Talk about dehumanizing your political opponents . . .

On Joy Reid's MSNBC show today, guest Elie Mystal called supporters of President Trump "idiots" and "zombies," saying "we have to stop them from infecting everybody else." He elaborated on his ugly message at the end of his rant, saying: "we have to cauterize the wound that is Donald Trump and his supporters, and worry about the people who aren't infected yet."

Mystal's solution was to ban live coverage of President Trump. Instead, exhorted Mystal, Trump should be put on a 30-second delay, with someone in an on-screen box "to explain to people that he is lying in real time." Wonder whom Mystal has in mind to serve as that objective arbiter of truth?

The highly-animated Mystal [view the video] was apparently enraged by the fact that Trump supporters are counting on the President to fulfill his promise to build the wall.

When liberals like Mystal cast conservatives as less-than-human, as people who represent a threat of "infecting" others, we are heading down a potentially very dangerous path.



Note: Mystal employs a particularly violent metaphor in speaking of the need to "cauterize the wound that is Donald Trump and his supporters." Cauterize: "burn the skin or flesh of (a wound) with a heated instrument or caustic substance,"

Here's the transcript.

MSNBC

The Joy Reid Show

2/16/10

11:05 am ET