Hatred for President Trump actually seemed to reach a new level on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday, as co-host Joe Scarborough and various pundits blamed Trump for the weekend shooting at a California synagogue, compared him to ISIS terrorists, and proclaimed that any “blood spilled” in future attacks would be on the President’s hands.
“A spate of shootings during the Trump administration, inspired white nationalists,” Scarborough announced just minutes into the show, already drawing a connection between the President and the violence. Associated Press White House reporter Jonathan Lemire eagerly joined in: “And yes, there has certainly been speculation and condemnation of this president for not doing enough to condemn these sort of movements, to not do enough to condemn anti-Semitic – the rise of anti-Semitism or white nationalism.”
Minutes later, Scarborough falsely claimed that the Trump Justice Department was in favor of letting accused domestic terrorist Christopher Hasson being released from custody ahead of his upcoming trial: “And the Trump administration’s doing nothing about it. You look at the former coast guard member who had a kill list of media members, but also the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.... And Donald Trump and Attorney General Barr and the Trump Justice Department let him walk.”
In reality, federal prosecutors from the Justice Department have been fighting the motion from Hasson’s defense team to allow their client to be on home confinement.
Former FBI agent and MSNBC contributor Clint Watts pretended Scarborough was reporting facts and claimed: “There’s no good reason. The only reason is that international terrorists don’t vote and domestic terrorists do vote. And it has to do with politics.”
He then outrageously made this comparison:
This is intertwined in our own politics today, they are inspired oftentimes by political rhetoric. If you took a lot of the statements by politicians right now in this country and you compare them to what Al Qaeda or ISIS clerics said that inspired attacks around the world over the last decade, they would look remarkably similar. This is incitement to violence in many cases.
In case there was any doubt who Watts was referring to, Scarborough clarified: “Are you talking about Donald Trump here?” Watts continued: “That’s exactly right, talking about people as animals or dogs, talking about people as being lesser humans. That sort of talk is highly similar to any extremist movement.”
Just minutes after that tirade, left-wing Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. ranted: “So we have an environment that is so toxic, we have in some ways a president that is embracing a segment of the population that literally has the country by the throat, Joe. And we have to do something about this or we’re going to see even more die.” He never elaborated on what that “something” was.
In the 7:00 a.m. ET hour, Scarborough decided to address Trump directly with a rambling monologue, again blaming the President for acts of violence:
We are so far beyond dog whistles here, Donald. We are so far beyond dog whistles. The blood, the blood that is spilled, is on your hands. From white nationalists, from people who listen to that sort of rhetoric, any violence to journalists. “Enemy of the people,” the kill lists. Yes, let’s go back to the kill list. Your Justice Department let somebody that has a manifesto inspired by white nationalist killers, including a guy that slaughtered over 68 children, your attorney general and you let that person walk. No, we are so past dog whistles now, Donald. You are just inciting violence. It’s just – it’s just obvious....We are calling it out now. You are unfit to the be President of the United States.
Even as Scarborough and his panelists were condemning Trump for his rhetoric and accusing him of inciting violence, they ignored their own glaring hypocrisy. If you accuse someone of being the same as a terrorist leader who’s inspiring killers, what remedy are you suggesting to deal with them?
Here are excerpts of the April 29 discussion:
6:07 AM ET
(...)
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So, Jonathan Lemire, a spate of shootings during the Trump administration, inspired white nationalists, inspired by different events, but it all seems to come back to the same theme, and that is, again, hatred for jews, hatred for blacks, hatred for others. And you can go all the way back to Charlottesville.
JONATHAN LEMIRE [ASSOCIATED PRESS WHITE HOUSE REPORTER]: That’s right. I mean, we have seen in the last couple of years statistics bear this out, a rise in anti-Semitic incidents, a rise in violence perpetrated by white nationalists. The shooting in New Zealand of course is probably the most dramatic example of this, but we had the shooting in the Pittsburgh synagogue a few months ago, and now, sadly again this weekend.
(...)
LEMIRE: And yes, there has certainly been speculation and condemnation of this president for not doing enough to condemn these sort of movements, to not do enough to condemn anti-Semitic – the rise of anti-Semitism or white nationalism.
(...)
6:12 AM ET
JOE SCARBOROUGH: And the Trump administration’s doing nothing about it. You look at the former coast guard member who had a kill list of media members, but also the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the Minority Leader of the Senate, Democratic presidential candidates. This was a guy that had a kill list, he had a manifesto, he was inspired by a Norwegian mass murderer, a white nationalist who killed over 70 people, slaughtered dozens and dozens of children at a day camp. And Donald Trump and Attorney General Barr and the Trump Justice Department let him walk.
CLINT WATTS: Yeah, the incidents and the lethality of violence that we’re seeing right now are far higher. The other thing is, these folks have weapons, oftentimes they have training, and they know what the targets are. If you looked at Cesar Sayoc, for example, the guy who sent the bombs, his targeting looked – looked at lot like [Christopher] Hasson, when he was arrested in Washington D.C. If you look across what these targets are, we treat them as one-offs, what is it? It’s a synagogue, it’s a mosque, it’s an African-American church. What’s common amongst all of those, it’s non-white.
SCARBOROUGH: And Clint, in the case of the two men you just named, they were either Trump critics or people who were running against Donald Trump for the President of the United States.
WATTS: That’s exactly right.
SCARBOROUGH: And they’re on kill lists, they’re on target lists. Now, Clint, you tell me, why isn’t Barr bringing charges so a judge who’s afraid of Hasson and afraid that he’ll commit acts of violence when he is released, why aren’t they charging him?
WATTS: There’s no good reason. The only reason is that international terrorists don’t vote and domestic terrorists do vote. And it has to do with politics. This is intertwined in our own politics today, they are inspired oftentimes by political rhetoric. If you took a lot of the statements by politicians right now in this country and you compare them to what Al Qaeda or ISIS clerics said that inspired attacks around the world over the last decade, they would look remarkably similar. This is incitement to violence in many cases.
SCARBOROUGH: Are you talking about Donald Trump here? Are you talking about Donald Trump here? “Enemy of the people” and –
WATTS: That’s exactly right, talking about people as animals or dogs, talking about people as being lesser humans. That sort of talk is highly similar to any extremist movement.
(...)
6:20 AM ET
EDDIE GLAUDE JR. [PRINCETON UNIVERSITY]: So we have an environment that is so toxic, we have in some ways a president that is embracing a segment of the population that literally has the country by the throat, Joe. And we have to do something about this or we’re going to see even more die.
And let me be very clear. You are on a hit list. I can’t walk out of my office without – how can I put this – without having my head on a swivel. My entire building is locked down because of threats, right? White supremacists have terrorized people day in and day out in this country and now they feel emboldened. We have a serious choice to make in this country or we’re going to see even more carnage.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, we’ve been saying for several years now that Donald Trump’s words have consequences. And if you look at the manifesto that was written by the Christchurch mass murderer. If you look at the other white nationalists, if you look at what David Duke said after Charlottesville, this is a little game that Donald Trump thinks he’s playing. He may say, “Oh, I distanced myself from white nationalists.” Did you really?
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: No, you didn’t.
SCARBOROUGH: Because David Duke, the day after Charlottesville, was singing your praise, Mr. President, because of your words, because he saw that you were one of him, because David Duke and other white nationalists, not only in America, but across the globe, saw that you brought aide and comfort to their bloody cause.
(...)
7:32 AM ET
SCARBOROUGH: We are so far beyond dog whistles here, Donald. We are so far beyond dog whistles. The blood, the blood that is spilled, is on your hands. From white nationalists, from people who listen to that sort of rhetoric, any violence to journalists. “Enemy of the people,” the kill lists. Yes, let’s go back to the kill list. Your Justice Department let somebody that has a manifesto inspired by white nationalist killers, including a guy that slaughtered over 68 children, your attorney general and you let that person walk. No, we are so past dog whistles now, Donald. You are just inciting violence. It’s just – it’s just obvious. And that speech was every bit as obvious as those, quote, “second amendment solutions” that you talked about, and the killing of Hillary Clinton to stop her from ever being able to appoint federal judges. And yes, we called it out then, I wrote an op/ed in the Washington Post talking about how horrific and how disqualifying it was. We are calling it out now. You are unfit to the be President of the United States.
(...)
