Verbal Brawl Breaks Out On Morning Joe Over Trump's Violent Rhetoric
It's not easy being a young conservative these days. You can tease out all kinds of rationales for Trump's behavior and violent rhetoric, or you can try to find reasons why political violence isn't his fault. That's what happened on Morning Joe this morning, when Republican writer and pollster Kristen Solis Anderson tried to nuance the story of the Coast Guard terrorist without ever acknowledging stochastic terrorism:
"There's a huge leap there. There are always crazy individuals out there," Anderson said.
"We had the newsroom shooting that tragically took the lives of some journalists in Annapolis not too long ago. That was inspired by local issues. The shooting of Gabby Gifford wasn't inspired by politics but by a man with severe mental issues who thought the money was being manipulated. But the problem is -- "
"Hold on. What do you think this is being inspired by?"
"This Coast Guard guy is 100% inspired by rhetoric from the president."
"What about the pipe bomber? What was he inspired by?"
"Yep, that was inspired by the president. My point is, even in the absence of President Trump, you have individuals who are unstable and adding existing comments into that existing recipe is a recipe for bad."
"Who is the synagogue shooting inspired by as well, talking about caravans?"
"Joe, you've put words in my mouth. I'm not saying this is not because of the president. I'm saying you already have existing layers of crazy but when you have additional rhetoric added into it --