The journalists at MSNBC are awaiting a future killing in order to blame Donald Trump for it. Appearing on MSNBC Live, Monday, MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson preemptively accused the President: “We're going to have a Charlie Hebdo situation here, without question. Without question. It is going to happen. Because of the behavior of this president.”
Anti-Trump New York Times columnist Bret Stephens was also on-hand and recounted getting a hateful call from a racist. From that, he shifted to the booing of liberal CNN journalist Jim Acosta at a recent rally: “I think when the President goes to his rallies and starts screaming about fake news, the most he wants is for people to give CNN's Jim Acosta a middle finger. That's the emotion.”
However, he continued:
But if 1,000 people are giving Jim Acosta the middle finger, some subset of that, maybe ten people, are people like my caller. Some subset of that are going to take it to the next step. There is someone out there. We live in the age of the active shooter and the president is goading them. He is inciting them.
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle didn't object to any of these accusations.
Johnson has a history of blaming Trump for everything. Regarding high-profile cases of African Americans being shot, the MSNBC contributor concluded it was because of the “white supremacy presidency.” Another time, Johnson deemed the administration a bunch of “terrorists.”
A partial transcript is below:
MSNBC Live
8/6/18
9:15 a.m. Eastern
STEPHANIE RUHLE: We should also remind our audience that you're conservative.
BRET STEPHENS: Well, not a fan of the president. And that’s what is key here. The only thing I've been similarly threatened is by someone who later went to jail for supporting Hezbollah. So we take this very seriously. Now, I put that voice mail to one side for four weeks and then the killing at Annapolis, at the Capital Gazette, five journalists murdered there. Then you have the president going on about fake news. I think when the President goes to his rallies and starts screaming about fake news, the most he wants is for people to give CNN's Jim Acosta a middle finger. That's the emotion.
But if 1,000 people are giving Jim Acosta the middle finger, some subset of that, maybe ten people, are people like my caller. Some subset of that are going to take it to the next step. There is someone out there. We live in the age of the active shooter and the president is goading them. He is inciting them. He's not saying get rid of this turbulent priest but he's not a child who doesn't know he's carrying a loaded gun. The blood will be on his hands the moment some whack-job thinks that he's carrying out the instructions of a president and goes into a newsroom like the one behind us or the one in my news organization or yours and murdered people.
RUHLE: I pray that you are wrong.
STEPHENS: I do too.
(…)
9:19 a.m. Eastern
STEPHENS: They are not speaking up and it will be too late, should there be a national tragedy for them to speak up. Or for those nice Republicans in Congress who have been sort of mutedly saying, “Well, we don’t quite like what the President is saying.” This is why you take a moral stand before the tragic event occurs.
JASON JOHNSON: And that's the other thing, we're going to have a Charlie Hebdo situation here, without question. Without question. It is going to happen. Because of the behavior of this president.
RUHLE: Please don't let that be true.
