President Donal Trump has been waging a verbal war against those who he feels generate “fake news.” Now some of his supporters have begun to escalate that war of words and are threatening real violence. One called in to C-SPAN on Friday and threatened to shoot CNN reporters Brian Stelter and Don Lemon.
C-SPAN host Greta Brawner identified the caller as “Don from State College, Pennsylvania.”
“It all started when Trump got elected,” the would-be-assassin said. “[Stelter and Lemon] don’t even know us. They don’t even know these Americans out here and they’re calling us racist because we voted for Trump.”
This seemed part of the problem vexing Don. He even acknowledged that there is a “war.”
“They started the war,” the caller said. “If I see ’em, I’m going to shoot ’em. Bye.” He then quickly hung up.
“Stelter discussed the threat Sunday on CNN, pointing out that neither Lemon nor he has ever described all Trump supporters as ‘racist’,” The Huffingotn Post writes. “Stelter said he didn’t know why the caller felt this way, but noted that Fox News’ Sean Hannity played a clip during his show Thursday of Stelter asking whether racial anxiety played a factor in Trump’s rise.”
“Obviously, researchers have proven that ― yes ― racial anxiety and resentment was a factor. But that’s not the same as calling all Trump supporters racist,” Stelter admitted. “I don’t know if the C-SPAN caller watched Hannity. I’m not blaming Hannity. I just thought the timing was odd.”
Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
The sparring with the media took center-stage last week after President Trump renewed his accusations that the ongoing Russian election meddling coverage was fueling what he considers to be a witch-hunt.
…Why aren’t Mueller and the 17 Angry Democrats looking at the meetings concerning the Fake Dossier and all of the lying that went on in the FBI and DOJ? This is the most one sided Witch Hunt in the history of our country. Fortunately, the facts are all coming out, and fast!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
As HuffPost notes, Trump tweeted “Friday night that Lemon was the ‘dumbest man on television’ and tweeting Sunday that the media is ‘dangerous & sick’ and can ’cause War’.”
Too bad a large portion of the Media refuses to report the lies and corruption having to do with the Rigged Witch Hunt – but that is why we call them FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
As for the moment the caller on C-Span made the threats, it went unchallenged by the show’s host. C-SPAN’s Brawner reportedly didn’t catch the comment as it was made live, so moved on.
Howard Mortman, the network’s communications director, gave a statement to HuffPost after. “If she had, she would have said something on air,” Mortman said.
“When a caller makes ad hominem attacks or uses indecent language or obviously racist language, program hosts are certainly permitted to step in,” C-SPAN’s policies state. “Given that this involves quick judgment during a live television production, it’s an imperfect process.”
“I’m not asking for sympathy,” Stelter said Sunday. “I don’t think I’m in extreme danger. I know some of my colleagues get much worse threats than I do. CNN has a great security team and we know how to handle this stuff.”
Threats against reporters on the rise. We decided to broadcast one of those threats on today's @ReliableSources, so everyone can hear it for themselves. pic.twitter.com/kJxGWKOrWI
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 5, 2018
“But these kinds of threats are coming in more often,” he added.