MSNBC’s Ali Velshi warned former President Trump could pose a threat to the media should he win reelection to the Oval Office in November.
Velshi, speaking with Mediate in an interview that aired Saturday, pointed to remarks from former Defense Department official and Trump ally Kash Patel, who said last year, “We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media,” if Trump is back in office.
Velshi argued the U.S. could become like other parts of the world in which members of government “sometimes go after journalists criminally.”
“We hear stories about it at the Committee to Protect Journalists, journalists who walk around their own countries always with a bulletproof vest because they’re worried about the government,” he said.
“But the harassment is another department. It’s the idea that suddenly you’re getting audited or suddenly your family’s getting phone calls or threats,” Velshi added. “You don’t have to implement laws. You just have to scare enough journalists off, to say go cover something else.
“This fits into something that Donald Trump has been saying about going after his enemies. He uses the term retribution. ‘I am your retribution,’ which sort of mocks what Mussolini said, ‘I’m your avenger.’ So I do think about this,” Velshi said when asked if he worried about the implications of a second Trump term for journalists.
During his first presidency, Trump had a tumultuous relationship with some of the press, and often used incendiary rhetoric towards the media. He often derided the press as “fake news” and the “enemy of the people.”
Velshi suggested journalists could be considered critics by Trump, and therefore, could feel the impact of any so-called retribution the former president and his allies have pledged on the campaign trail.
“I think if you fall into the category of critic, that might mean journalist, might be an opposition leader, might mean prosecutor, might mean witness, might mean juror, might mean anybody,” Velshi said. “I think there’s some threat that Donald Trump will come for you and the Trump administration will come for you.”
The Hill reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
With less than six months ahead of the November election, Trump holds a razor-thin lead of 0.6 percentage points over President Biden, according to a national polling index by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ.