MSNBC contributor Steve Schmidt says conservative radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin have “blood on their hands” for mass shootings and other crimes perpetrated by “crazy people.”
The Republican strategist told “All In” host Chris Hayes this week that a recent mail bomb threat to prominent Democrats, along with the Tree of Life synagogue massacre that claimed 11 lives, were partially incited by well-known conservative men and ideologically aligned organizations.
“Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh, and Breitbart, and NewsBusters, and Judicial Watch, and all the rest of them, have blood on their hands for the incitements that they have made that have triggered and radicalized these crazy people,” Mr. Schmidt said Monday.
The media watchdog NewsBusters responded late Monday by blasting the “faux Republican strategist” and his “vile” claims.
“This was just another one of Schmidt’s fact-free, rage-fueled pontifications against the right that he has become known for,” the nonprofit organization wrote.
Mr. Schmidt also went on to call President Trump’s rhetoric on thousands of migrants marching to the U.S. in a giant caravan a “Reichstag fire” akin to terrorist propaganda.
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“What we are seeing, just as we saw young, displaced, evil or sick or just plain losers be radicalized by ISIS, we are seeing the same thing in the United States right now,” he said. “These two losers, these two sick people, these two evil people, three evil people, being radicalized by this right-wing propaganda industry, and that’s exactly what it is.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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