On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber,” MSNBC terrorism analyst Malcolm Nance reacted to the Fox News Channel’s characterizations of the Mueller probe as a “coup” by stating Fox doesn’t have a right to “Sedition” or to undermine the Constitution.
Nance said, “I’m very concerned about the use of the rhetoric around this. This is almost psychological warfare preparation of the battlefield, that’s what we would say. Where they are trying to frame a narrative around the nation now that has a lot more to do than the Mueller investigation. I mean, if the Mueller investigation comes through, it will have been done –been the Department of Justice. They’re trying to say that the entire framework of the United States government’s system of removing a president or finding out dirt about a president, that in itself is tantamount to a military force or a force removing people in power. We just saw a coup in Zimbabwe recently, where the first thing that happened was the army hits the streets, they seize all the radio and TV stations. I mean, I’m sure that’s Fox’s worst nightmare. But, this is not a coup, and this language is dangerous. It is — they have a right to free speech, but you know what they don’t have a right to? Sedition. They don’t have a right to undermine the Constitution of the United States.”
He added, “I just find it just disturbing that elected officials in the United States are using this type of rhetoric. My problem with regard to what’s being said these days is far more fundamental. It’s not that they’re just saying it, and that Fox News broadcasting this. It’s just we have a president who is very susceptible to believing every word that they say, and he may get it into his mind that there actually are nefarious plans that equate to a coup, and God knows what he’ll do. He may not get cooperation of the armed forces, but you know, I mean, the way that he culls favor with police forces, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Border Patrol, who knows what can happen here? This is dangerous. It needs to stop. It is unconstitutional, and it is unconscionable. And I wish that as patriots to this nation, they would A. Get a dictionary, look up the definition of ‘coup,’ and B. Stop talking about this in the way that they are. Because it could manifest itself, either through some small rebellion of guys with guns, or people who think they’re going to come to the White House and protect it with semiautomatic weapons, I don’t know. It just needs to stop.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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