For months, media personalities and pundits have been blaming President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for the escalation of partisan animosity and even acts of violence — all while ramping up their own rhetoric, likening Trump to terrorists and Nazis.
Grabien media founder Tom Elliott put together a supercut of pundits, guests, hosts and even former party officials — primarily on CNN and MSNBC — dialing up their rhetoric while blaming Trump’s for the current political climate.
WATCH:
Among the personalities who appeared in the clip — dialing up the rhetoric — were CNN anchor Don Lemon, GQ’s Julia Ioffe, actress Rosie O’Donnell, former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt and former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean.
The names they called President Trump were certainly unflattering:
- Evil
- Moral monster
- Cult leader
- Ignorant
- Racist
- Not minimally human
The things they said about his policies and rhetoric were even worse.
- “This president has radicalized so many more people than ISIS ever did.” — Julia Ioffe
- “The biggest threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right.” — Don Lemon
- “He has delivered racism for these people. He has delivered misogyny for these people.” — Elie Mystal
- “The same type of rhetoric, the same type of propaganda, that you would have seen in Germany in 1938.” — Steve Schmidt
- “He obviously condones anti-semitism, obviously stokes up nationalist hatred.” — John Heileman
- “What Trump does with the power that people give him is turn it to evil.” — Howard Dean
Multiple outlets — both on television and in print — have attempted to draw a straight line from the tone of President Trump’s rhetoric and tweets to specific acts of violence as well. (RELATED: Sarah Sander Fires Back At Washington Post For Tying Trump To Terror)
Most recently, that included the potentially explosive devices allegedly mailed by Cesar Sayoc to a number of prominent Democrats and the shooting that took place on Saturday inside Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.
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