Dem Strategist on CNN Drops Heavy Receipt on Trump Ally Complaining About ‘Nazi’ Talk

Trump ally Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) — who was a cabinet secretary in Trump’s first term — got a heavy receipt pulled on him when he complained, without evidence, that an unnamed news outlet called President Donald Trump a Nazi “three thousand times!”

Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi has drawn criticism for threatening to go after people over what she described as “hate speech” — including those cheering activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

On Wednesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Cornish led a discussion of the issue with a “Group Chat” panel consisting of journalist Garrett Graff, ex-GOP lawmaker Charlie Dent, and Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright.

When Zinke made his claim, Seawright pointed out that at least one prominent member of Trump’s current administration has also explicitly compared him to a prominent Nazi:

CORNISH: So, the Fox News analyst Brit Hume said “hate speech is protected,” and, quote, “she should know this. The National Review, the Supreme Court will side against her nine-nothing.”

And people talked about Kirk dying over this issue of free speech.

Where do you sit on this spectrum of Republicans who are like, we got to do something, and that might mean using the state law enforcement to go after people on language and people who say that is completely wrong?

ZINKE: This is where I sit. There’s a difference between expression and hate. There is a difference between by — a threat, a violent — a violent threat. For instance, if I threaten to kill you, and I project that —

CORNISH: But this has been litigated for a long time, right, this conversation?

ZINKE: Yes. And there are lines. And I agree with — with Pam Bondi. And there are results of — of ignoring, for instance, all right, you know, a news outlet called President Trump 3,000 times a Nazi. Three thousand times. Well, he’s not a Nazi. You may call him a lot of things. You know, braggadocious, you may call him a lot of things, but he’s not a Nazi.

CORNISH: Is that incitement?

ZINKE: You know what, I think that’s flaming a — a — what you’re doing is you are causing a rift where there isn’t one there, and falsely accusing someone of being a Nazi.

CORNISH: But incitement has legal —

DENT: (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: Yes.

SEAWRIGHT: And to — to a degree. And, Congressman, his own vice —

ZINKE: (INAUDIBLE) stoop it.

SEAWRIGHT: His own vice president called him a Nazi. So, we can’t pick —

ZINKE: Oh, oh, come on. (INAUDIBLE).

SEAWRIGHT: We can’t — we can’t pick and choose when it’s convenient.

Can I just share something with you from — from Charlie Kirk? “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And all of it is protected by the First Amendment.”

So, I think we’re having a conversation around convenient speech versus what’s free speech and not. And I think that’s where people like me are frustrated. It’s good for some, but not good for others, including the president.

According to the Internet Archive, no television news outlet has featured the words “Trump” and “Nazi” together more than 3,000 times since 2009, let alone “called him a Nazi” that many times.

In that timeframe, MSNBC and Fox News are nearly tied with 1,740 and 1,736 mentions, respectively. CNN is third with 1,366.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.