MSNBC’s Hateful New Host Justifies Hillary Clinton's ‘Deplorable’ Smear

April 20th, 2021 5:15 PM

MSNBC has long displayed its hatred for Trump supporters and it is continuing to show its contempt even now that he is out of office.

On Sunday afternoon’s Alex Witt Reports, MSNBC host Alex Witt brought on political analyst and MSNBC host Mehdi Hassan to go on an unhinged diatribe against Trump voters. The hateful Hassan justified Hillary Clinton labeling Trump supporters “deplorables” because they have “racist, far-right, authoritarian views.”

 

 

Witt initiated Hassan’s despicable monologue by suggesting that Trump “helped to amplify, to unleash” racist and violent behavior.

Among many repulsive comments, Hassan disgustingly defended Clinton’s “deplorables” remark and condescendingly suggested that Trump caused such deplorables “to crawl out from under rocks”: (Click "expand" to read more.) 

This idea that you can beat Donald Trump in an election, put aside the fact that he doesn’t accept the results and insights an insurrection, separate to that, there’s the wider issue of quote unquote Trumpism for want of a better word, which as you say, the unleashing, the amplification of these views. These views have always been there in America. People who point out that, you know, Trump is not new, they're right. But what happened in recent years is -- was they had become taboo, they had become, you know, on the fringes, they weren't seen as mainstream. What happened under Trump was these people and these views were able to crawl out from under rocks.

They were given amplification, legitimization from the most powerful man in the land. And therefore just beating Donald Trump in an election’s not enough. These people are out there. They turned up in the capital. They represent a big chunk of the country. Whatever you want to call them, you know, Hillary Clinton was famously attacked for talking about a basket of Trump supporters as deplorables. But the reality is there are millions of Americans out there who either support racist, far-right, authoritarian views or are willing to turn a blind eye and still vote for the people pushing those views.

Hasan is fast making a name for himself at MSNBC for making some of the most abhorrent remarks at the network. Just recently, Hasan wrote a nasty piece on MSNBC.com where he attacked liberal Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer for not stepping down to let President Biden appoint a far-left Supreme Court justice and even mocked the elderly judge for potentially not having much time left on the court due to his age. Hasan has also alleged that “the Republican playbook” is to “make racist policy and then complain about being accused of racism” and advocated for federal and state prosecution of Trump for murder over “avoidable COVID deaths.”

Hasan then went on to blame Republicans for all of the recent political violence and declare that violent rhetoric has “become acceptable on the right”:

But it looks like it's becoming the new norm where, you know, we look -- there's a line on Twitter that people always eat up -- what would you say if you saw this in another country, Alex? What would you say? You would say a failed state. You would say a democracy that's, you know, a weak democracy in decline. How can you have a country, how can you have a political system where political violence is now part of everyday conversation, is now seen as a tool by members of the electorate, by political groups. And this violence, don't forget, again has been incited by the former president but not just the former president. You have -- you have a GOP official in Michigan -- we covered this on my show not long ago, who says burn them at the stake -- referring to witches -- in Michigan referring to Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State and -- and the Attorney General who all three of them are women in Michigan. That kind of language that's become acceptable on right that now right wingers themselves -- Republicans themselves having fed the beast are now becoming victim to and now living in fear.

MSNBC does not care about the news but about nastily smearing anyone who opposes the Democrats. 

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Read the full April 18th transcript here:

Alex Witt Reports

4/18/21

1:46:49 PM

ALEX WITT: Is -- is it something that -- that Donald Trump though helped to amplify, to unleash? In other words, licensing the ability to behave this way -- 

MEHDI HASAN (MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST; HOST OF THE MEHDI HASAN SHOW): Yeah.

HASAN: -- to express yourself this way? 

HASAN: 100% and this is the big, you know, this was the big issue for many of us when Trump looked like he would be defeated and then was defeated. This idea that you can beat Donald Trump in an election, put aside the fact that he doesn’t accept the results and insights an insurrection, separate to that, there’s the wider issue of quote unquote Trumpism for want of a better word, which as you say, the unleashing, the amplification of these views. These views have always been there in America. 

WITT: Right.

HASAN: People who point out that, you know, Trump is not new, they're right. But what happened in recent years is -- was they had become taboo, they had become, you know, on -- on the fringes, they weren't seen as mainstream. What happened under Trump was these people and these views were able to crawl out from under rocks. They were given amplification, legitimization from the most powerful man in the land. And therefore just beating Donald Trump in an election’s not enough. These people are out there. They turned up in the capital. They represent a big chunk of the country. Whatever you want to call them, you know, Hillary Clinton was famously attacked for talking about a basket of Trump supporters as deplorables. But the reality is there are millions of Americans out there who either support racist, far-right, authoritarian views or are willing to turn a blind eye and still vote for the people pushing those views. Look at the polls Alex. Look at the number of people who think -- I think it’s what 50 -- nearly 50% of Republicans according to a recent poll thought, you know, what happened on January 6th wasn't that bad -- 

WITT: Yeah.

HASAN: -- wasn't a big deal --

WITT: Yeah. Shocking. 

HASAN: -- may have been done by Antifa.

WITT: Yeah. So according to Punchbowl News Mehdi, lawmakers who criticize Trump spent tens of thousands of dollars across the first quarter this year on personal security. You had Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Eric Swalwell. You had Republicans like Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney. What is this tell you, lawmakers spending money to make sure they can safely work at the capitol or in their home district or just go about their day? Is this the new norm? 

HASAN: It shouldn't be the new norm. 

WITT: No. 

HASAN: But it looks like it's becoming the new norm where, you know, we look -- there’s a -- there's a line on Twitter that people always eat up -- what would you say if you saw this in another country, Alex? What would you say? You would say a failed state. You would say a democracy that's, you know, a weak democracy in decline. How can you have a country, how can you have a political system where political violence is now part of everyday conversation, is now seen as a tool by members of the electorate, by political groups. And this violence, don't forget, again has been incited by the former president but not just the former president. You have -- you have a GOP official in Michigan -- we covered this on my show not long ago, who says burn them at the stake -- referring to witches -- in Michigan referring to Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State and -- and the Attorney General who all three of them are women in Michigan. That kind of language that's become acceptable on right that now right wingers themselves -- Republicans themselves having fed the -- fed the beast are now becoming victim to and now living in fear. I mean, we talk about cowardly Republicans in Congress who don't stand up to Trump and co., which is true, but there is also this issue which you point out, which is some of them are literally living in fear of physical violence, of getting killed. And we should have called this out much earlier when Mitt Romney voted against -- voted for convicting Donald Trump in the first impeachment trial. You had CPAC saying we can't guarantee your security and Mitt Romney, you know, when you say stuff like this you're not welcome in Republican circles. That kind of rhetoric is just not acceptable.