Appearing as a guest on Thursday's MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle, The Atlantic editor-at-large and MSNBC contributor Steve Clemons actually made a veiled Adolf Hitler reference to attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as President Donald Trump over the U.S. relocating its embassy to Jerusalem.
Reacting to predictions by Netanyahu that other countries will follow the U.S. lead and also recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Clemons repeatedly used the words "big lie." Those who are well-versed on Nazi Germany and its history of using propaganda will know that those words are the English translation of a direct quote from Hitler's Mein Kampf manifesto of Nazi ideology.
After complaining about U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley arguing that the U.S. is not taking a position on whether Israel should some day cede East Jerusalem to a Palestinian Arab state, host Stephanie Ruhle recalled the Israeli prime minister's prediction as she posed:
But Netanyahu is trying to sell the same story because you got France, the U.K., and Germany all raising alarms about this decision. You got the Pope weighing in, and Netanyahu says he sees many nations following what the U.S. did -- what in the world is he talking about? What nations?
Clemons tore into Netanyahu and Trump as he began:
It's the big lie -- let's just be clear -- it's the big lie. And I think that maybe by saying it enough -- we've heard this from President Trump enough times when he said something that is clearly untrue. There's some dimension that, if you say it enough, say it enough, people will somehow -- a certain contingent out there is going to take that as truth. It's not.
Clemons used the words "big lie" for a third time as he added:
And what we've seen is the United States basically go in -- and we have Erdogan of Turkey -- who's not one of my favorite guys in the world right now -- but he himself was sort of, in my view, a kind of emerging thug in the world, is saying, "Why are you doing this, Donald Trump? You're supposed to be creating peace -- not stirring things up." And I think that's the frustration that a lot of leaders are feeling, and they're coming up with these fictitious assertions of a big lie, and hoping that that takes hold.
Host Ruhle agreed:
Thank you, Steve. And we can put politics aside and put decency at the forefront. Nikki Haley, Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump, you're lying. You took a side.There aren't major nations following suit. Let's call it what it is.
It did not occur to either of these liberal journalists that there is precedent for the U.S. being the first to take steps in support of Israel as President Harry Truman made the U.S. the first nation to recognize Israel as an independent state in 1948 -- and did so against the wishes of his own foreign policy team.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, December 7, MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle:
9:37 a.m. ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: But for real, what line is Nikki Haley walking? What audience could she possibly be speaking to, to say, "We don't want to pick a side when President Trump clearly did yesterday?
STEVE CLEMONS: I think they're trying to create a rationalization that the victors in this -- meaning Benjamin Netanyahu and his leaders -- can pretend some weird magnanimity that there's still an opening to possibly talk about these other issues. That's been the wink and nod reality of Palestine-Israel peace talks for a long time, is that they are going absolutely nowhere. Israel is the reigning superpower in the region -- Israel could be moving much more expeditiously toward a deal if it wanted to. Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't want to. So she's given an equation that they can say that makes them look good to ignorant audiences, but anyone informed know (sic) that we put the thumb on the Israeli side of the scale, and that's obvious to everyone in the world, and that's why we're seeing the protests and the declarations of frustration against Donald Trump today.
RUHLE: All right, but Netanyahu is trying to sell the same story because you got France, the U.K., and Germany all raising alarms about this decision. You got the Pope weighing in, and Netanyahu says he sees many nations following what the U.S. did -- what in the world is he talking about? What nations?
CLEMONS: It's the big lie -- let's just be clear -- it's the big lie. And I think that maybe by saying it enough -- we've heard this from President Trump enough times when he said something that is clearly untrue. There's some dimension that, if you say it enough, say it enough, people will somehow -- a certain contingent out there is going to take that as truth. It's not. And what we've seen is the United States basically go in -- and we have Erdogan of Turkey -- who's not one of my favorite guys in the world right now -- but he himself was sort of, in my view, a kind of emerging thug in the world, is saying, "Why are you doing this, Donald Trump? You're supposed to be creating peace -- not stirring things up." And I think that's the frustration that a lot of leaders are feeling, and they're coming up with these fictitious assertions of a big lie, and hoping that that takes hold.
RUHLE: Thank you, Steve. And we can put politics aside and put decency at the forefront. Nikki Haley, Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump, you're lying. You took a side.There aren't major nations following suit. Let's call it what it is.
CLEMONS: That's right.That's right.
