MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell praised those in the migrant caravan headed toward the U.S. on Tuesday night — while criticizing supporters of President Donald Trump, slamming them as fearful, loathing, and racist.
O’Donnell said the migrants “would be an asset to this country.” He said this just before he described Trump voters as “loathing” and “fearful” — then went on to lump them in with white supremacist David Duke and insinuate they were hearing nationalist “dog whistles” in Trump’s recent Houston rally remarks, as The Daily Caller noted.
O’Donnell also claimed the only thing Trump supporters fear more than people from Central America is “people from the Middle East.”
The cable host credited Trump for the size of the migrant caravan — and for using it to his advantage.
“We do know that the numbers have grown because the president of the United States has drawn so much attention to it,” O’Donnell declared. “More people in Central America have decided to get in the flow of these refugees, and they’re doing that for mutual protection.”
The MSNBC host also claimed Trump is using the caravan as a tool to “create more fear and loathing in his desperately fearful supporters.”
One can only imagine, of course, the immediate and frenzied blowback if anyone had criticized former President Barack Obama or former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton supporters as fearful and racist.
In his tirade, O’Donnell held nothing back in terms of his views of Trump supporters: “Loathing and hatred is the jet fuel formula for the Trump campaigns,” he said. “Donald Trump wants you to know that he hates the same people you hate. If you hate Muslims, if you hate black people, if you hate anyone who lives south of the Rio Grande.”
O’Donnell continued, “But he knows he cannot come out and say, ‘I’m a hater, I’m a racist,’ and he knows he doesn’t have to. He knows he got the Ku Klux Klan vote without saying ‘I’m a racist’ out loud. He knows he got David Duke’s enthusiastic support without having to say ‘I’m a racist’ out loud.”
Then the MSNBC employee referred to the president’s comments on Monday night during a Houston rally, when he explained how he distinguishes between a “nationalist” and a “globalist.”
Related: MSNBC Anchors Can’t Believe Trump Backers Vote Economy, Jobs
“You know, they have a word, it sort of became old-fashioned. It’s called a nationalist,” Trump said, as he rallied voters to support Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the upcoming midterms.
“And I say, ‘Really? We’re not supposed to use that word,’” Trump continued. “You know what I am? I’m a nationalist. OK? I’m a nationalist.”
He continued, “You know what a globalist is, right?”
He explained, “A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly not caring about our country so much. And you know what? We can’t have that.”
O’Donnell would have none of this. “He knows that in America, the word ‘nationalist’ usually follows the word white, ‘white nationalist,’” he said of the commander-in-chief.
“That’s what it’s meant in the 21st century. Trump voters understand, David Duke understands, Donald Trump has to leave the word ‘white’ out of his use of the word ‘nationalist.’ But when Donald Trump uses that word, he wants you to hear it as racist.”
See more in the video below.
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