Wednesday on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” host Chuck Todd parted ways with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for her social media remarks about the use of “concentration camps” on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Todd laid out a crucial distinction of “concentration camps” and the detention facilities on the border built to house illegal border crossers.
“After being criticized, Ocasio-Cortez tried to make a distinction between concentration camps and Nazi death camps, where the industrialized mass slaughter of the Holocaust occurred,” he said. “Fair enough. But Congresswoman, tens of thousands were also brutalized, tortured, starved, and ultimately died in concentration camps — camps like Dachau. If you want to criticize the shameful treatment of people at our southern border, fine. You’ll have plenty of company. But be careful comparing them to Nazi concentration camps — because they’re not at all comparable in the slightest.”
The NBC “Meet the Press” moderator questioned the responses from some of her Democratic Party colleagues and warned the freshman New York State Democratic congresswoman she was doing a “tremendous disservice” for those detainees.
“[H]ere’s where it’s upsetting as her comments: Some Democrats have been reluctant to condemn her remarks and don’t want to get criticized on Twitter,” Todd said. “Fellow New York Congressman Jerry Nadler tweeted in response: ‘One of the lessons from the Holocaust is ‘never again’ … We failed to learn that lesson when we don’t call out such inhumanity right in front of us.’ Jerry Nadler surely knows migrant detainment camps are not the same as concentration camps. So why didn’t he just say that? Why are we so sheepish calling out people we agree with politically these days? Obviously, this isn’t a Democratic thing. It’s an even bigger problem on the Republican side of the aisle when it comes to President Trump and the reluctance there.”
“Are we really so ensconced in our political bubbles, liberal versus conservative that we cannot talk about right versus wrong anymore?” he continued. “Some things are bigger than partisanship. Or at least they used to be. And in the interim, the crux of what’s truly at stake is lost: What is this country going to do about what’s happening at the border in this humanitarian crisis? We’ll get to that at some point I guess after we have this debate. But no doubt Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cares deeply about what’s happening at the border. But she just did the people there a tremendous disservice by distracting from their plight. She said she didn’t use those words lightly. Well, neither did I.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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