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what's happening in France, a once great nation that is being conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists who hate Christianity, and they hate, frankly, the Western civilization itself.”

 

 

Ruhle admitted, “I guess we should not be surprised. He's had political success in the past with stuff like this.” Still, she stated, “But this time, really?”

Vitali then also conceded, "So, there's a little part of it that makes sense” and said, “They're trying to go back to the, well, Republicans on culture wars and on fear-mongering tactics. “

Vitali continued to decry “fear-mongering,” but conceded a GOP advantage on crime, while hitting Trump on immigration in the process:

“But it makes sense because Republicans still have an edge on crime. And so when he's talking about crime and chaos, that is him speaking to the one polling advantage that Republicans still see a bright spot on because they've lost all of the other places on the economy, on immigration that used to be good for them."

 

 

Furthermore, in the later segments of the show, Ruhle and her new panel returned to the riots and “fear-mongering”:

“But the president is also using fear-mongering around the riots in France to motivate voters. Right? He said in the last 24 hours, without any evidence, that migrants, jihadists. and communists are the ones responsible for these riots.”

The rioters in France have been seen flying both Palestinian and Soviet/Communist flags amid the violence.

 

 

She then seemed to defend the reasoning for the riots, and blamed Trump and the war with Iran:

But we have to remember, the riots started, of course, over school conditions, but it's also over high prices. And you can draw a direct link to the high prices in Europe, to President Trump's war in Iran. You talk about gas prices here, they’re 140 percent higher there. Their diesel prices have doubled. So, while the president is working people into a frenzy here. He -- you can point somewhat of that blame on high prices. They are to his war!

Later, after frequent panelist Basil Smikle related the riots to ICE and immigration enforcement in the US, Ruhle asked, “Then when we look at what's happening in France, should the concern not be about law and order and capping down riots, but should the concern be people are devastated about the wealth gap, and that fury that is existing in Europe is certainly bubbling up here?”

CNN also decided to complain about Trump “fear-mongering” in response to the riots, while defending Democrats in the process. MS NOW’s broader description of reasoning behind protests and riots, however, went a step further than what CNN did.

The transcript is below. Click "expand":

MS NOW’s Money, Power, Politics

October 20, 2026

9:10:23 AM Eastern

(...)

STEPHANIE RUHLE: Ali, the president took something else from his old playbook. He resorted to fearmongering. I want you to watch this.

PRESIDENT TRUMP [At Kansas Rally]: If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what's happening in France, a once great nation that is being conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists who hate Christianity, and they hate, frankly, the Western civilization itself.

RUHLE: I guess we should not be surprised. He's had political success in the past with stuff like this. But this time, really?

ALI VITALI: So, there's a little part of it that makes sense. They're trying to go back to the, well, Republicans on culture wars and on fear-mongering tactics. 

There's also the transactional piece of this that Sam and you were talking about. And I think we're right to point it out as transactional at a point where voters are telling Republicans, poll after poll, just talk to me about how much things cost and how you're going to make it cost less. Just talk to me about how the war in Iran can come to a close, that prices at the pump can come down the part of it that makes sense that Trump is talking about, not just the immigration fear-mongering, which I think makes less sense given where the polls are at. But it makes sense because Republicans still have an edge on crime. 

And so when he's talking about crime and chaos, that is him speaking to the one polling advantage that Republicans still see a bright spot on because they've lost all of the other places on the economy, on immigration that used to be good for them. And that used to help us understand why Trump's message on the campaign trail was what it was, even though the tropes and the controversial parts of it were all still there. 

I also think in Kansas, because I am a map nerd who is studying my maps ahead of election night, that if people want to look at a place where Adam Hamilton has to do well on election night two weeks from now, it is in a place like Wichita, which is a Republican stronghold for people like Trump, for even Senator Jerry Moran back in 2022. But it is a place where Laura Kelly did well in her 2022 governor's race. And that's a place where Hamilton is going to have to run up his own margins as well. So when you see Trump campaigning in a lot of these places, he's in Republican strongholds because he likes to be in front of a friendly crowd. But when you look at where they're being targeted in a place like Wichita, that's a place where we're going to be looking at very closely on election night, because Hamilton has to do well there in the way that the other Democrat who's won statewide, Laura Kelly, has done well. If he has a hope of flipping this seat.

(...)10:40:16 AM Eastern

RUHLE: But the president is also using fear-mongering around the riots in France to motivate voters. Right? He said in the last 24 hours, without any evidence, that migrants, jihadists. and communists are the ones responsible for these riots. 

But we have to remember, the riots started, of course, over school conditions, but it's also over high prices. And you can draw a direct link to the high prices in Europe, to president trump's war in Iran. You talk about gas prices here. There are 140 percent higher. Their diesel prices have doubled. So, while the president is working people into a frenzy here. He —-- you can point somewhat of that blame on high prices. They are to his war!

ADAM MOCKLER: I mean think about it. The riots were catalyzed by, as you said, high cost of living and underfunded schools. Trump wanted to eliminate the Department of Education. He defunded it, and then he raised the cost of prices. The fundamental problem here is that he is such a raging narcissist. 

He is incapable of admitting that he caused any of these problems in Ukraine or in France.

Since the very beginning of this war, Trump has been giving infinite ability to Putin while only applying pressure on Zelenskyy. He screamed at him in the Oval Office. Then Zelensky still signed the deal a ew weeks later. Zelensky still signed ceasefires or he put his arms down whenever Trump asked multiple times; the party that didn't was Putin. Over and over and over. Putin did not abide by these ceasefires. Yet Trump only places pressure on Zelenskyy. 

When Putin came to the United States for this Alaska summit, Trump said there would be severe consequences if they didn't leave with a deal. There was no deal, and Trump did nothing. He has never met a dictator he doesn't love, and he has never met a problem he can't be beaten by.

RUHLE: But could he use these riots to motivate Republican voters, many of whom are not enthusiastic? They're mad about the economy. They're mad about a whole host. They're mad about Trump being flanked by the super wealthy. They're mad about the Epstein files

But he's going to drum up fury and fear, right? There's a lot of people that are panicked about grocery prices, and then they watch videos of churches burning in France and government officials in France saying, ‘We didn't do enough.’ And Trump will say, I'll do enough. I'll bring in the National Guard.

BASIL SMIKLE: He's going to try, and he's already tried. Look at the way that he talks about Somali Americans. He's raided the home of a sitting member of Congress in an attempt to get her deported Ilhan Omar. And the way in which that –

RUHLE: Yeah, what voter says, ‘Yes, I’m changing my vote because you did that?’”

SMIKLE: Did exactly right. And, you know, when you have members of ICE rappelling down buildings in Chicago. Yeah, he's tried this before, and the American people have responded and will continue to respond. 

Listen, what's happening in France is -

RUHLE: Terrible - 

SMIKLE: We are talking about the concentration of wealth, the destruction of the social contract, the cap on upward mobility, things that Americans are experiencing right now, including the closing of the Department of Education. But, what we are now in election season, and have been for some time, and voters are going to speak with their feet. So, yes, I think the trump administration and Trump himself will do everything that he can to demonize immigrants in France. But immigrants here, as they are in France, are your neighbors, are your caregivers, are your business owners. And we've already seen the response that a lot of a lot of Americans have had when they see their neighbors be snatched from the street.

RUHLE: Then when we look at what's happening in France, should the concern not be about law and order and capping down riots, but should the concern be people are devastated about the wealth gap, and that fury that is existing in Europe is certainly bubbling up here.

(...)

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