MSNBC’s Barnicle: Trump’s ‘Language,’ ‘Behavior’ Make Him ‘Responsible’ for Atlanta Shootings

Thursday, MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle blamed former President Donald Trump for the Atlanta-area massage parlor shootings that left eight dead, six of which were Asian women.

Barnicle acknowledged on “Morning Joe” that Trump’s “didn’t pull the trigger in Atlanta” but said his “language” and “behavior” makes him “responsible” for the attack. He explained Trump’s rhetoric has enhanced racial strife in the country.

“I am not a big fan of living in the past. I believe in moving forward. Keep that line moving, go forward into the future, but we opened this segment with a clip of the former president speaking. We’ve been talking about things that have been existent in America for quite some time, but enhanced over the last four years with the presidential seal of approval given to intolerance, given to fear, given to suspicion, given to anger, given to saying very little about racial strife in this country and the causes of it, never addressing it … of lying about nearly everything you can imagine from the dangers of the virus to the dangers of racial animosity and what it’s doing to our country,” Barnicle stated. “And in the root of it is in the former president’s four years, in his language and in his behavior. And we’re still living it; we’re still playing it out. And it affects us every day.”

He continued, “Now, Donald Trump didn’t pull the trigger in Atlanta, but Donald Trump certainly was responsible for the anger and the fear and the suspicion that exists in great degree in this country — much more so than ever in the past. And he’s not to blame for a history of racial strife in this country, but he certainly is to be blamed for enhancing it with his inaction and his cowardice in addressing it. We’re talking about rigged elections now. We’re still talking about January 6. All of that is the gift that keeps on giving, presented to us by a man who never, ever should have been president. And the stain of his presidency is still in existence today, and I fear how long it’s going to last. I mean, the job that Joe Biden has is enormous enough, but dealing with the underbelly of all of these causes only adds to the degree of difficulty in the presidency.”

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