CNN’s Inside Politics host John King has long been seen as one of the more even-keeled CNN mainstays, but when he has an itch, he becomes just as partisan as the rest. Such was the case Monday when he and his panel used former President Trump’s brazen dining with virulent racists and anti-Semites Kanye West and Nick Fuentes and the GOP response as proof that the party is content with being an anti-Semitic party encouraging hate crimes.
“To American politics now and to this sad, sad but recurring reality: Donald Trump associates himself with conspiracy and hate and all but a few Republican leaders say nothing,” King began, restating the details of the Trump dinner before whining there’s been “silence” from the GOP minus “a few willing to call this out.”
Upon introducing his panel, King had as much disgust for the GOP as he did for Trump:
Why is this so hard? Why is this so hard? This is the company Donald Trump keeps and it's the company he has kept for years. Everyone’s focusing on Nick Fuentes, who is a horrible, reprehensible human being for what he says and advocates, but Ye, Kanye West, however you want to say it, also even recently involved in anti-Semitism and Trump won't apologize and they won't call him out. Why?
King also blasted Chris Christie, Mike Pompeo and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel for their recent comments on anti-Semitism as insufficient because they weren’t tearing Trump and the party to shreds (click “expand”):
KING: And Chris Christie says another example of an awful lack of judgment from Donald Trump, which combined with past judgments make him an untenable general election candidate. Mike Pompeo says anti-Semitism is a cancer and talks about what he did as secretary of state, doesn't call out Donald Trump.
DANA BASH: No.
KING: Doesn't say he should be, you know, not allowed to win the nomination. Ronna McDaniel, the party chairwoman, “as I have repeatedly said, white supremacist and neo-Nazism and hate speech and bigotry are disgusting, do not have a home in the Republican Party.” You didn’t say — where’s the next sentence? So, Donald Trump denounce it and nor do you.
BASH: At least there's something there. You're — you’re right about Kevin McCarthy. It's not an excuse but it is a political reality that, if he says anything that will make Donald Trump combat him, attack him, he could very well lose the very, very small number of — of Republicans that are even there for him to become Speaker of the House.
As always, nothing will be enough for these people as they’re the living embodiment of moving goalposts.
State of the Union co-host Dana Bash was trying to outline the thinking of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), but King interjected: “Power and politics over principle, period.”
Bash changed her tune to fit the dangerous road King was going down in smearing Republicans as greenlighting hate crimes: “[I]t speaks to...what so many people who follow these issues say over and over again, silence is viewed as a green light for more hate and for even the speech to become more vicious, even to become violent.”
King reacted with his disgusting smear by comparing Republicans to the racist Buffalo grocery store shooter:
If you do not criticize something this reprehensible, you are complicit in it. If you have a position — just today, the suspect in the Buffalo shooting in the supermarket pled guilty said that he sought that supermarket out so he could kill the most available black people in one place. He has also railed against Jews as well. If leaders, political leaders, movement leaders encourage such behavior, you cannot be shocked when you get it.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tia Mitchell poured on and further proved why Republicans should adopt the Christina Pushaw approach in treating journalists:
We're seeing that time and again with political rhetoric, translating into violence in America and it's something that unfortunately sometimes our elected officials like to focus on the mental health or the red flag laws and not really talking about the root causes of bigotry and racism that contribute to events like Buffalo.
Going to break, Bash suggested that, by not meeting the media’s satisfaction of distancing itself from Trump, Republicans are allowing anti-Semites and white supremacists to believe now is the “time to act.”
“You invite people off the fringe. You invite people out of there. They think they better stay isolated because they can’t lift their head because people will condemn them. Instead, you welcome them. Sadly a conversation that will likely continue,” replied King.
This insinuation that the GOP is the party of anti-Semitism and gateway to hate crimes and mass murder was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as Lexus and Liberty Mutual. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcript from November 28, click here.
