Mulvaney Scolds MTP Panel for Politicizing Shooting; Panelist Hits Back: I ‘Give Less Than a Damn’ What He Thinks
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney expressed his disgust with some of the comments on Meet the Press‘ political panel today connecting President Donald Trump‘s rhetoric to the horrific El Paso shooting over the alleged manifesto being investigated.
NBC News contributor Eddie Glaude Jr. spoke with Chuck Todd about dehumanizing rhetoric like “invasion” that sets the stage for “people on the extreme to act more violently.”
He said there’s a “cold civil war” happening in the U.S. and “there are some people who bear the burden of it”:
“We have children in El Paso right now who just witnessed their family members, their friends, shot down because somebody thinks there’s a Hispanic invasion of the country, which is almost the exact same language of the President of the United States!”
Glaude called out former North Carolina Pat McCrory for not being able to condemn that “without making the equivalency move.”
Kasie Hunt recalled a disturbing moment from a Trump rally months ago as she talked about the issue of presidential responsibility:
Trump to a rally crowd in Florida in May: "How do you stop these people" from crossing the border?
Rally attendee: "Shoot them!"
Crowd laughs. Trump smirks.
Trump: "That's only in the panhandle you can get away with that stuff. Only in the panhandle." pic.twitter.com/2tYIUBPJbv
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) August 4, 2019
When Mulvaney appeared with Todd, he responded to what he heard from the panel:
“I know this is a political show, but the level of rhetoric in the last 20 minutes — I hope someone else is bothered by it other than me. I mean, we’ve moved straight past any sympathy at all for the victims, straight past going into what caused this, and trying to figure out who’s to blame. So I’ll ask this question. Was Bernie Sanders responsible for when my friends got shot playing baseball? I don’t think he was.”
At one point Todd asked, “You don’t accept the fact that the president’s rhetoric has been a contributing factor at all?”
Mulvaney said, “I blame the people who pull the trigger, Chuck!”
After the Mulvaney interview, Todd returned to the panel and invited Glaude to respond since “he clearly… was reacting to you in particular.”
Glaude said, “First of all, I can give less than a damn what Mick Mulvaney thinks about what I say, to be honest with you. He can’t even acknowledge it was a domestic terrorist act.”
He said there’s no question how Trump would have reacted if the shooter was Muslim as opposed to when it turned out to be a white man.
You can watch all three videos above, via NBC.
