Former Republican, failed McCain/Palin campaign manager, and MSNBC political analyst Steve Schmidt has been suffering near daily meltdowns over the Trump administration for some time, but the last week has triggered another level of desperation.
On Tuesday’s Deadline: White House, Schmidt vilely suggested that the Supreme Court’s travel ban ruling for the Trump administration “was a fantastic fulfillment of Osama bin Laden's vision” for America in causing “a war of civilization...between the West and 1 billion Muslims.”
Five minutes into the show, Schmidt first invoked Muslim immigrant and former FBI Special Agent Ali Soufan and his heroic work that nearly stopped the 9/11 attacks. He used Soufan to launch into his argument about the Supreme Court and President Trump carrying water for the now-deceased al-Qaeda terrorist.
Here’s Schmidt’s full remarks on the subject:
[A]nd so, today was a fantastic fulfillment of Osama bin Laden's vision by Donald J. Trump. What Osama bin laden hoped to provoke was a war of civilization. A war between the west and 1 billion Muslims and so what Donald Trump and this Muslim ban signaled to the world is that Muslims are not welcome here, that this is whether the conservative justices say that, in fact, this is about executive power, the President's clear intent was to impose a religious test and that is as fundamentally un-American as anything that he’s done over the course of this presidency. The only force in the world that has the power to defeat extremists Islamic radicalism is moderate Islam and moderate Islam was dealt a big setback today by this shortsighted, dangerous policy that, again, abrogates all the fine traditions of our country from freedom of religion, to welcoming the renewal of the country's life blood with immigration.
Of course, the Associated Press’s Jonathan Lemire, former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi, and fellow MSNBC Republicans Nicolle Wallace and Elise Jordan did nothing to push back on Schmidt’s repulsive, sleazy rhetoric.
Thus, Schmidt was allowed to continue on moments later, hailing Franklin Roosevelt as “the greatest President of the 20th Century” (instead of Ronald Reagan or Calvin Coolidge).
Schmidt explained that Roosevelt defended democracy in a time “where fascism is rising in Europe, where illiberal sentiments are running high across all the western democracies, he says the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, because he understood that fear is a contagion, the panic that comes from it can lead to many, many dark happenings.”
“[A]nd the reality is when you look at totalitarian systems, when you look at autocracies, they are all built on a foundation of lies and fear and fear and lies are two things this President is able to deliver over day in spades,” he added.
In another segment, Schmidt kept up the fear-mongering, making for a show that should have come with a “Viewer’s Discretion Is Advised” label Because watching this show might have caused uber-lefties to flee to hide in a closet or under their beds.
He later concluded (click “expand” to read more):
When you see a President at thing the freedom of press, the First Amendment, institutions of fairness in the judicial system, this is cause to worry and when you look at European leaders who have seen the disaster within a human life span that came from fascism, that came from totalitarianism, the threat on their door, the great arsenal of democracy, the light unto the world for freedom against tyranny, this country, to see in 18 months time the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower and Reagan embrace the illiberalism of a dime store Mussolini is shocking and it shocks those leaders.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Deadline: White House on June 26, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Deadline: White House
June 26, 2018
4:05 p.m. Eastern
STEVE SCHMIDT: Well, you know, I’m thinking about former special agent of the FBI Ali Soufan. Ali Soufan, with John O'Neal came very, very, very close to disrupting the attacks on 9/11. He was a Lebanese immigrant and an Muslim. Is America better off with him? I would argue he is and so, today was a fantastic fulfillment of Osama bin Laden's vision by Donald J. Trump. What Osama bin laden hoped to provoke was a war of civilization. A war between the west and 1 billion Muslims and so what Donald Trump and this Muslim ban signaled to the world is that Muslims are not welcome here, that this is whether the conservative justices say that, in fact, this is about executive power, the President's clear intent was to impose a religious test and that is as fundamentally un-American as anything that he’s done over the course of this presidency. The only force in the world that has the power to defeat extremists Islamic radicalism is moderate Islam and moderate Islam was dealt a big setback today by this shortsighted, dangerous policy that, again, abrogates all the fine traditions of our country from freedom of religion, to welcoming the renewal of the country's life blood with immigration.
(....)
4:13 p.m. Eastern
SCHMIDT: 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. This is about his use of fear to accumulate power and so, let's look at the contrast to the greatest President of the 20th century, Franklin Roosevelt. What does Roosevelt say at the time he takes office at this time of economic calamity where fascism is rising in Europe where illiberal sentiments are running high across all the western democracies, he says the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, because he understood that fear is a contagion, the panic that comes from it can lead to many, many dark happenings and — and the reality is when you look at totalitarian systems, when you look at autocracies, they are all built on a foundation of lies and fear and fear and lies are two things this President is able to deliver over day in spades.
(....)
4:26 p.m. Eastern
SCHMIDT: This is a moment in time where, all around the world, liberal democracy is rolling back. The tide is receding. In Hungary, in Poland, the rise of far right ethno-nationalist parties in Germany, in Austria. I said this before the election in November 2016. Fascism did not rise in the ‘30s because it was strong. It rose because democracy was weak. Vladimir Putin’s greatest strategic aim so to break up the Western alliance and to cause a crisis of faith in democracy. The lubricants of a democratic society are trust, faith and belief and every day Donald Trump attacks trust, faith and belief in our institutions with his assaults on the rule of law. One of the things that I think President Bush was wrong about when he talked about democracy during our tenure is that what creates a democratic society is elections. Elections do not create a democratic society. In many places, they create majortarianism. What creates a democratic society is the rule of law, where minorities are protected from the majority and that is all under assault. When you see a President at thing the freedom of press, the First Amendment, institutions of fairness in the judicial system, this is cause to worry and when you look at European leaders who have seen the disaster within a human life span that came from fascism, that came from totalitarianism, the threat on their door, the great arsenal of democracy, the light unto the world for freedom against tyranny, this country, to see in 18 months time the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower and Reagan embrace the illiberalism of a dime store Mussolini is shocking and it shocks those leaders.
