Following Donald Trump’s controversial suggestion at an NRA gathering that Joe Biden should be executed, the co-hosts of MSNBC’s The Weekend, along with former White House adviser Sarah Matthews, strongly condemned the former president’s remarks. Trump referred to Biden as “a Manchurian candidate,” alleging that he had received donations from China, Russia, and Ukraine, according to Raw Story.
Newsweek reported that Trump declared, “If that were a Republican, he would have been given the electric chair, they would have brought back the death penalty.” In response, co-host Alicia Menendez criticized the inflammatory rhetoric, stating, “A reminder, in case you needed one, a political candidate alluding to the execution of a sitting president in front of the most prominent organization of gun owners — not normal.”
Michael Steele, former chair of the RNC and co-host of the show, expressed his dismay, reinforcing Menendez’s point. “Look, okay, so Trump is a liar, well established, we know that. The projection around Biden taking money from Russia and all these places, we know that…But, when you are standing in front of a group like the NRA, and when you are standing in front of a group that has very, very strong views about this administration, the Biden administration and Donald Trump for that matter…What is the signaling, from inside the bubble a little bit with Trump, what is the signaling that is going on there?”
Steele further questioned, “Is it as blatant as commenting on executing a president or is it something more or something less, is it just Trump standing there running his mouth?” Sarah Matthews, an ex-Trump aide, responded, “I think that Donald Trump knows this audience that would be at a convention for the NRA are people that are a part of his base.”
Matthews elaborated, “And so he’s going to say things like this where it is going to rile them up and get them excited. I think he knows that, in his mind, he thinks it is a joke where he’s joking about ‘Oh, he needs the electric chair,’ but you shouldn’t be talking about that with anyone in general, especially not the sitting president.”
She continued by expressing concern over Trump’s rhetoric, explaining, “I think he doesn’t care about how his rhetoric has gotten increasingly erratic and he has this culture of political violence. It is concerning when we are looking at it, but it follows this pattern we have seen from the 2024 campaign thus far.”
Matthews concluded by lamenting the normalization of such rhetoric, “I think it is sad because we have normalized this rhetoric with Trump. Some Americans don’t even think twice when he makes these comments because they are so conditioned and used to him talking like this. But this is not normal, we should not have the Republican candidate for president making jokes about executing the current sitting U.S. president.”
The collective condemnation from the MSNBC hosts and Matthews underscores the serious concerns about the impact of Trump’s statements on political discourse and the potential for inciting violence among his supporters.
