MSNBC on Monday brought on New York Times op-ed writer Bret Stephens to talk about the rising threat of bigotry and anti-Semitism. Stephens made a splash on Monday when he indignantly condemned his own bosses at the paper for perpetrating bigotry with an anti-Jewish cartoon. Yet, amazingly, MSNBC didn’t mention his column at all.

Instead, MSNBC Live host Kasie Hunt went back to Charlottesville and Donald Trump. Talking to guest Ashley Parker, she offered this loaded question: “How does the President view his relationship with the rising tide of white nationalism? Obviously, he has not gone as far to call himself that. But he has described himself as a nationalist.”

Parker speculated that Trump mentioned Lee as a code to speak to white nationalists:

... He praised Robert E. Lee and that is something that if you are a white nationalist, if you are a neo-Nazi you are happy to hear and you can sort of hear that praise. The president said, “To be clear, whether you like him or not he was a great general. I’m praising him as a great general.” If you were part of that community you can hear those comments. That's not what politicians normally do, praise Robert E. Lee. And you can think, “Hey, the President is giving us a wink and a nod and he is actually with us, regardless what senior administration officials may say in statements.”

Instead of asking Stephens about the bigotry of the New York Times — a vile cartoon in the international edition portraying Israel’s prime minister as a dog being walked by Trump — Hunt instead pressed the columnist on the President: “Bret Stephens, to that point you have to concede that there does seem to be more oxygen here from this president of the United States than we've seen ever in the past.”

A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.