Friday on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” network host Joy Reid discussed President Donald Trump and Fox News personalities criticizing FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
She said President Donald Trump was “an authoritarian of the first order, and he’s behaving like one.”
Reid said, “It seems Donald Trump has the tools of authoritarianism down. He has that the dance of authoritarianism down to a science. Step one, claim the investigation of you is a fraud being conducted by enemies of the state. Step two, get your state-run media, your affinity media, to echo that into your base and whip them up into a frenzy against those investigating you. Step three, get the state party, in this case, the Republican Party, to echo that from the seat of government and say, ‘Wait a minute, the people investigating the president are themselves criminals.’ Create this feedback loop that creates a feeding frenzy that has now essentially got Republicans claiming that Bob Mueller, probably the most respected member of law enforcement in the last 30, 40 years in the United States, essentially being characterized as a criminal.”
She added, “And then, of course, you have to add that last step, call for the prosecution of your political enemies, in this case, dredging up Hillary Clinton, to again call to lock her up. Donald Trump is an authoritarian of the first order, and he’s behaving like one.”
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