President Donald Trump is similar to a radical Islamic Mullah in radicalizing impressional youth, a former assistant director of the FBI explained on MSNBC on Saturday.

Anchor Ali Velshi interviewed Frank Figliuzzi following the mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart that left 20 people dead and another 26 wounded.

“As details emerge, this manifesto, this screed, whatever you want to call it, you’re going to be increasingly be convinced that today’s shooting was an act of terrorism,” Figliuzzi said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I say that because of the similarities between what we’ve seen with Islamic violent extremism and online radicalization and what we’re seeing now in this hate-filled movement in the United States,” he explained.

“We have a hate problem, Yes, we have a gun problem. Yes, we have a violence problem, but we have a developing hate problem and it is race-based and if as soon as they confirm that this posting is indeed the shooter’s posting, well, we should feel free to call what it it is and that is terrorism,” he continued.

He then explained how Trump was not unlike a radical cleric.

“Let’s understand something, this administration that we’re in needs to come out and intervene. What do I mean by that? If you’re on the Islamic extremism side, you’ve got that cleric radicalizing that young person online. He’s the father figure, giving the license, he’s facilitating and enabling. What we need is the similar figure — the president — to come out and say, once this is confirmed, ‘I stand for something other than hate, I rebuke all the hatred going on here.’ Until we see the person do that, that’s giving the license, we’ll continue to have this hate problem,” Figliuzzi said.

“About half the FBI’s terrorism cases right now, as we speak, are actually this stuff, the domestic stuff,” he added. “That is extremely disturbing.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Watch: