White supremacist commentator Pat Buchanan endorsed the rhetoric of the alleged El Paso, TX, mass shooter in a recent column, writing that his claim that there’s an “invasion” of the country is “an accurate and valid description.” That type of toxic commentary could be a preview of what’s coming soon to public television: Buchanan is one of the co-stars of the upcoming relaunch of The McLaughlin Group.

Maryland Public Television (MPT) recently announced it will “market, promote, and distribute the program nationally through an agreement with American Public Television.” The weekly public affairs program will start airing in the Washington, D.C., and Maryland markets next month and then “exclusively on public television stations nationwide and digital platforms in January 2020.” Buchanan was a panelist on the prior iterations of the program, including when it briefly aired on Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Washington, D.C., affiliate last year.

Numerous writers have criticized Buchanan’s inclusion in the relaunch. Buchanan has a history of openly pushing white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, tweeted on Monday: “Especially as white supremacist violence surges, it is irresponsible and dangerous to give Pat Buchanan a public platform for his repugnant #antiSemitic, white supremacist and homophobic views. Public TV stations must keep this hate off the airwaves.” McLaughlin Group host and conservative writer Tom Rogan responded to Media Matters' criticism of Buchanan's role on the relaunch by tweeting: “Media Matters being insane as usual.”

Esquire writer Charles P. Pierce noted that while white supremacy is “literally getting people killed, a public television station has decided to roll back the stone and bring back Pat Buchanan, who is responsible more than most people for injecting this poison into the body politic generally and into the Republican Party in particular.”

MPT told Media Matters last week: “Public media provides a big tent for the expression of many points of view. The McLaughlin Group has been a long-time staple on public TV. It’s a program series viewers appreciate for its wide range of views and perspectives, as well as the lively debate on issues that takes place among its panelists.”

Buchanan penned an August 9 syndicated column just days after the shooting in which he criticized Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden for saying that Trump has encouraged and emboldened white supremacy. Buchanan wrote: “What had Trump done to invite such a charge? The key piece of evidence linking Trump to the mass murderer of El Paso, is a single phrase out of a 2,000-word screed posted on social media, allegedly by the gunman minutes before carrying out his atrocity.” Buchanan added: “[The El Paso shooter] said he was striking this blow against the ‘Hispanic invasion of Texas.’ And Donald Trump has often used that term, invasion, to describe the crisis on the border.”

He then defended the anti-Hispanic and white supremacist rhetoric of the alleged shooter, writing: