MSNBC host Joe Scarborough accused ex-President Donald Trump of extending “an invitation for his people to step up and assassinate” leaders like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and General Mark Milley.
At issue is Trump’s recent rant accusing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley of “treason” and suggesting he should be executed.
On Tuesday morning’s edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, MSNBC analyst Claire McCaskill wondered how Republicans could allow Trump “to get away with saying this,” and Scarborough drew a comparison to another deadly bit of rhetoric attacking McConnell from last year — his message that McConnell “has a DEATH WISH”:
CLAIRE MCCASKILL: Where is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the United States, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee in the United States Senate? Where is he? Where where is Joni Ernst, who served in the military? Where where are the Republicans that say they care about the military?
The idea that he would get away with saying this without being totally lambasted by every Republican elected official is stunning to me. This is one of the worst things he’s ever said. And imagine how high that bar is.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: …When you’re talking, you’re asking where these Republican senators are on the horrible things that are being said about General Milley. Well, you could ask the same question about where were they when Donald Trump attacked Mitch McConnell back in the fall of last year because Mitch McConnell supported bipartisan legislation. And Trump Truth Socialed then that he did it because he hates me so much. And then he put in all caps. “He has a DEATH WISH,” all caps.
That’s not a dog whistle. That is an invitation. Just like “come on January 6, it’s going to be wild,” when he says things like Mitch McConnell has a and then an all caps, a DEATH WISH, that is an invitation for his people to step up and assassinate Mitch McConnell, or General Milley. And you can ask the question and we’ll get where are these Republicans? Why aren’t they critical of Donald Trump for saying that about General Milley? I’d ask the same thing about Mitch McConnell. There should have been a press conference with every Republican senator saying “they’re putting our leaders life and his family’s life in jeopardy.”.
But silence, always silence.
CLAIRE MCCASKILL: It’s, it’s so depressing.
Watch above via MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
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