MSNBC’s host Joy Reid pounced on a since-deleted video posted to former President Trump’s Truth Social account. The video – made by a third party – briefly flashed the words “unified Reich” in a series of newspaper clippings. Reid characterized the post as a definitive representation of Trump’s fascist views, and ridiculously suggested that no one in the media was talking about it and that no one was calling him a Nazi.
In addition, she repeatedly referenced several fascist leaders, especially Adolf Hitler, and accused other conservatives of relentlessly promoting fascist thought through their opinions and policies.
After playing the now-deleted campaign ad, Reid ridiculously proclaimed: “As per usual, much of the media is downplaying the fact that the Republican nominee is once again using Nazi language.”
She drew attention to some of Trump’s associations and past comments, claiming they indubitably prove he was just like Hitler. She even said, “Donald Trump was proud that someone once compared him to Adolf Hitler.” The someone Reid referred to was former German Chancellor Angela Merkel who once praised Trump’s ability to attract large crowds.
In Trump’s own words, “She told me she was amazed at the size of the crowds that came to see me speak. She said she could never get crowds like that. In fact, she told me that there was only one other political leader who ever got crowds as big as mine.” However, Merkel never explicitly named Hitler and while the comparison can be easily inferred, it remained doubtful whether Trump himself grasped the significance of the statement.
Turning her ire toward other Republicans, she spun a conspiracy theory that everyone else in the party was priming the pump for a new Reich: “His fellow Republicans don't seem all that bothered. They go to extraordinary lengths to defend him, which is super weird, since they’ve spent the past six months painting Joe Biden and Democrats as pinko anti-Semites.”
Later on, she again harped on Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s pardon of Daniel Perry, which NewsBusters previously addressed, that “Republicans are already enforcing [Trump’s] vision” of promising “to grant immunity to all police officers so they're free to kill anyone like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Roger Fortson.”
“Perry will now walk free and joined Kyle Rittenhouse and George Zimmerman as Republican celebrities and heroes praised for killing perceived enemies of the right or the Reich, per Donald's post,” she chided.
The segment continued with the MSNBC host’s interview of former Republican strategist Matthew Dowd, where she again brought up her gripe about the media. “What is it going to take to get the media to take seriously the fact that Donald Trump is acting like a Nazi, talking like a Nazi, and now posting like a Nazi?” she lamented.
And so it appears our study of Godwin’s Law in the media holds fast.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC's The ReidOut
5/21/2024
7:35:31 PM ET
JOY REID: Yesterday, Donald Trump posted a video on his social media account. The video, which was a preview of a second Trump administration, promotes the mass deportation of migrants, standard Trump Fascist fare at this point. But it also references a “unified Reich.” You can faintly see it right there on a news clipping in the video. The meme was created by a group that collaborates with the Trump campaign.
[The campaign ad]
REID: The video has been deleted and the campaign tried to distance itself from the post, but here's the thing. Back in April, Trump told his followers only himself and longtime advisor Dan Scavino have access to his Truth Social account. Here’s another thing. Donald Trump was proud that someone once compared him to Adolf Hitler. He once praised Hitler for doing “some good things.” He uses Nazi rhetoric, denies, I mean, dines with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and publicly defends them.
[Cuts to video]
DONALD TRUMP: We will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. [Transition] Nobody has ever seen anything like what we're witnessing now. It's a very sad thing for our country. It's poisoning the blood of our country. [Transition] I think there's blame on both sides. You look at -- you look at both sides. I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don't have any doubt about it either.
[Cuts back to live]
REID: As per usual, much of the media is downplaying the fact that the Republican nominee is once again using Nazi language. His fellow Republicans don't seem all that bothered. They go to extraordinary lengths to defend him, which is super weird, since they’ve spent the past six months painting Joe Biden and Democrats as pinko anti-Semites.
Here’s another thing. Donald Trump wants white nationalists to think he's great. He has said so. Jonathan Karl recently reported that back in 2016 when former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tried to get him to disavow David Duke's endorsement, Trump told him, quote, “those people vote too.”
And they have a reason to like what he's offering. He's promised to grant immunity to all police officers so they're free to kill anyone like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Roger Fortson. He's promised to launch national raids to round up 15 million migrants, place them in internment camps and mass deport them. And he plans on using the National Guard to police Democratic cities and use force to put down protests and restore, quote/unquote, “law and order.” In 2020, he told Mark Esper he wanted the military to shoot protesters in Washington, D.C. During the protests over George Floyd's murder.
And Republicans are already enforcing his vision. Last week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott granted a full pardon and restoration of rights to Daniel Perry who was working as a rideshare driver in downtown Austin on July 25th, 2020, when he shot and killed 28-year-old Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran who was participating in a George Floyd protest.
Daniel Perry is an open racist who posted things on Facebook like, “It is official, I am a racist, because I do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo.” And, “I might go to Dallas and shoot looters.” That was before he went to Austin and shot Garrett Foster.
Abbott argued that Perry had a right to kill, because Texas has one of the strongest Stand Your Ground laws. Abbott's pardon didn't address Perry's apparent grooming of a 16-year-old teenager, which is odd since the Governor is a champion of banning books that supposedly sexualize children.
Perry will now walk free and joined Kyle Rittenhouse and George Zimmerman as Republican celebrities and heroes praised for killing perceived enemies of the right or the Reich, per Donald's post.
Joining me now is Matthew Dowd, former Republican strategist and MSNBC senior political analyst. And I guess I'll just ask you from somebody who's sitting outside of the media window, what is it going to take to get the media to take seriously the fact that Donald Trump is acting like a Nazi, talking like a Nazi, and now posting like a Nazi?
(…)
