Cenk Uygur: Is Trump’s ‘Enemy of the People’ Rhetoric Encouraging Violence? ‘Goddamn Right It Is!’
The Young Turks‘ Cenk Uygur says there’s no doubt that President Donald Trump is fueling violence and aggression with his anti-media rhetoric.
On Wednesday night, Uygur and Ana Kasparian covered Trump’s latest attacks on the New York Times after reporting that the president former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to appoint an ally of his to the top of the Southern District of New York. The report caused Trump to call the Times the “enemy of the people,” and Uygur connected that to the radical coast guard lieutenant who was arrested and charged yesterday over a plot to commit mass murder against various Democrats and media figures.
“Gee, I wonder where he got that idea,” Uygur said sarcastically. “So hard to trace back.”
The segment went on with Uygur and Kasparian offering criticisms of establishment media coverage, all while differentiating that from how Trump’s rhetoric and spread of “insane conspiracy theories” endangers the lives of journalists. Kasparian eventually brought up Trump’s most recent slams against Saturday Night Live, asking Trump supporters “are you not embarrassed that you idolize a pathetic, little crybaby loser like Donald Trump who gets his panties in a bunch” over satire.
“He increases the percentage chance that somebody at The New York Times is going to get killed,” Uygur said on Trump’s anti-media tweets. “If you don’t know that calling someone ‘enemy of the people’ – especially when you’re President of the United States – encourages violence, either you’re totally lying…or you’re the dumbest person in America.”
Uygur rounded off the segment by going back to the coast guard lieutenant, saying “is it connected to [Trump’s] tweets? Goddamn right it is.”
Trump’s encouragement of violence and winking at aggression has been documented by the media throughout his political life. Also, its worth noting that back in 2018, a crazed Trump supporter was arrested as the suspected perpetrator of an attempted mail-bomb campaign against over a dozen of the president’s opponents.
Watch above, via The Young Turks.
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