On Monday's The ReidOut, MSNBC contributor Steve Schmidt made an election eve appearance to take his latest incendiary shots at Donald Trump supporters in a segment that featured host Joy Reid likening pro-Trump caravans to ISIS terrorists and Schmidt invoking Adolf Hitler's SA from the 1920s.
The disaffected ex-Republican also suggested that racism was behind Republican support for the McCloskeys even though the St. Louis couple were defending themselves from intruders on their own property.
At 7:25 p.m. Eastern, Reid likened some Trump supporters to ISIS as she recalled seeing pro-Trump activists driving through her neighborhood:
They're driving these caravans through -- they're intimidating people -- they're trying to run people off the road. You know, people are putting up sort of signs showing their flags and, like, you know, gangs of ISIS cars going down the street in Syria. And, comparing it, they look like warlords. And that is another thing I've never seen, other than the Brooks Brothers riot....What is this?
In his reaction, Schmidt made tired, worn-out comparisons between Trump supporters and fascists:
This is a marker of a fascistic enterprise -- an authoritarian-ish movement that has taken root in American soil like a noxious weed and an invasive species. It is the same with the militia groups you see storming state capitals and the president -- the presence of long rifles now has mainstays at -- has mainstays at political rallies. We are in an era of extremism.
Schmidt then took a shot at the right to defend one's own home as he brought up the McCloskeys:
I make a direct linkage, for example, between the kid who sat in the front row of the Trump rally, and then, the day after the McCloskeys were on television for the only possible reason being that they pointed weapons at black people who were peacefully protesting, and then a kid drove from Illinois to Wisconsin, shot three people with his AR-15, driven by his mom, killed two of them, right?
It didn't take long for Hitler to come up as the segment continued:
SCHMIDT: It is menacing. The Trump rallies have teamed with menace and violence on the fringes and at their core for four years. Someone smarter than me has to explain to me the difference between the armed militia people and Hitler's SA circa 1928, 1929.
REID: Yeah.
SCHMIDT: They're an armed, politicized movement in this country that's faithful to Donald Trump, and we know that because they've been quite explicit about it.
This episode of MSNBC's The ReidOut was sponsored in part by Humira. Their contact information is linked.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, November 2, The ReidOut on MSNBC:
JOY REID: On the other side, you've got these caravans -- they were even in my neighborhood. Where I live, it's very blue and it's a blue area. They're driving these caravans through -- they're intimidating people -- they're trying to run people off the road. You know, people are putting up sort of signs showing their flags and, like, you know, gangs of ISIS cars going down the street in Syria. And, comparing it, they look like warlords. And that is another thing I've never seen, other than the Brooks Brothers riot. But even that wasn't this -- what is this?
STEVE SCHMIDT, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: This is a marker of a fascistic enterprise -- an authoritarian-ish movement that has taken root in American soil like a noxious weed and an invasive species. It is the same with the militia groups you see storming state capitals and the president -- the president of Long Rifles now has mainstays at -- has mainstays at political rallies. We are in an era of extremism.
I make a direct linkage, for example, between the kid who sat in the front row of the Trump rally, and then, the day after the McCloskeys were on television for the only possible reason being that they pointed weapons at black people who were peacefully protesting, and then a kid drove from Illinois to Wisconsin, shot three people with his AR-15, driven by his mom, killed two of them, right? There's a direct lock on all of this. And the genie is out of the bottle as they say on this.
So I saw this in Utah over the weekend. It's all over the country. It is menacing. The Trump rallies have teamed with menace and violence on the fringes and at their core for four years. Someone smarter than me has to explain to me the difference between the armed militia people and Hitler's SA circa 1928, 1929.
REID: Yeah.
SCHMIDT: They're an armed, politicized movement in this country that's faithful to Donald Trump, and we know that because they've been quite explicit about it.
