Univision aired its special Hispanics in the Crosshairs in the immediate aftermath of the horrendous shooting at El Paso, Texas. Unfortunately, the network squandered valuable time and goodwill by lending its platform to one of the most incendiary voices in any community, let alone the Hispanic community.

Watch as CNN political commentator and retired Chicago Congressman Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) reacted to President Trump’s statements in condemnation of the shooting and its underlying hateful ideologies:

Look, Jorge, this president cannot be believed. He says that we have to...we listened...he says that we have to supposedly fight racism...against prejudice...that those have to be eliminated, then he’d have to be eliminated! Because he is the main proponent in the United States of hatred, of prejudice not just (against) our community (and) against Muslims...we see that this president tells us that we have to condemn it (racism), then he has to condemn himself first.

In all fairness, it seems unlikely that Gutiérrez’ statements constitute an actual call for physical violence against the President of the United States, and for host Jorge Ramos not to clarify that on the spot is simply inexcusable. Then again, Gutiérrez has, in the past, equated a convicted terrorist with George Washington and dismissed as "unacceptable" the condition that convicted terrorists renounce terrorism as a condition of early release.

Given the current superheated environment, it is not out of the realm of possibility that some deranged individual could somehow infer a call to action from Gutierrez' rhetorical bomb-throwing. At a bare minimum, Gutiérrez is deploying the same incendiary rhetoric that he and others have condemned. Physician, heal thyself.

Thus, it was reckless for Univision to have Gutiérrez come on at such a time as this. There is no shortage of local leaders that could have addressed Univision’s audience or spout the pro forma gun control points, as Gutiérrez did later in the interview, with a better grasp of the situation on the ground in El Paso and elsewhere.

Bringing Gutiérrez on at such a delicate time as this is akin to attempting to extinguish racial flames with gasoline, and Univision should really have known better.