MSNBC's Obsession with Nazis ... and Donald Trump
It’s accepted wisdom among progressives both in and out of the media that Donald Trump is not only a racist, not simply a white supremacist, but also a soul mate of Adolf Hitler.
The Media Research Center, a conservative organization that monitors liberal bias, has documented how Trump Derangement Syndrome has taken its toll on several MSNBC hosts.
As you read what they’ve said, remember that these are the same people who say Donald Trump is divisive, that his rhetoric is way too hot, and that when he talks, you’d be excused if you thought he was out of his mind. Apparently, there are no mirrors at MSNBC.
Here are a few examples:
MSNBC host Joy Reid: “He is an autocrat. In his mind, he wants to be president for life.” MSNBC host Donny Deutsch: “I want to start using the word fascist.” Reid: “Yeah, he’s a fascist.” Deutsch: “And tendencies, many tendencies like Adolf Hitler. I said it. Throw me off the air.”
— MSNBC’s Saturday Night Politics, July 27.
“I want people to go back and look at Nazi Germany in the early ‘30s because the parallels are stunning....Oh, it can’t happen here, it can’t happen here. It can happen here....If you’re the person who votes for Donald Trump, you are no different than if you were watching on a subway five white nationalists berate an African-American woman saying, ‘Go back to where you came from,’ and then you hid and you put your head down....This is a man [Donald Trump] with Nazi tendencies.” —MSNBC analyst Donny Deutsch on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, July 19.
“We are heading to such a dangerous place. And guess what? You look at history, it can happen here. Maybe it’s the Jews next.” — MSNBC analyst Donny Deutsch on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House, July 17.
President Donald Trump at rally: “Omar has a history of launching vicious, anti-Semitic screeds.” [Crowd chants, “send her back!”] Co-host Joe Scarborough: “That’s the President, actually, from his Nuremberg rally from last night.” — MSNBC’s Morning Joe, July 18.
“Donald Trump talking about what a disgrace to our system....I have to think back to that Financial Times article yesterday talking about how the Nazis in the early 1930s would rail against quote, ‘the system,’ constantly railing quote ‘against the system’ because the, quote ‘system’ was actually still stopping them in the early 1930s from doing what they wanted to do. So they attacked, quote ‘the system’ just generally until finally they were able to break it down and do whatever they wanted.” — Host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, July 24.
Host Joe Scarborough: “When is the time to sound the alarm? When is the time to start saying, well, does this look like Germany in 1932? Does this look like Germany in 1933? Is now the time to start asking that question?” Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson: “Well, the time to start sounding an alarm, a general alarm, was some time ago. And people should be screaming now. The alarm should be at full volume. You know, one thing you – most columnists wisely resolve, is don’t bring out the Hitler/Germany analogy, you know? That’s – you never use that. We’re getting close.” — MSNBC’s Morning Joe, July 23.
“There’s so many stunning parallels to what Hitler was doing in the early ’30s.
— Host Donny Deutsch on MSNBC’s Saturday Night Politics, July 27.
In January of this year, Psychology Today ran an article about Trump Derangement Syndrome by Rob Whitley, a PhD who specializes in psychiatry research. Here’s a short passage: “Many have argued that some people have been seriously disturbed and distressed by the policies, speech, behavior, and tweets of President Trump, so much so that it has affected their cognitive, affective, and behavioral functioning. Such people may need mental health support.”
That last line is worth repeating. “Such people may need mental health support.” I would take issue with only one word in that otherwise astute sentence: The word “may” should have been left out.