Despite President Trump’s full-throated denunciation of racism and white supremacy on Monday, NBC Nightly News was determined to place the weekend’s mass shootings at his feet. The network went to such extreme lengths for their narrative that they flew chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel all the way out to somewhere in Germany to give neo-Nazis a platform.
“[W]e found the ideology that can inspire some to mass murder is taking inspiration from the President,” he declared during his report about online sites where hate festers.
During his trip to Germany, Engel obsessed about a red hat with the letters “M-G-H-A” and tracked down the neo-Nazi who made them (click “expand”):
ENGEL: But what surprised us most is what organizers were handing out at the door. So, they're giving out hats. M-G-H-A, make Germany hate again. We found the man who made the hats. People are using his hat as an inspiration?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes.
ENGEL: Do people here like him? Do you like him?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I like his style.
NBC then shared a soundbite of Anti-Defamation League CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt sliming the President. “I think it's deeply disturbing when white supremacists feel like they're taking cues from our commander-in-chief,” he told the network.
The follow-up report was designed to discredit President Trump’s strong condemnation of racism and white supremacy by echoing Democratic Party talking points. Anchor Lest Holt seemingly nodded to that fact:
All right, Richard, and as you mentioned the President spoke about the shootings today including delivering a sweeping condemnation of racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. But some Democrats are pointing to his previous statements and they're skeptical. And now former President Obama is weighing in on this.
That narrative was also present on the evening newscasts of ABC’s World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News.
NBC chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson allowed only two fleeting soundbites from Trump’s Monday address before trying to tear him down. “Those are his words now, but what about what he said and done before,” she wondered.
Jackson refused to let the President have the benefit of the doubt or the room to grow, if their accusations of racism against him were true. “But critics point out the President's language today does not match his actions and his words in the past,” she pressed White House advisor Kellyanne Conway.
Then there was the celebration of former President Barack Obama for weighing on the situation:
Former President Obama late today with rare stinging criticism saying: “We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.” He added, never mentioning President Trump by name, “such language isn't new” but “it has no place in politics and out public life.”
And for some bizarre reason, Jackson included an interview with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), who said: “The height of hypocrisy for the President to blame hatred when the President has fomented hatred.” That was the same guy who told conservatives they weren’t welcome in his state anymore because of their support for the Second Amendment.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
August 5, 2019
7:11:59 p.m. Eastern(…)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We must shine light on the dark recesses of the internet and stop mass murders before they start.
RICHARD ENGEL: But we found the ideology that can inspire some to mass murder is taking inspiration from the President. We went to a neo-Nazi festival in Germany a few weeks ago. But what surprised us most is what organizers were handing out at the door.
So, they're giving out hats. M-G-H-A, make Germany hate again.
We found the man who made the hats.
People are using his hat as an inspiration?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes.
ENGEL: Do people here like him? Do you like him?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I like his style.
JOHNATHAN GREENBLATT (CEO, Anti-Defamation League): I think it's deeply disturbing when white supremacists feel like they're taking cues from our commander-in-chief.
[Cuts back to live]
ENGEL: This is international. White supremacists and the far-right are making deep political inroads all across Europe and as we saw, they're increasingly hope and confident. Lester.
LESTER HOLT: All right, Richard, and as you mentioned the President spoke about the shootings today including delivering a sweeping condemnation of racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. But some Democrats are pointing to his previous statements and they're skeptical. And now former President Obama is weighing in on this. Here's Hallie Jackson.
[Cuts to video]
HALLIE JACKSON: From President Trump --
TRUMP: Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.
JACKSON: No ambiguity today.
TRUMP: In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.
JACKSON: Those are his words now, but what about what he said and done before? There was this after a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
TRUMP: You also had people that were -- very fine people on both sides.
JACKSON: And this describing Latino migration.
TRUMP: This is an invasion. [Transition] It is an invasion. You know that.
JACKSON: In May, when someone yelled what several present heard as "Shoot them."
TRUMP: But how do you stop these people? You can’t, they’re – [crowd reaction]
JACKSON: The President responded with a smile.
TRUMP: That's only in the panhandle you can get away with that statement.
JACKSON: And when some supporters echoed the President's racist tweet last month against four lawmakers of color, he let it go on for 13 seconds!
All of it triggering skepticism from the President's opponents. Former President Obama late today with rare stinging criticism saying: “We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.” He added, never mentioning President Trump by name, “such language isn't new” but “it has no place in politics and out public life.”
NY GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: The height of hypocrisy for the President to blame hatred when the President has fomented hatred.
KELLYANNE CONWAY: He was unequivocal and specific.
JACKSON: But critics point out the President's language today does not match his actions and his words in the past.
CONWAY: I'm very happy as an American citizen today that the President denounced white supremacy, bigotry, evil, racism.
[Cuts back to live]
JACKSON: Two White House officials tell me President Trump is expected to visit El Paso and Dayton this week. Lester.
HOLT: All right, Hallie, thank you.
