On Monday, CNN Newsroom host and former Obama aide Jim Sciutto brought on their network's favorite Republicans -- from the group Republican Voters Against Trump. Former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Elizabeth Neumann bluntly told viewers that a vote for President Trump is a vote for increased domestic terrorism.
Sciutto wanted Neumann to affirm that only is Trump inciting terrorism, such as the kidnapping plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (he isn't), but that voting for him is voting for more such terrorism:
SCIUTTO: Okay, I know there's a lot that comes to our viewers in the news and sometimes crazy things the president says, but I want to highlight what you said about the president inciting domestic terrorism, what a sitting Republican member of Congress said the last hour about the president inciting domestic terrorism and ask you this question, because in 15 days, well, many people are casting their votes, but Americans have to decide who the next president is going to be? If President Trump is re-elected, is the threat of domestic terrorism greater as a result of the president's response, his rhetoric, his refusal to accept your recommendations at DHS?
Neumann obliged: "I think so, yes. I think on the other side of the election it's going to be tense no matter what, no matter who wins. If you have a Biden presidency, I think that tension over time can tamp down a bit."
She concluded the segment by offering up her own falsehoods, "I think if you have a President Trump for four more years, he's going to continue to not condemn and add fuel to the fire of white nationalism, of anti-government extremism, QAnon, and you name it."
This Trump-boosts-terrorism segment was brought to you by DirecTV.
Here is a transcript for the October 19 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
10:19 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: Okay, I know there's a lot that comes to our viewers in the news and sometimes crazy things the president says, but I want to highlight what you said about the president inciting domestic terrorism, what a sitting Republican member of Congress said the last hour about the president inciting domestic terrorism and ask you this question, because in 15 days, well, many people are casting their votes, but Americans have to decide who the next president is going to be? If President Trump is re-elected, is the threat of domestic terrorism greater as a result of the president's response, his rhetoric, his refusal to accept your recommendations at DHS?
ELIZABETH NEUMANN: I think so, yes. I think on the other side of the election it's going to be tense no matter what, no matter who wins. If you have a Biden presidency, I think that tension over time can tamp down a bit. I think if you have a President Trump for four more years, he's going to continue to not condemn and add fuel to the fire of white nationalism, of anti-government extremism, QAnon, and you name it. If they are willing to give him support, he’s willing to support them. And it's just going to continue to build this tension we're all sensing in our country.
