Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline,” anchor said Nicolle Wallace said President Donald Trump argued that continuing his feud with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), known as “The Squad,” would lead to violence.
MoveOn.org’s Karine Jean-Pierre said, “So here’s the fear I have, especially watching the Stephen Miller interview with Wallace this weekend, is that they are trying to change or move the goalposts on the definition of racism, of what it actually means. What I mean by that by saying no, you’re the racist. We’re not the racist. You’re the racist because of x, y, and z, and you’re saying that to people of color, who — and where it’s coming from is from people who this administration, Donald Trump, people who do policies, put out policies that affect people of color. But then you’re reversing it. You’re turning it on its head saying that’s not racist, you’re just calling it racist so, therefore, you’re racist. It’s problematic because it’s incredibly dangerous.”
Wallace asked, “Why is it dangerous?”
Jean-Pierre said continued, “People’s lives are at stake. Right? Hate crimes have risen in the last couple of years. So when you have the president of the United States saying these things, ‘go back to your country, there are good people on both sides,’ Right? Denying the rights of people of color, what does that do? That stokes violence. Right? That really gives okay to those people who hate people who look like me, right? People who feel like we don’t belong here. So it’s an incredibly dangerous. They’re moving the goalposts on what racism is. You have the president of the United States sitting in the White house doing nasty, hateful division, right, dividing us, the other ism, us between them and us and that’s the scary part to me. someone is going to get hurt.”
Wallace said, “People were already hurt. Heather Heyer was murdered at the rally where Trump says good people on both sides.”
She continued, “You’re the fourth person around this table in a week to say someone’s going to get hurt. The fist was Congresswoman Bass the second was the former Assistant Director to the FBI, Frank Figliuzzi, the third was Jason Johnson, and you’re the fourth. I believe a law enforcement report backs that up at a federal level. I want to know, and I agree with you it is likely more people will get hurt because I think lives have already been lost, but the Republicans who enable this will also have blood on their hands.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN