Democratic Congressman: Donald Trump’s Rhetoric Will Lead to Murders, Assaults

Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison said on MSNBC’s All in With Chris Hayes Monday evening that Donald Trump‘s inflammatory claim that he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating the 9/11 attack would lead to violence.

“He’s whipping up hatred to scapegoat a minority religious group, which has some very dangerous historic precedents…” said Ellison, who is himself Muslim. “I mean, it’s the kind of behavior, it’s classic demagoguery, and you know, he’s going to get somebody hurt.”

“You just said, he’s going to get somebody hurt – what do you mean by that?” asked host Chris Hayes.

“What I mean is that when leaders who have a national platform whip up hate and hysteria against a particular group– particularly a religious group, a minority religious group that is not popular– invariably, you know, the people that mentally unstable or motivated by hate come out of the woodwork,” Ellison said. “You see desecrations of buildings that are associated with that group, you see assaults, you see murders, you see things, things happen.”

Ellison also said that Trump’s comments about Mexicans could lead to violence. “I mean, this man is a pretty prolific hater, and he’s just getting worse. He’s capitalizing on people’s fears, pandering to it, so that’s what I mean by he could get people hurt.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

[Image via screengrab]
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