During Monday morning’s edition of the Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends, co-host Ainsley Earhardt moderated a debate between two guests over whether Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal should step down after the Democratic official posted an online message that “I hope Trump is assassinated!”
Brunell Donald Kyei -- a Democrat and the former chair of Diversity Outreach for Trump -- called the missive “absolutely unacceptable” while Democratic strategist Christy Setzer countered that “the majority of the Democratic Party” is “not really paying attention to one random state senator from Missouri.”
The situation began when Chappelle-Nadal “put up a statement” on Thursday saying: ‘I really hate Trump. He’s causing trauma and nightmares’” before later adding that her post was the result of anger and frustration concerning Trump’s policies.
Even though she quickly removed the Facebook post, it had already been copied and spread throughout the Internet.
After the blistering response over the next few days, the Democrat apologized to the President and his family at a press conference on Sunday.
She also stated:
I made a mistake, and I’m owning up to it. And I’m not ever going to make a mistake like that again.
I have learned my lesson. My judge and my jury is my Lord, Jesus Christ.
However, she insisted that she will not resign despite a growing chorus within the state for her to step down.
On Monday morning, Earhardt turned to Donald Kyei first: “What do you think about her comments? Do you think she was sincere -- she waited four days to apologize after she said she wouldn’t -- and do you think she needs to step down?”
“Well, of course it took some time for her to maybe get her thoughts together, but I think four days is absolutely too much time when you are hoping that the president gets assassinated,” the guest replied.
“You know, when there’s undisputed evidence that there’s been some wrongdoing by an elected official, you know, the denouncing of the person should be quick,” she continued. “Now, if there’s an issue where there are multiple actors and multiple investigations that need to go on, it’s different.”
“But in this case,” Donald Kyei noted, “the tweet was screen captured, as well as she admitted to tweeting so the Democratic Party and the Republican Party should have been all over her, instantly denouncing this behavior of even saying that she wanted our president dead.”
Earhardt then told Setzer: “Christy, there’s been a few Democrats who have come out and said that it was wrong for her to say that and she needs to step down, but where is the outcry from the Democratic Party?” Where’s the majority of the party “when she says that she wants someone to kill the president of the United States?”
“I think the majority of the Democratic Party is going about their business, not really paying attention to what one random state senator from Missouri,” the second guest replied.
The co-host then asked: “What if the shoe were on the other foot? What if she was saying this about a Democratic president?”
Setzer responded:
I think that probably happens all of the time, and it doesn’t get news coverage. We’re talking about President Trump because he is the president.
Let’s also go back to this woman and say that she did delete it, immediately apologized and then was roundly condemned by state senators and, you know, Democratic leadership in Missouri. That is the difference.
“When we are talking about the president of the United States, inciting the violence that he did throughout the campaign when he had these fights happening at his rallies, and we had his supporters beating up on protesters and on black people at his rallies, what did he do?” she asked.
“He said: ‘I hope they take him out on a stretcher.’ He said: ‘Look, I’ll pay your legal bills if you actually get in trouble for beating up protesters,'” Setzer continued.
“He incited it along the way,” she added, “and again, he’s not some random state senator, he is the most important and powerful person in the United States setting a terrible and appalling tone for the rest of the country.”
“The Democratic Party and the GOP have to condemn hate and violence and any incitement of violence immediately,” Donald Kyei noted. “Enough is enough.”
Setzer added: “What she said was wrong, but that’s very different than doing things that are wrong.”
“We saw violence a week and a half ago in Charlottesville in which someone actually died because of violent speech and violent behavior on the part of the neo-Nazis who support Donald Trump,” she noted.
Donald Kyei fired back: “He denounced them flatly on Saturday. As Americans, we must reject all hate.”
