On Thursday's Deadline: White House on MSNBC, during a discussion of Republicans pushing theories of a "secret society" within the FBI that is trying to undermine President Donald Trump, Republican-leaning MSNBC contributor Elise Jordan likened the issue to the fake "Pizzagate" story that resulted in a deranged gunman storming into a pizza restaurant.
At 4:46 p.m. ET, the segment began with a clip of CNN's Chris Cuomo debating the FBI issue with Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz. MSNBC host and former Republican Nicolle Wallace then took aim at Republicans as she reacted:
I teased that by talking about nuts and loons and secret squirrels and secret societies and, to Bill Kristol's point, once serious men and women of the party I used to belong to -- I don't know where any of you guys stand these days -- but, I mean, they've lost their mind. They're so off the rails.
Jordan then jumped in and invoked Pizzagate as she warned that there might be similar results:
Well, I want to be generous and say that perhaps some of our former colleagues don't realize the consequences that what they are backing -- where this could end. You know, it seemed like fun and games for plenty of the conspiracy theorists who were saying that Hillary Clinton had a pedophilia ring in a D.C. pizza parlor until a guy showed up there with a machine gun.
The MSNBC contributor and Time magazine columnist then added:
And the President's rhetoric -- the rhetoric that is endorsed by his followers -- by his prominent followers on television. There are going to be consequences, and I think that it's something that they should think about as they actively endorse it.
