MSNBC’s Joy Reid said Monday that President Donald Trump was “radicalizing” his supporters in the same way that people were radicalized “in the Muslim world.”
Reid was speaking to a panel during her new show “The Reidout” when she argued that Trump’s “violent rhetoric” encouraged his followers to go out and commit violent acts — and drew a direct comparison to radical Islamic clerics. (RELATED: ‘Nightmare Scenarios’: Eric Holder And Joy Reid Discuss How Trump Could Use Paramilitary To Suppress Vote)
WATCH:
Reid began by showing a clip of Monday’s White House press briefing, during which press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had said that the president — who has been very vocal about violence in Democrat-led cities in recent weeks — had not seen videos of right-wing violence.
“When leaders, let’s say in the Muslim world talk a lot of violent talk and encourage their supporters to be willing to commit violence including on their own bodies in order to win against whoever they decide is the enemy, we in the U.S. media describe that as they are radicalizing these people, particularly when they’re radicalizing young people,” Reid explained.
“That’s how we talk about the way Muslims act. When you see what Donald Trump is doing, is that any different from what we describe as radicalizing people?” she asked.
Critics were quick to criticize Reid for her comments, calling her “islamophobic.”
Nearly 1/4 of the world’s population acts how? https://t.co/jOta8uNHsZ
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) September 1, 2020
Whoa. Joy Ann Reid says that “Muslim leaders…talk a lot of violent talk & encourage their supporters…to commit violence” and goes on to compare “the way Muslims act” to Trump and his supporters.
What a terrible, dangerous, & completely inaccurate analogy to make. https://t.co/Q0qtBrJtKY
— Rowaida Abdelaziz (@Rowaida_Abdel) September 1, 2020
.@JoyAnnReid really felt the need to invoke Muslims to talk about political violence… Casual anti-Muslim racism on the most liberal network. https://t.co/YsN9hSbsGE
— Aymann Ismail (@aymanndotcom) September 1, 2020
.@JoyAnnReid your statements regarding the Muslim communities are Islamophobic. https://t.co/JKGXNglIw2
— Shaniyat Chowdhury for US Congress NY5 (@Shaniyat2020) September 1, 2020
This is appalling.
@JoyAnnReid first just throws out “Muslim leaders” encouraging “their followers” to ‘use their bodies to inflict violence’ (which leaders?). Then compares “how Muslims act” to American white nationalist radicalization. pic.twitter.com/4MwYlRbuBj
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) September 1, 2020