Former George W. Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd went on MSNBC on Tuesday to outrageously claim to host Joy Reid that the January 6 Capitol riot was worse than the September 11 terrorist attacks.

He argued that the Capitol riot was worse than the 2001 terrorist attack that killed nearly 3,000 people because Republicans are continuing the “big lie” that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election, which is ripping our country apart.

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“I think it is much worse than it was on January 6,” Dowd said, according to Mediate. “It’s much worse than it was in November. It’s much worse after January 6th. Part of the problem is because there’s been no accountability, it’s given permission to do more of this. Not only it’s given permission to just average people out there who might do crazy things, it’s allowed the Republicans just to continue this big lie that they’ve pushed across.”

“Yesterday I was in Kentucky,” he continued. “I decided to go to Lincoln’s birthplace and his boyhood home. I was reflecting about it because one of the things Lincoln said is, America will never be destroyed from outside. America will destroy itself. I think that’s what I fear about right now. One of the things if you think about this, what would happen if after 9/11 we had done nothing? Think about that if we had done nothing after 9/11.”

“To me, although there was less loss of life on January 6, January 6 was worse than 9/11 because it’s continued to rip our country apart and give permission for people to pursue autocratic means,” Dowd concluded. “So I think we’re in a much worse place than we have been. I think we’re in the most perilous point in time since 1861 in the advent of the Civil War.”

Reid agreed with him, claiming that there has been an “uptick” in white supremacy since the riot.

“Republicans think their base is bigoted and their base is stupid, and that’s why they keep doing what they’re doing,” Dowd stated in response.