CNN Newsroom host Poppy Harlow did not like being reminded on Thursday that left-wingers also commit and threaten to commit acts of violence. During an interview with former Trump acting Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis Brian Murphy, Harlow demanded examples that violence isn’t just a right-wing phenomenon.
Harlow began by providing examples of such rhetoric in the aftermath of the FBI raid on Mar-a-Logo, “I'll read just you two, Marjorie Taylor Greene, congresswoman calling to defund the FBI, but Paul Gosar, again, a sitting congressman, calling to, quote, ‘destroy the FBI’” Does that rhetoric make it actually in your mind more dangerous for these officials, for the FBI to do its job every day?’”
Murphy replied that while Gosar and Greene “bear some responsibility here,” to paint this is a right-wing problem is wrong because it is more of a social media problem on both sides, “And the way social media works in today's environment, people fit within these ecosystems they want to live in and they're not taking in outside opinions. So, when you have folks of influence saying those types of things, it does have an impact and it leads to people---”
Harlow wasn’t having it, interrupting to ask, “But, Brian can you specify—can you specify—by what you mean when you say both sides? Are you—are you-- talking about any Democratic lawmakers right now saying things like what I just quoted from those two Republican lawmakers? What are you saying specifically?”
It is amazing that while Harlow highlighted Greene calling for the defunding of the FBI, she ignored the whole Defund the Police movement. For his part, Murphy chose a different, but equally relevant example, “when the Supreme Court ruled on abortion, you know, we're looking at the same kind of ecosystem, and we saw people that were upset with the ruling to take violence as an answer to their grievance.”
As Harlow interrupted to ask “Who?,” Murphy continued, “And threaten and to, you know, carry out acts of violence.”
Left-wingers have carried out several arson attacks and one man was arrested for planning to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh all as Democrats, such as Chuck Schumer, attempt to paint the Court as illegitimate and claim the Dobbs decision is a war on women that will lead women to die.
Still, Harlow wasn’t satisfied with Murphy’s accurate description of the problem, “Okay, but your answer was in response to my question specifically about the danger of rhetoric like that from lawmakers.”
Murphy then backtracked a little “I don't think there is an equivalency between what is happening right now and to clear and, kind of, what happened with the Supreme Court debate.”
Returning to his social media argument, Murphy added that lawmakers should be more responsible, “My point is that where you have lawmakers speaking about the system in a way that is highly negative, and not kind of normal political speak, but with a point to it, people in social media will take that as a beacon.”
A reasonable answer that doesn’t seek to score partisan points. No wonder CNN didn’t like it.
This segment was sponsored by Carvana.
Here is a transcript for the August 11 show:
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
8/11/2022
10:11 AM ET
POPPY HARLOW: And it is not just anonymous threats like that online. You also have absolutely shocking, tragic rhetoric from some sitting lawmakers, I'll read just you two, Marjorie Taylor Greene, congresswoman calling to defund the FBI, but Paul Gosar, again, a sitting congressman, calling to, quote, “destroy the FBI.” Does that rhetoric make it actually in your mind more dangerous for these officials, for the FBI to do its job every day?
BRIAN MURPHY: I think the two politicians just named, we’ve got to put them in context. It’s not just the right or left, it’s both sides and what we've seen and what I’ve seen during my 27-year career of doing this, both 20 years at the FBI, DHS, and now at Logically, the company I’m at, is both sides get a vote here, and the two politicians you named certainly they bear some responsibility here. But we see this going back and forth. And the way social media works in today's environment, people fit within these ecosystems they want to live in and they're not taking in outside opinions. So, when you have folks of influence saying those types of things, it does have an impact and it leads to people--
POPPY HARLOW: But, Brian can you specify—can you specify—by what you mean when you say both sides? Are you—are you-- talking about any Democratic lawmakers right now saying things like what I just quoted from those two Republican lawmakers? What are you saying specifically?
MURPHY: Sure, thanks. Over time, I'll give a more recent example, so when the Supreme Court ruled on abortion, you know, we're looking at the same kind of ecosystem, and we saw people that were upset with the ruling to take violence as an answer to their grievance.
HARLOW: Who?
MURPHY: And threaten and to, you know, carry out acts of violence.
HARLOW: Okay, but your answer was in response to my question specifically about the danger of rhetoric like that from lawmakers.
MURPHY: Yes, that's right.
HARLOW: I'm talking about lawmakers. Members of Congress.
MURPHY: Sure. So, yeah, I don't think there is an equivalency—
HARLOW: Okay.
MURPHY: --between what is happening right now and to clear—
HARLOW: Okay.
MURPHY: --and, kind of, what happened with the Supreme Court debate.
HARLOW: Okay.
MURPHY: My point is that where you have lawmakers speaking about the system in a way that is highly negative, and not kind of normal political speak, but with a point to it, people in social media will take that as a beacon and they –
HARLOW: Words have weight. Yeah—
MURPHY: That’s right.
HARLOW: --and they matter very much, especially when you're in an elected position of authority and power, but thank you for clarifying there that you weren’t equivocating on that.
