Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump got plenty of media coverage Tuesday, focused almost exclusively on his proposal to block entry to the U.S. for all Muslims.
Pundits and panels were called in to comment, but in two noteworthy cases, network journalists raised grave concerns about Mr. Trump’s proposal–and what it would mean for the country.
On Fox News, Shepard Smith described Trump as not a leader, but “a carnival huckster” dragging his followers down “the wormhole.” In a discussion with The Wall Street Journal’s John Bussey, Smith said the people attending Trump rallies by the tens of thousands need a history lesson.
“Somebody needs come up and remind them what this nation is and what we’re about and how we dream, the way we were founded, and what our Constitution is,” Smith said. “(Trump)’s not representing any of that. He’s representing the worst, darkest part of all that is America.”
The history lesson came later in the evening, on NBC Nightly News, in the form of an essay by Tom Brokaw. “Trump’s statement, even in this season of extremes, is a dangerous proposal that overrides history, the law and the foundation of America itself,” said Brokaw, who stood somber amid the headstones at Arlington National Cemetery.
Brokaw warned that Trump’s rhetoric would serve as a “recruiting tool” for groups like ISIS–at the expense of Muslims working to fight terror around the world, and here at home.
“Kareem Khan, a Muslim, responded to a different kind of recruiting, 9/11. An American citizen, he joined the American army to show that not all Muslims are fanatics. He was killed in Iraq in 2007 by an IED, just 20 years old. Mr. Trump cannot exclude him from America. He has a permanent home here, in section 60, at Arlington National Cemetery.”