Erick Erickson’s Appearance on NBC to Talk Right Wing Conspiracies Draws Outrage: This is ‘Really Appallingly Bad’
On Sunday, Erick Erickson appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press to talk right wing conspiracies.
“If you’re a conservative who’s at war with the truth, you’re not really a conservative,” Erickson — who has repeatedly pushed conspiracy theories — said, in his attempt to speak to conservatives now that more is known about the mail bomb suspect, Cesar Sayov.
Erickson’s words sparked outrage on social media because Erickson is a conservative conspiracy theory generating machine, recently pushing a conspiracy about the migrant caravan (an issue that factored into the Pittsburgh shooter’s outrage) and linking the Christine Blasey Ford allegation to killing babies. Back in 2017, Erickson even claimed mass shootings in America are “rare.”
Yet somehow, his remark drew little pushback from host Chuck Todd.
On social media, however, many quickly noted that the conspiracy theorist probably should not even have been allowed on the air, let alone to say such things or in the words of Parker Molloy, “WTF is wrong with you, Meet the Press?”
That Erick Erickson is, in 2018, considered an acceptable TV guest anywhere outside of Fox News confounds the mind. Erickson has lost the ability to disappoint or shock; it’s what he does and has always done. The real news is @MeetThePress still put him on air after that tweet. https://t.co/5cIDFbu8qn
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) October 28, 2018
How do you have @EWErickson on @MeetThePress to discuss right-wing conspiracy theories when he’s actively pushing them? He’s a shameless hack and this is just embarrassing. https://t.co/uvuhNockdT
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) October 28, 2018
Erickson helped spread the conspiracy theory that Dabvid Hogg wasn’t at Parkland during the shooting. WTF is wrong with you, @MeetThePress? https://t.co/LPEgdzfhGZ
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) October 28, 2018
What we learned from today’s talk shows: bothsidesism is a fanatical cult, impervious to contrary evidence. Trump could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and the usual suspects would blame incivility while Meet the Press would feature someone who urged him to pull the trigger
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2018
Why would you give this person, who is consistently horrible, a platform on @MeetThePress ? https://t.co/hJwcNCj3CC
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) October 28, 2018
The idea that @MeetThePress would have @EWErickson on to discuss the bombing suspects. Or Rush Lumbaugh, when in fact Erick spreads his own conspiracy theories is really appallingly bad. And the follow ups are lame. https://t.co/F1OPFLF0p7
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) October 28, 2018
To the producers of @MeetThePress, the idea that the day after the worst antisemitic attack in US history, you would host an extremist who SPREAD THE VERY CONSPIRACY THEORY which prompted the attack is unconscionable.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) October 28, 2018
Hey @MeetThePress here is Erick Erickson spreading lies and conspiracy theories about Planned Parenthood and not being alarmed at all about the resulting violence. Think you might want a different expert. https://t.co/ziJ0HwX7aJ pic.twitter.com/EpRl1yC9sL
— Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) October 28, 2018
Erickson, however, seems unfazed by the controversy and in fact employed some conservative keywords in his own tweet brushing the incident off and making it pretty clear he hasn’t changed a bit.
My presence on MSNBC on Thursday and Meet the Press today have both terribly triggered some people. Oh well.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 28, 2018
Watch Erickson’s appearance above, via NBC
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