On MSNBC’s The ReidOut, guest and weekend host Mehdi Hasan found a way to baselessly blame conservative talk radio for the murder of a six-year-old boy by his parent’s landlord. Hasan claims that since NBC News had reported that the man listened to talk radio that he was therefore inspired to kill the boy for that reason.
“It does feel in some ways like we are in sort of a post-9/11 moment. Your thoughts on that and on the way the discourse has been unfolding,” vile bigoted host Joy Reid cried before turning the show over to Hasan’s hate filled tirade.
Hasan agreed with Reid: “In some ways worse than post-9/11 because you’ve got hate crimes against both communities.”
“You’ve got hate in some ways imported from the Middle East into the United States against minority communities, and it’s heartbreaking to hear a six-year-old boy is killed in the Chicago area because of a foreign conflict, because of hate that arises out of a foreign conflict,” he added.
“Who wakes up in the morning and thinks, I’m going to kill a kid today? I’m not just gonna kill a kid, I’m going to stab the kid to death. And I’m not just going to stab them once or twice. Stab them 26 times. A six-year-old boy. What kind of hate makes someone do that? It’s not hate you’re born with, Joy. It’s hate you’re taught,” Hasan cried.
He then smeared conservative talk radio for the boy’s murder: “I do not believe it was a coincidence that NBC News is reporting tonight that this alleged killer was an avid listener of conservative talk radio.”
Hasan offered zero proof to back up this claim. He instead turned to the recent comments from select Senators and members of Congress that he found objectionable:
We have heard some vicious and vile anti-Palestinian rhetoric in recent days from people like Tom Cotton, Republican Senator, saying as far as he’s concerned, Israel can bounce rubble in Gaza. Lindsey Graham saying Israel should level Gaza. Ron DeSantis saying everyone in Gaza is an anti-semite and shouldn’t be allowed into America as refugees. Marjorie Taylor Greene saying if you’re pro-Palestinian, you’re pro-Hamas.
“That is the kind of dehumanizing rhetoric, some would say genocidal, what does it mean to flatten—level an area where two million people live? That is the kind of rhetoric that in many cases prompts people to act of terror. Rhetoric leads to hate. Hate leads to violence,” Hasan huffed.
The transcript is below:
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
10/16/2023
7:22:44 p.m. EasternJOY REID: It does feel in some ways like we are in sort of a post-9/11 moment. Your thoughts on that and on the way the discourse has been unfolding.
MEHDI HASAN: In some ways worse than post-9/11 because you’ve got hate crimes against both communities. You’ve got hate in some ways imported from the Middle East into the United States against minority communities, and it’s heartbreaking to hear a six-year-old boy is killed in the Chicago area because of a foreign conflict, because of hate that arises out of a foreign conflict. This is a family, Joy, that fled from the West Bank. Fled from the occupied Palestinian territory over a decade ago to get away from violence there and they lost their son in the United States of America in 2023. It’s absolutely horrific. And you have to ask the question, who wakes up in the morning and thinks, I’m going to kill a kid today? I’m not just gonna kill a kid, I’m going to stab the kid to death. And I’m not just going to stab them once or twice. Stab them 26 times. A six-year-old boy. What kind of hate makes someone do that? It’s not hate you’re born with, Joy. It’s hate you’re taught.
And I do not believe it was a coincidence that NBC News is reporting tonight that this alleged killer was an avid listener of conservative talk radio. We have heard some vicious and vile anti-Palestinian rhetoric in recent days from people like Tom Cotton, Republican Senator, saying as far as he’s concerned, Israel can bounce rubble in Gaza. Lindsey Graham saying Israel should level Gaza. Ron DeSantis saying everyone in Gaza is an anti-semite and shouldn’t be allowed into America as refugees. Marjorie Taylor Greene saying if you’re pro-Palestinian, you’re pro-Hamas. That is the kind of dehumanizing rhetoric, some would say genocidal, what does it mean to flatten—level an area where two million people live? That is the kind of rhetoric that in many cases prompts people to act of terror. Rhetoric leads to hate. Hate leads to violence.