Anderson Cooper took to CNN on Tuesday to compare Trump and his supporters to the perpetrators of the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia.
CNN's Cooper compares Trump & his supporters on Jan. 6 to those that carried out genocides in Bosnia & Rwanda: "[W]e've seen it in Bosnia, we've seen it in Rwanda where radios was telling people – you know, Hutus were telling the radio listeners that the Tutsi are cockroaches…" pic.twitter.com/2oELRGqKeE
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 10, 2021
“The idea of ‘otherizing’ people is something I think we’ve seen a lot of over the last four years,” Cooper said. “It’s so easy to otherize people, to make them other than, other than American, other than patriotic, other than human.”
“We’ve seen it in Bosnia, we’ve seen it in Rwanda… where Hutus were telling radio listeners that Tutsi were cockroaches, you know, getting them ginned up for genocide, and you see it in these videos where people who claim they are patriots are in the face of a police officer calling him, you know, as we’re seeing it right there,” he continued, referencing a video from the Jan 6 Capitol Hill riot.
“Gouging out the eye of ones, squeezing one… suffocating one in a doorway,” Cooper said.
There is no evidence that Trump supporters are planning or wishing to commit genocide against other Americans.
Democratic politicians and their supporters in the media have raised concern in the wake of the Capitol Hill riot last month arguing that Trump supporters are a danger to America as a whole. Many have called for using anti-terror legislation similar to what was employed in the aftermath of 9/11 to combat the brand of populism that Trump made popular.
One MCNBC anchor suggested on air last week that drone strikes be used against Trump-supporting American citizens who have been accused of terrorism, offering them no trial as guaranteed under the constitution. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had suggested the expansion of the no-fly list while other Democratic politicians, along with some Republicans, have called for the creation of new anti-terror legislation. It is unclear if such proposals fits the definition of “otherizing” as used by Cooper.
Cooper’s comments come amid the impeachment trial of Donald Trump in the Senate. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives shortly before the end of his term for allegedly inciting insurrection at Capitol Hill.
While the Senate is currently Democrat-controlled, it is unlikely that Trump will be convicted in the legislative body as Democrats would require 17 Republican legislators to support conviction. Only six voted to proceed with the impeachment. The Senate requires a two third’s majority to convict a President in an impeachment trial.
Story cited here.