‘Morning Joe’ plays montage of the many times Trump encouraged violence

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday played a montage of clips of the many times President Trump has directly called for violence from his supporters as a new debate over civility has dominated the political conversation.

The series of clips includes Trump telling supporters he’d like to punch a protester in the face and wondering if the “Second Amendment people” could stop then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. 

{mosads}”Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is,” Trump said at a campaign rally. 

Trump also encouraged his supporters at another event to “knock the crap” out of any protesters causing trouble. 

“I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees,” Trump said. 

The montage served as a counterpoint to the criticism Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has faced after she called for people to confront Trump administration officials in public.

Some interpreted Waters’s remarks as a call for violence, and Trump responded on Monday by saying that Waters should be careful what she wished for.

Co-host Joe Scarborough blasted that criticism once the montage concluded, saying that Waters’s statements, while indefensible, were not a call to violence. 

“Yesterday we saw supporters of the White House and others, supporters of Donald Trump, melt like precious snowflakes in the Arizona sun because Maxine Waters said some things that were very regrettable,” he said.

“Of course, you can say ‘Well wait, is she really inciting violence?’ because that’s what a lot of people on Twitter were saying she was doing. You can look at those words and try to figure out if she was. Of course the president’s response — ‘Be careful what you ask for’ — actually was an incitement to violence.”

The montage came after a week in which many White House officials faced public protests while dining out in public. On Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia, which many people seized on as unfair political targeting. 

Then on Saturday, Waters said that the protests in public venues should continue. 

“For these members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him, they’re not going to be able to go to a restaurant. They’re not going to be able to stop at a gas station. They’re not going to be able to shop at a department store,” Waters said at a rally in Los Angeles.