MSNBC Host Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Just ‘A Different Form Of Trump’ – By Donica Phifer (Newsweek) / June 23 2019
MSNBC anchor Donny Deutsch made a comparison that could raise some eyebrows on Saturday when he put New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Donald Trump in the same category.
Deutsch began the segment on Saturday Night Politics by airing a clip of Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram Live from Monday where the self-titled democratic socialist said that migrant centers at the U.S.-Mexico border are the equivalent of concentration camps.
“The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are. They are concentration camps,” she said in the video.
Many chided the freshman congresswoman for her words, though some historians agreed with Ocasio-Cortez’s assessment.
After the clip aired, Deutsch – who is of Jewish heritage – said he was offended by the notion.
“I am so offended by that. Because what she is doing – and she says ‘look,’ she says – I’m quoting ‘we are calling these camps what they are because they fit squarely in the academic consensus and definition,'” Deutsch said. “My feeling as a – and I’m allowed to feel this way because she can’t allow other people to be upset about it – look, those camps are disgusting. Call them cages, call them what is happening, but concentration camps are, at least the connotation is where six million Jews were slaughtered.”
“The purpose of those camps — they were not just work camps — was to exterminate and by somehow using that as a blanket word for everything somehow plays into the dimi- I don’t want to say the diminishing of the Holocaust, but not as – one of a kind in history as it was. And for her to defend it ….to me, I was offended,” he added, saying that people might be upset about his feelings on the issue. “I, as a Jew, yes, what is happening [on the border] is terrible but concentration camps, at least in our culture, have a different meaning.”
MSNBC host Donny Deutsch discusses New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comments comparing migrant detention centers on the U.S.-Mexico border to concentration camps during the June 22 episode of “Saturday Night Politics.”MSNBC
Appearing on the show’s panel, Vanity Fair journalist Emily Jane Fox pointed out that former Vice President Joe Biden, who is currently campaigning for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said something that some found offensive to a minority group in the United States and was “raked over the coals” for refusing to apologize for his words.
“AOC said something that was offensive and hurtful to a minority group in this country and she didn’t come out and apologize,” Fox said.
In response, Deutsch said Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t have to apologize, just to acknowledge that she was making a point to draw attention to the issue and to admit that she understands why some in the Jewish community are upset by her comments.
“The problem and the impulse is the same,” Fox replied. “is that people are saying things so quickly without thinking about the gravity of their words. These are people who are in some of the most powerful positions in this country, who are in the biggest platforms and you have to stop and think.” Fox added that in Biden’s case, he has a long enough history to know better, whereas Ocasio-Cortez has no history whatsoever.
“That’s my concern, that she’s a Trump, she knows what she’s doing, and she is a different form of Trump,” Deutsch said. “I’m gonna say the outrageous; I’m gonna get the tweets, I’m gonna get the social media hits. [Ocasio-Cortez] has some of the same tone deafness or at least tone awareness of what plays in the media.”
Another panelist, Basil Smikle, said he didn’t think Ocasio-Cortez had made the statement with the intention of offending anyone but that he did understand why some people are upset about the congresswoman’s statement.
“I do understand your point that people have a platform, words do matter,” the political strategist said. “As a Democrat, we held Donald Trump to this standard of using words that were hurtful and that were insightful, not insightful, inciting.”
After repeated calls to apologize or further explain her words, Ocasio-Cortez responded with several tweets on Wednesday, saying: “We are calling these camps what they are because they fit squarely in an academic consensus and definition.”History will be kind to those who stood up to this injustice. So say what you will. Kids are dying and I’m not here to make people feel comfortable about that.”
We are calling these camps what they are because they fit squarely in an academic consensus and definition.
History will be kind to those who stood up to this injustice.
So say what you will. Kids are dying and I’m not here to make people feel comfortable about that.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 19, 2019
https://www.newsweek.com/ocasio-cortez-similar-donald-trump-msnbc-host-says-1445403
