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State of the Union
11 Killed in Pittsburgh Synagogue Mass Shooting; Interview With Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto; Interview With California Congressman Adam Schiff; Interview with Democratic Donor Tom Steyer; Interview With Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired October 28, 2018 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Acts of hate. A gunman storms a Pittsburgh temple, killing Jewish congregants gathered for the Sabbath.
ROBERT JONES, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: This is the most horrific crime scene I have seen in 22 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
TAPPER: A horrific attack motivated by bigotry and anti-Semitism. The mayor of Pittsburgh will be here.
Plus: terror by mail -- an accused bomber charged with terrorizing people whom the president has criticized. President Trump blames the media.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unfair coverage, deep hostility and negative attacks.
TAPPER: Should he turn down his harsh rhetoric? We will talk to one of the bomber's targets, Democratic donor Tom Steyer, and the president's former communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.
And consumed by violence -- a week of horrible, hate-fueled attacks as the country approaches a critical election. Can the nation's political leaders help us heal?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: Hello. I'm Jake Tapper in Washington, where the state of our union is utterly devastated.
Eleven innocent people were brutally murdered Saturday when an anti- Semitic gunman opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue, turning a peaceful place of worship and hope into a crime scene of death and destruction.
The gunman, armed with an semi-automatic assault weapon and at least three handguns, stormed the sanctuary, shouting anti-Semitic slurs. Two police officers and two SWAT officers were wounded in the confrontation.
One FBI official called it -- quote -- "the most horrific crime scene he's ever seen."
Today, the alleged government is in custody and facing 29 federal charges, including hate crimes.
On Saturday, President Trump denounced anti-Semitism and called for the death penalty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us. It's an assault on humanity.
It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism from our world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: The brutal slaughter in Pittsburgh ends what hass been a hate-filled week in the United States of America.
A mail bomber terrorized former presidents and others whom President Trump has singled out for criticism, including CNN, and a shooter targeted and murdered two African-Americans in Kentucky, after trying and failing to get into a predominately black church, all of this in the days before what has been described as likely the deadliest attack on Jews in the history of the United States.
Joining me now is the mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto.
Mayor Peduto, thanks so much for joining us.
And I'm so sorry that it's under these circumstances that we're talking.
BILL PEDUTO (D), MAYOR OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: Yes, thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: We saw so many of your city's residents coming together for that very moving vigil last night.
I know you personally knew some of the victims. How is Pittsburgh coping?
PEDUTO: Our heart is broken.
We are a small city. What affects one community affects all of us. And, right now, I would say that there's a shock that is over the city. But Pittsburgh's a strong city. We are a people that have a strong resilience. And we will get through this.
TAPPER: I know the investigation into the shooter is moving forward. His motive seems obvious from his social media posts, but what have you learned from law enforcement about why they -- as they try to figure out why this happened?
PEDUTO: Well, the investigation is obviously continuing right now.
The social media posts were discovered early, while the situation was still ongoing. It seems that the motive is very clear, that he had sought out this one synagogue because of activities that they had done working with refugees and immigrants, and that his message of hate was against our Jewish community.
TAPPER: We have learned a lot from the shooter's social media posts, which are just vile, the anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiment.
Were authorities aware of any of these posts prior to this horror? And do you think authorities should have been aware of them or made aware of them by people at the social media companies?
PEDUTO: Absolutely not. There was no information on this actor. There was nothing to create a red flag or an alert to something that would be any type of illegal activity, let alone something this horrific.
TAPPER: President Trump spoke out and condemned anti-Semitism after the attack. He says he's heading to Pittsburgh.
Were you satisfied with the president's response to this massacre?
PEDUTO: Well, right now, our concern is really with the victims' families and with those that have been injured, including our own police officers.
The president's assistance in having federal officials coming to Pittsburgh and having FBI officials from around the country coming here is really what we have been concentrating on.
TAPPER: In addition to the 11 killed, obviously, several individuals were very seriously wounded, including police officers.
How are they doing?
PEDUTO: Was able to visit with one of the officers yesterday. I will be visiting with two of the other officers this morning.
With the officer that I visited, his spirits were high. He was one of the two SWAT officers who were wounded in the gunfire. He actually had his artery severed, and could have been much, much worse, if it weren't for his partner in placing a tourniquet on him at that moment.
TAPPER: A rifle and three handguns were recovered from the scene of the shooting. Do we know anything about these -- these firearms? Were they purchased legally? Is there anything in this -- in the shooter's background that should have prevented him from being able to purchase them?
PEDUTO: Yes, right now, there's a combined effort on law enforcement at local, state and federal level. Part of that investigation is on the firearms that the individual owned. There's no new information at this time, however, over whether the
firearms were obtained legally or illegally.
TAPPER: We often hear after mass shootings, you never think it could happen here, you never think it would happen, you know, in our neighborhoods, until it does.
What message do you have for the rest of America, the rest of the world watching right now, when we don't know where something like this could happen again?
PEDUTO: Yes, let me just explain it to you this way.
This was my old city council district. I represented this area and worked in the community for 19 years before I was the mayor. I live five blocks from where I'm standing right now.
Three blocks from here is where Fred Rogers lived. This is literally Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.
And when you think about the hate that is out there, and you think about the ability for irrational behavior to be empowered to do something like this, we really have to think about whether or not what we need are more guns to allow irrational behavior to continue, or whether we need rational laws to make sure that it ends.
Now, Pittsburgh is a very strong city. We are strong people, and we are resilient. We have gone through a lot of things in the past. And we will get through this.
But, mark my words, this will be a new mark in a discussion that needs to happen in this country with people that are pragmatic in finding solutions to problems.
TAPPER: Mayor Bill Peduto, thank you so much.
And, again, our deepest condolences to you and to the city of Pittsburgh.
PEDUTO: Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: Joining me now is Congressman Adam Schiff. He's the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and has been outspoken about rising anti-Semitism around the world. He's a Democrat from California.
Congressman, thanks for joining us.
So, you're the top Democrat on House Intel. Have you been briefed on this attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue? And is there any information you can give us on motive, beyond the obvious anti-Semitic hatred that this man was filled with, as evidenced by his social media posts?
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I have received preliminary briefings, and very much in line with what we heard at the conference, that the full belief is that this is the lone shooter.
They're obviously going to chase everything down to make sure there's no continuing threat to anyone in the community or in the country. And it certainly appears that anti-Semitism was the dominant motivation.
As is often the case, social media provides the best window, but, apparently, he was also shouting anti-Semitic slurs during the attack. So, his motive seems pretty clear.
TAPPER: The president condemned the shooting and anti-Semitism in very stark terms at an event in Indianapolis yesterday and on Twitter.
Are you satisfied with how President Trump has responded to this tragedy?
SCHIFF: I'm not satisfied in a couple respects.
First of all, I don't think you blame the synagogue for not having an armed guard there. That's not the answer. Are we going to have armed guards in every church, every synagogue, every movie theater, every concert venue? We can't have armed guards everywhere. That's not the answer.
But, more than that, what's fundamentally unsatisfying about what the president has to say is, you cannot preach division 365 days a year, you can't stoke people's animus towards the other, you can't vilify people coming to the country as murderers and rapists, and then, on the day tragedy strikes, sound a different note.
It just rings hollow. And that, to me, is the problem. It's not what he said yesterday. It's what he says every other day.
TAPPER: It's -- I want to get to that in a second.
But let me just drill down for one second on the armed guards part of this, because it -- I heard from a friend of mine Saturday who was at a bar mitzvah, and texted me in the middle of a bar mitzvah in Los Angeles, your hometown, saying that LAPD came in. And the synagogue, I believe, has armed guards regularly anyway.
This is not to blame the victims, but are we not in a world now where synagogues, mosques, other places need to have armed guards?
SCHIFF: Well, it certainly feels like that today.
But can that really be the answer? Is every house of worship now going to have to be armed? And, of course, it's not just our houses of worship.
You saw this man, after going into a church unsuccessfully, or trying to get to into a church, shoot two African-Americans in a store because he couldn't get into the church. Are we going to have armed security at every store, every concert, every other venue?
It just can't be done. That's not the answer. The answer isn't to spread more firepower around. We have got plenty of firepower.
I think part of the answer, certainly, is responsible gun safety legislation. But part of it is also changing the climate that we're all living in. We all have a major role to play in that.
But the person with the biggest bully pulpit right now is the president of the United States, for better or worse. And it's mostly for worse. And the way that he continues to divide us, the way that really his whole political strategy is about division, creates a toxic climate, a climate that is just sulfurous.
And that has got to change. And he's not going to change. That's a part of his constitution. We're going to have to change it, all of us. We're going to have to take on this project without his help.
And he just doesn't -- doesn't fundamentally understand that the job a commander in chief is to make us a more perfect union. So, we're going to have to take that on.
And I think we will.
I always come back at times like this to something Bill Clinton once said. There's nothing wrong in America that can't be cured by what's right in America.
TAPPER: Defenders of the president point out, A, he's a strong supporter of Israel; B, he had -- Ivanka converted to marry Jared, and he has three Jewish grandchildren.
And, C, they point out that this shooter, this deranged anti-Semite in Pittsburgh, had several social media posts in which he blamed President Trump for being too cozy with Jews, controlled by kikes, as he put it. Apologies for the language, but it's important people know what this guy said.
How do you see this incident in that light?
SCHIFF: Well, first of all, having Jewish children or grandchildren or support for the government of Israel isn't a license to traffic with people who are anti-Semitic. It just didn't give you carte blanche.
And more than that, once you -- once you put this bile into the bloodstream, you can't control it.
Yes, this shooter thought Trump didn't go far enough to keep Jews out of the country, to stop Jews from infiltrating the invaders. But he also believed -- this shooter also apparently believed that Jews were funding this caravan.
And so when the president and supporters of his or people around him attack George Soros and say Soros is funding this caravan, they are trafficking in a well-known and historic anti-Semitic trope.
TAPPER: You think that those who attack Soros are being anti-Semitic?
SCHIFF: I do. I do, not all of them, but there's a reason why he's being singled out.
He's not the -- he's a major donor of the Democratic Party. He's not the biggest donor. He's not the only donor. He's not being singled out because of his height or his eye color.
He's being singled out because he's a symbol. And for those who are in the world of white nationalism, he's a profound symbol of -- of the Jewish conspiracy, the well-funded Jewish cabal of bankers and others that are controlling the country, that are polluting the purity of the American bloodstream.
TAPPER: Congressman Adam Schiff, thanks so much for being here on such a horrible day. We appreciate it.
It could have been so much worse: a suspect arrested for mailing at least 14 bombs. One of his targets, Tom Steyer, will be here next.
And President Trump condemns hate and anti-Semitism after a week of domestic terrorism. How long will the president sustain that message of unity? Trump supporter Anthony Scaramuuci is also here. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.
The horrific tragedy in Pittsburgh comes as a suspected bomber is in custody after mailing at least 14 bombs to prominent Democrats and the media.
Authorities believe Cesar Sayoc constructed those bombs in the back of his van, which is plastered with pictures of President Trump and his political opponents with targets over their faces, festooned with a carnage collage, as it were.
One of those bombs was addressed to billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer, who joins me now.
Tom, thanks for being here. We're really glad you're OK.
What -- tell me -- I want to talk about the bomb in a second. But, first, President Trump, in response to this horrific shooting at this Pittsburgh synagogue, issued a sweeping condemnation of violence and anti-Semitism.
Do you -- are you satisfied with how he's responded to this tragedy?
TOM STEYER, PRESIDENT, NEXTGEN AMERICA: Well, I think his response to the tragedy is -- was appropriate.
But there's something much bigger than that going on here, which is the atmosphere that he's created and that the Republican Party has created in terms of political violence.
And I think, if you look across the political scene, what you see is routine, systematic lawlessness, an attempt to break small-D democratic norms, in pursuit of victory at all costs.
And we see it in voter suppression. We see it in extreme gerrymandering. We see it in the violent political rhetoric, of course, that people have been alluding all morning.
But, more than that, we see it in a president who doesn't -- who has been breaking the law systematically as a candidate, as a businessperson, and as a president.
TAPPER: So, a Republican would argue, you say that, Tom, but there was a Capitol -- there was a shooting of Republican members of Congress last year by a -- it seemed a Bernie Sanders supporter.
What appear to be toxic substances or hoax toxic substances have been sent to Donald Trump Jr. and his family, Senator Susan Collins, that it's not just Republican lawlessness here.
What would your response to that be?
STEYER: I would say, there has been bad behavior on both sides, but you can't find prominent Democrats elected officials who refuse to condemn it.
You don't find prominent Democrats who are leading chants with violent overtones like "Lock her up, "CNN sucks," all the kinds of attempts to play to people's strongest emotions.
And I think that everybody on the Democratic side would look at that shooter of Congressman Scalise and absolutely condemn his action, him and anyone associated with him.
So I think that that actually is very much of a false equivalence, not that there's perfection on one side and absolute horror on the other. But we're seeing something that is not at all equivalent, where there -- this example of lawlessness more broadly -- I know you're bringing it back specifically to actual violence against public figures.
TAPPER: Mm-hmm.
STEYER: But I'm talking about a much broader, systematic attempt to disrespect the norms of democracy, to actually disrespect the laws of the United States, and an attack on the rule of law.
And that creates an atmosphere where anything can bubble up and anything is bubbling up.
TAPPER: Let me ask you, because House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted something about you, and then he deleted it. And I want to ask you about it.
On Tuesday, he tweeted: "We cannot allow Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg to buy this election. Get out and vote Republican November 6" -- make America great again hashtag.
Now, a spokesperson for McCarthy says that McCarthy condemns this week's violence and the tweet was deleted before the attack on the Pittsburgh synagogue.
I did notice that George Soros is Jewish, Michael Bloomberg is Jewish. You're the third. Your dad is Jewish.
STEYER: Was Jewish. He's dead.
TAPPER: Was Jewish. Do you think that's a coincidence? What do you make of that?
STEYER: Look, I have no idea what Congressman McCarthy -- was in his mind. I can say that his action -- I think that the attempt to try and figure out what's in people's mind is a mistake.
I think all you can really do is see what they say. And that was -- in terms of interpreting what he said, that seems, to me, like a straight-up anti-Semitic move.
I think that there -- that is a classic attempt to separate Americans. I think that absolutely falls into the category of what I'm describing as political violence.
And I believe that what we are looking for in America is something completely different from that. And when people say there's a loud language on both sides, I think that is absolutely false, Jake, because what we're seeing is terrible behavior, consistent, systematic political violence from Republicans.
And when people stand up to it, then they describe that as strong language on both sides. I would argue that there's a complete difference between supporting injustice, creating injustice, and opposing injustice.
And that's actually what we're seeing.
TAPPER: Let's talk about the bomb that was mailed to you. Your tweet after the attempted bombing seemed to link the bombing to what you're talking about right now, this lawlessness.
You wrote: "We're thankful that everyone we work with is safe. We're seeing a systematic attack on our democracy that extends much further than just one isolated terrorist in Florida. That's why we're running an impeachment petition to end the culture of lawlessness in our country."
It sounds like you are blaming President Trump to a degree for the bomb that was sent to you. Is that fair?
STEYER: There's obviously no direct link, Jake.
But I'm absolutely associating and blaming him for creating the atmosphere that exists. We have -- the reason that we're -- I have started and have been running an impeachment petition drive is because, in my opinion, he is corrupt and lawless and dangerous, and that the result of that is to change America, to attack the rule of law, and that it's important to step up and oppose that kind of behavior and that kind of atmosphere directly. TAPPER: Now, President Trump, no doubt, were he here, would say, you have accused President Trump of treason. You have said he committed a traitorous act of war.
You suggested that -- quote -- "nuclear war" might turn public opinion against the president, though you did take that remark back.
What would you say to somebody who says you are creating some of this environment as well?
STEYER: I would say exactly what I said to you a couple minutes ago, Jake, that when someone does something wrong, particularly the president of the United States, it is absolutely incumbent on people to openly oppose him and use constitutional means to do that.
And so, for instance, when the president looks at a U.N. report that promises unimaginable suffering to the American people and scoffs at it, that seems to me to be the most abject dereliction of duty that -- in the history of the -- of the country.
For a president to willingly put Americans in harm's way and scoff at that possibility or probability that scholars are saying is going to happen is something where he's absolutely given up his duty as commander in chief.
And I think it is really important, if we're going to have a more positive 21st century as an American century, that we not only oppose what's wrong, but we stand up for what's right.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Well, let me ask you. You are one of the leaders nationally for impeachment. You have been running ads now for a long time on TV, traveling the country.
I don't hear Democratic leaders in Congress talking about impeachment, in fact, the opposite. If Democrats take the House, and do not ultimately began impeachment proceedings against President Trump, what will you do you? Will you work against Democrats?
STEYER: Well, let's move -- take a step back, if I could, Jake.
If you actually look at what Americans think and what people who are registered as Democrats think, almost 80 percent of Democrats, registered Democrats, want this president impeached and removed from office.
If you ask Americans broadly, Democrats, Republicans and independents, more people are in favor of that than aren't. So it's not as if I'm representing some small part of the United States. I'm representing most Americans.
So, in fact, what we have is a movement that is asking for a different America, which is one that recognizes the rule of law, gets rid of corruption, and treats every American equitably and fairly. And so, if I hear from elected officials that they don't like that, I ask only two questions. Are we telling the truth? Are we standing up for the American people and the Constitution?
And if they then say it's not politically expedient for us now, I ask the same two questions. And if we're telling the truth and standing up for the American people, we're going to keep going, because when I -- earlier on your show, I heard someone say that if President Trump really came down against bigotry, he could go through the 50 percent approval level.
Let me make a point. Standing up against bigotry is not something you do to go through the 50 percent approval level.
TAPPER: Yes.
STEYER: You do it because it's the right thing to do. And that's why we're acting.
TAPPER: Tom Steyer, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. And we're so glad you're OK.
STEYER: Jake, thank you for having me.
TAPPER: One of the most important aspects of this week has been President Trump and his response to all of the horrors, with questions about what kind of environment the president is fostering in the nation.
Unfortunately, the White House has all been abandoned the daily White House briefing. And the White House declined to provide us with a guest today.
So we turn to someone who knows President Trump well, who served at the White House, and is one of his most ardent political supporters, former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.
He's out with a new book about President Trump called "Trump: The Blue-Collar President."
Anthony, it's good to see you, as always.
This has been a terrible week in the United States, with these attacks on Jewish Americans, black Americans, the bombs that were sent to prominent Democrats.
What is your take? Because I'm sure you hear it all the time. What do you hear -- what's your take when you -- when people say, President Trump has contributed to this polarized and hateful atmosphere, not that he's responsible for any of the individual actions, but that he has contributed to a really ugly period in this -- in this country?
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well listen, I think there's problems on both sides.
But I have also been very clear on this. I have said it to the president and members of his staff. And I will continue to say it. There's no need to have a war with the media.
As far as I'm concerned, you can have an adversarial relationship, but we should be de-escalating this stuff. The president's got a great agenda. The economic situation is going very well. But you can see what happens when you're controlling the bully pulpit, and there's this level of bellicosity to the rhetoric.
And, again, the White House would say, well, listen, it's on both sides, and the president's just hitting back.
And I understand that. And I think a lot of those tactics helped him win the presidency. But he's now the leader of the free world. And he is the number one principal, responsible person in government for all people, Jake.
And just, as you know, he's the only person, the president's the only person that we all vote for. So, for me, I would love to see this stuff dialed back on both sides. But good leadership requires that somebody go first. And I would like it to be him.
I think he's a very good person. As you know, I have been a very a strong supporter of his. I'm not saying that people are perfect. He's certainly not. I especially am not. But I do think we could be doing better. And I would like to see that happen, frankly.
TAPPER: Yesterday, President Trump very clearly, very unequivocally condemned anti-Semitism, talked about this horrific attack in Pittsburgh.
But his critics point out that he has talked about -- quote -- "very fine people" marching alongside anti-Semites in Charlottesville. For days after I had asked him to disavow white nationalist David Duke, he declined. Ultimately, he did do it.
Not long ago, he met with Ted Nugent, who is anti-Semitic and posted anti-Semitic content on Facebook, in the Oval Office.
The president said yesterday that you wouldn't think anti-Semitic attacks are possible today. But there's a lot of anti-Semitism out there. There's a lot of bigotry of all kinds out there. And there has been a tolerance, at the very least, of it by the president and people in the White House.
SCARAMUCCI: Well, listen, the president's -- he has three Orthodox Jewish grandchildren.
You know, when I was in the White House, there's at least three or four offices that have mezuzahs on them. You know, I -- I have traveled to Israel four or five times since I left the White House.
It's not clear to me that people in Israel think that the president is anti-Semitic. If anything, they think he is very pro-Israel and has been incredibly supportive.
And one of the symbolic things that he did was move the embassy. So, I think there's a lot of substance in terms of the policy that's clearly not anti-Semitic. If anything, it's very pro-Israel and pro- Semitic, if you will.
But if you're making the point that there's some rhetoric and there's some equivocation on the rhetoric, certainly, we can go all the way back to Charlottesville, although I think that was a malaprop, frankly.
But I think, in general, we got to tone it down. And, you know, again, I don't want to repeat myself, but I think it's worth repeating. He's the president of the United States. He controls the news cycle and the bully pulpit. And he could do it.
And if he does it, I think he goes through 50 percent on his approval ratings. I think this sort of stuff, Jake, is a headwind on the president. It's probably a five- to seven-point headwind on the president in terms of where he could be in terms of the polls, based on what's going on in the economy and based on how people feel about the country right now, despite this sort of stuff.
But my heart goes out to those people. It's -- it's an unbelievable tragedy. And when you talk about the crime scene, and you think about each individual person, I mean it's just -- it's just -- we got to figure it out. We have to figure out a way to make this stop.
TAPPER: I want to ask you about the president's response to the to the bombs that were mailed. Thankfully, none of them went off. The FBI director said they were not hoax devices.
The president has attacked the media, has not said anything about CNN, even though we were mailed two of the devices. He hasn't called President Obama. He hasn't called former Secretary of State or President Clinton. He hasn't called any of the people who received these devices.
What's going on?
SCARAMUCCI: Well, listen, I can't -- I can't tell you what's going on, because I'm not inside the president's brain. And I'm certainly no longer inside the White House.
But I think what is going on is that there's -- there's a war declaration. And so, when he reads a statement like the one that came from Jeff Zucker, he gets upset. He will fire off a statement.
Jeff's statement, I thought, was fine. And, I mean, it wasn't derogatory or anything like that. He was just pointing out that the heat is too hot inside the system.
But the president probably took that as another salvo in the war that's going on between the White House and the media.
And so, for me, again, nobody's asking me inside the White House. But, if they did, I would say, listen, we have this huge opportunity. We're doing so well on so many different fronts, economically, and we're doing so well on the national security situation, very good progress happening on trade. We will likely get a trade deal done with China. Come on, guys, we could do better than this cosmetically.
And just go back to Ronald Reagan what Mike Deaver did for Reagan and set the news cycle in a way that's way more positive, and you will see better results.
TAPPER: Just to say -- just to people who don't know, Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN, put out a statement, saying -- not blaming President Trump for the bombs, but saying that President Trump and the White House press secretary don't understand that their words matter.
This came in the context of, CNN had been sent a bomb. Sarah Sanders put out a statement expressing concern for all those that received the packages, but did not mention CNN in that initial statement.
And then the Trump campaign sent out an e-mail to supporters that attacked CNN. It was within this context that Jeff Zucker said, the president needs to understand that his words have meaning.
Anthony Scaramucci, we thank you for your time.
SCARAMUCCI: Just one second.
TAPPER: Yes, go ahead.
SCARAMUCCI: I think Jeff -- I just think Jeff's statement was totally fine.
I just think, because of the war declaration, that's why the shots are going both ways, Jake. That's -- that was my point.
TAPPER: OK. Well, I haven't declared war on anybody.
And, certainly, when Don Jr. and his family were sent a suspicious- looking powder, I publicly and privately expressed concern to Don Jr., because that's what human beings do.
SCARAMUCCI: Let's get it going in that direction. That would be my message to people.
TAPPER: Anthony Scaramucci...
SCARAMUCCI: I totally agree with you. Thank you.
TAPPER: ... good -- good luck with your book. And thank you so much for your time.
So let's talk about this all with our panel. And, Jonathan Weisman, let me start with you just because you have become something of an expert on anti-Semitism in the last couple of years and you've written a book about it.
What's your take on the ugly environment of -- that we've seen revealed in the last week?
JONATHAN WEISMAN, AUTHOR, "SEMITISM: BEING JEWISH IN AMERICA IN THE AGE OF TRUMP": Anthony Scaramucci just called -- talked about cosmetics.
How President Trump could burst through 50 percent if he could just deal with the cosmetics of this.
It's not cosmetic if you -- if words do matter and if you foment hate and if you actually -- you're -- the anti-Semitic or bigoted followers feel that you're on their side you are not just doing something cosmetic. You are actually doing something very real.
I think what's happening right now is a product of the last three years or more but is now bursting forward. I've been warning about this for months and now we're seeing it.
TAPPER: David, you're from Pittsburgh.
DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
TAPPER: First of all, did you know anybody that was hurt?
URBAN: No. But, you know, in Pittsburgh I was talking to Nina about this. Nina is from Cleveland and Pittsburgh. It's not like Philly, Jake, where it's a big city. Pittsburgh is a very small city. Our heart goes out to a lot of those folks there.
And obviously the city is rallying around, but it's an incredible tragedy. It should never have occurred. To kind of push back on Jonathan said, echoed what Anthony said, you know, this president has -- to what you said you may feel Jonathan and you've got a different experience as I do as a Catholic guy but this president took incredible grief for standing with the people of Israel. Globally was condemned for standing with the people of Israel.
You know, Jonathan, you can't shake your head. He took --
WEISMAN: I will -- I will shake my head because the argument over whether the president stand with a government in Jerusalem or the people --
URBAN: No, not the government in Jerusalem but --
WEISMAN: -- or the Jewish people in the United States is a different argument.
URBAN: You think he's not standing for the people of Israel by moving --
TAPPER: But no one is talking about Israel.
WEISMAN: We're not talking about Israel.
URBAN: No but -- but -- OK. But the Jewish --
WEISMAN: You're always talking about Israel.
URBAN: OK. Diaspora at writ large. You don't think it matters? You don't it matters if he has grandchildren who are Jewish or that his cabinet is half Jewish?
Or as Anthony points out --
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: OK. We have Mnuchin, you had Cohen, you've got other folks there. They've got mezuzahs in the White House. This is a guy who -- you could call him a lot of things but anti-Semite isn't one.
TAPPER: Nobody is calling him an anti-Semite.
URBAN: The crazy guy who did this was rallying against Trump for (INAUDIBLE).
TAPPER: That's right.
URBAN: I read a social media post.
TAPPER: Let's bring in Amanda.
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I would say something that Donald Trump could do. He could start calling in the executives for these social media companies, allow the speech to thrive on their platforms.
TAPPER: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: -- that could be done.
TAPPER: Gab -- just for people who don't know Gab is where this guy posted -- the shooter in Pittsburgh posted a lot of social media posts. Gab proclaims itself to be 100 percent free speech, a platform unlike Twitter where you can say and do things that you can't on Twitter. And that has meant in practicality that it is a place for a lot of white nationalist and Nazis --
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: Here's my point.
TAPPER: I just want to explain.
CARPENTER: If you have platforms that tolerate hate speech, you get hate crimes. That's what happens.
TAPPER: You think that that environment fosters --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: -- active (ph)?
URBAN: Yes.
CARPENTER: Absolutely. Absolutely. TAPPER: What do you think?
WEISMAN: I think that there is virtually no way to suppress the internet. You know, after Charlottesville -- after Charlottesville a number of organizations stood up and said they were root out The Daily Stormer, the neo-Nazi Web site. And then for a time the neo-Nazi, "The Daily Stormer" disappeared. It went into kind of the dark Web and then it reappeared under DailyStomer.name. Basically we have to win the argument in the public sphere because we cannot suppress the --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: I want to bring in Nina but before I do, Nina, I just want to -- the last post of the shooter was against a Jewish refugee agency that actually if you go on Twitter you'll find out they helped CBS anchor Bianna Golodryga and her family immigrate Julia Ioffe from GQ, the writer Gary Shteyngart. Like this is an organization that helps immigrants come into the country and settle and become successful in those three accounts.
Anyway. He wrote this is his final social media post. "HIAS" -- that's the name of the group -- "likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw you optics, I'm going in." That was his last Gab post.
NINA TURNER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, words create worlds. I mean, I agree with Jonathan. We cannot -- there used to be a saying stick and stones may break my bones but words or names will never hurt me. No. Words create worlds.
And not that the president is responsible for any individual's reaction or actions, but he is responsible for the type of climate that he has created. Since he started running for president to this very point and when Scaramucci said, you know, the president is not perfect. Well, you know what? None of us are perfect.
We're not looking for perfection but we are looking for decency. And that is what this president fails to exhibit time and time again. He'll say one thing when it's written for him all nice and neat by his staff, but then when he gets into these rallies his true nature comes out.
So he does have to take some responsibility for the type of racist bio climate that we find ourselves in which, Jake, is not new.
This is -- you hear me say this all the time. This is in the DNA of America. So I'm surprised that people are surprised.
What is happening is that what is in our root as a country is bubbling up now, and that's why people are surprised. Every generation we have to be fighting to eradicate racism and bigotry.
URBAN: So, Jake, to address Amanda's -- I want to go back to what Amanda said, right, I get approached in airports and other places the Trump supporters have voiced the president and most people come up to me and say, I don't agree with the president. But you do a fair job of (INAUDIBLE) of telling the X, Y, and Z why you don't. Very few people come up to me. None the day that come up and yelled and spit vitriol like I get in Twitter, right?
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: You're faceless. My point is when you're faceless and you're anonymous and you're sitting in your home in some remote place in America it's very easy to spit hatred and --
TAPPER: That's the internet.
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: Yes. But it's the internet. But my point is that that vitriol -- I'm sorry, Nina -- that that vitriol build upon vitriol and allows people to think, well, it's OK for me to do that.
This is kind of like the broken window of theory of policing. If we don't push back on the small broken windows that occur in the internet and that allows bigger crimes to occur like this.
If we don't push back and I know you (INAUDIBLE) agree for this by saying, if you're pounding on Mitch McConnell's table in a restaurant you got to say no to that. Because it allows -- it gets grows and grows and it will allows people to be more and more hateful. You've got to push back at every level.
CARPENTER: I think we forget it was only five days ago that Trump said I am a nationalist. And he can pretend he doesn't know there's a national conversation about white nationalism.
He is playing with fire. Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: Yes. I want social media to be cleaned up so people are responsible but I want the president also to be responsible.
URBAN: The president spent the whole day trying to clean it up without (ph) a statement.
TAPPER: So, Jonathan, I know -- I know something that happened during the campaign that you thought was really interesting as somebody -- something about a scholar of anti-Semitism and dog whistles and the rest, happened right here on CNN when President Trump talked to Wolf Blitzer.
Now this is after Julia Ioffe who I mentioned just a second ago had written a profile of Melania Trump and it wasn't a nasty profile. It wasn't a particularly friendly profile it was just a profile. It was a journalistic profile, after which Julia's -- you know, Julia's Jewish and she was targeted with a whole bunch of very nasty anti- Semitic imagery about, you know, putting her in ovens and the like. Wolf Blitzer asked then candidate Donald Trump about this. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: These anti-Semitics death threats?
TRUMP: Oh, I don't know about that. I don't know anything about that.
BLITZER: But your message to the --
TRUMP: You mean fans of mine?
BLITZER: Supposed fans of your posting these very angry --
TRUMP: I don't know. I know nothing about it. You'll have to talk to them about it.
BLITZER: But your message to these fans is --
TRUMP: I don't have a message to the fans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Why do you think that's important?
WEISMAN: I think that's important because time and time again when the president has been given an opportunity to stand up forthrightly and condemn the hatred around him he has shown dissidence, reluctance or that kind of thing, that it's not my fault.
You know, at the same time Melania Trump was confronted of about Julia Ioffe's profile and the absolute anti-Semitic hate that can rain down on Julia, and her response was Julia provoked it. That is not standing up for the things that we like to believe America is about, which is pluralism, democracy, love thy neighbor. And he has gotten the chance so many times and so many times he has just let it slip by.
TURNER: And the fact that he has, you know, Jewish folks in his family, again as Scaramucci brought up, that's just like saying, you know, I'm married to a black person so that makes me less of racist --
WEISMAN: Some of my best friends are Jewish.
TURNER: Right. Or some of my best friends are Jewish or Hispanic or indigenous. You know, what is in this man's heart, i.e. the president, comes out time and time again when he doesn't have a script in front of him and that is what we are dealing with.
We are in a moment of transcendence in this country. And either we can continue to work to create a more perfect union which we have to do every generation or we can regress. And I see regress --
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: Look, I don't believe it. I don't believe the president loathes his Jewish grandchildren.
TURNER: No, no. I did not say that.
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: Don't say that. I didn't say that.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: No one thinks that.
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: I did not say that.
URBAN: OK. Nina, I don't believe the president loathes --
TURNER: No. I did not say that.
URBAN: No, no. OK. I'm not trying to characterize that.
TURNER: OK.
URBAN: I don't believe the president loathes Jewish-Americans or --
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: Listen, Jonathan -- or I don't believe the president supports anti-Semites, anti-Semitism.
TAPPER: What do you -- what are you actually accusing the president of because David just specifically pressed (ph) that?
WEISMAN: The argument is not over what is in President Trump's mind. We're not calling him a racist, we're not calling him anti-Semite. We don't know.
What I'm saying is the president has shown a reluctance time and time again to shun his supporters. And his supporters, as Andrew Gillum said, I'm not calling you a racist, I'm just saying the racists think you're a racist.
TURNER: That's right.
WEISMAN: This is case where the anti-Semites believe that he is on their side and he hasn't pushed back enough to say, I am not with you.
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: -- say today? He said -- yesterday --
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: He didn't have a clear answer about David Duke when he was asked.
URBAN: Sure. CARPENTER: He has not tossed around words like nationalism when we
know what his supporters in the dark corners of the internet take from it.
URBAN: Because the president should --
CARPENTER: He has to clean that up.
URBAN: Listen, everybody --
CARPENTER: And if he doesn't he is allowing it to continue.
URBAN: The president missed an opportunity right there to get back in the day to say that corrective. He should correct it. The president should stand up, like he did yesterday and condemn this. And condemn the actions.
WEISMAN: You know that the last -- that last advertisement of President Trump's campaign for president talked about global special interests as the Jewish faces of Janet Yellin, George Soros and Lloyd Blankfein went by.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: I think we have that --
WEISMAN: Went by. I mean, if that's not a dog whistle that's a vuvuzela or something like that.
TAPPER: Let me -- do we -- control room, do you have that element ready? Because we talked about this. OK. So this was the last TV ad that President Trump and his campaign ran right before the election. And as Jonathan Weisman accurately points out, it uses the imagery of three individuals who are -- who are Jewish, Janet Yellin and the Fed chair, Lloyd Blankfein from Goldman Sachs, and George Soros who was a billionaire financier and funds a lot of liberal causes. Let's just take a little look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the global special interests, it's a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEISMAN: I mean, that sends a shiver down my spine. And you know what, we can dismiss it but it sends a shiver down my spine.
URBAN: I'm not going to dismiss it. I'll say this. I'm going to try to explain it perhaps, right? So Goldman Sachs, there's an ad for Wall Street. Janet Yellin, chairman of the Fed. George Soros, billionaire left-wing guy. That's how I see the ad.
CARPENTER: But there's language -- WEISMAN: It didn't have Sheldon Adelson, billionaire right-wing.
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: It's an ad against Democrats. It's not an ad against Republicans.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: One at a time.
WEISMAN: We can deny it, we can deny it, but the fact is there's a pattern here.
URBAN: We all agree about one thing, right, it's a terrible thing. This is all terrible. We still haven't discussed and we should. The mental health crisis that's raging in America, right, because none of these folks are healthy people who did these acts, right? None of these people, I mean, underlying they're crazy.
TAPPER: The question is whether or not any of them are being juiced up by what they're hearing from their leader.
URBAN: That's not --
CARPENTER: Can I say something? The man that constructed the pipe bombs is in control of his faculties enough to construct 12 pipe bombs and send out. When the president uses language like the press is the enemy of the people there are people in America who will take that as --
URBAN: Amanda, every -- wait. Everybody said -- let me address that. Everybody who worked with that guy said he was insane.
CARPENTER: Yes.
URBAN: This is another thing. See something, say something. The guy is driving around with a van that looks like, that's shouting I'm crazy, I need to be institutionalized, and nobody -- you know what his boss said? His boss said he was crazy but you know what, he showed up for work so I --
(CROSSTALK)
NINA TURNER, PRESIDENT, OUR REVOLUTION: Mental health crisis is real.
TAPPER: Sure. Absolutely.
TURNER: But all of this should not be laid at the feet of -- you know, those people in the left.
URBAN: That's part of it.
TURNER: But still --
TAPPER: There are a lot of people -- let us say this. There are most people who struggle with mental issues.
TURNER: Yes.
TAPPER: Are not violent, do not do anything violent and it's wrong to stigmatize them. I'm sure we agree with that. OK.
TURNER: do agree with that. And then, you know what, this politics, people should do everything to win but not anything to win. And we are living in a climate right now.
URBAN: I agree with that. I agree.
TURNER: Where too many politicians president trump included are doing anything to win. And they don't care about the fallout. That happens.
URBAN: But no Democrats, Nina?
TURNER: I said --
URBAN: Everyone has got to disarm. Everybody has got to disarm.
TURNER: Listen, I just said far too many. But he's the president of the United States.
TAPPER: Can we talk about the ad for one second? Do you really think that it's just a coincidence that the three symbols of globalism and special interests, screwing the workingman and woman are Jewish? Do you really think that's just a coincidence?
URBAN: Jake, I said I was explaining the ad the way -- I was trying to explain it. I didn't it -- I mean, I saw it. I didn't produce it. I don't know what's behind the thinking of it. I'm just giving you another opinion on the ad, OK? They don't know -- listen. I don't know who's delivered it.
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: No, it's clear --
URBAN: I didn't put the ad together.
CARPENTER: -- people who follow white nationalist language that they borrowed language from that cesspool. And you see it bubbling up much more than you think.
URBAN: I don't know the ad --
CARPENTER: You see it bubbling up on FOX News occasionally. All these things --
TAPPER: Last night.
URBAN: I'm not here to --
TAPPER: Last night on FOX Business. CARPENTER: Yes.
URBAN: I'm not here to defend FOX News. You're asking about the ad.
CARPENTER: Yes, but --
TAPPER: Right. He's trying to explain --
URBAN: I'm just trying to explain.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: But you think there's a potentially innocent explanation that they're just picking people?
URBAN: Listen, I do -- I think there -- I do. I absolutely do.
TURNER: It's deliberate. I mean, these things, there's a whole science to this, Jake. Let's not delude ourselves. That ad was deliberate.
URBAN: Frank Luntz, man.
TURNER: It was deliberate.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Well, we don't know that Frank Luntz -- Frank Luntz is Jewish. I don't think --
URBAN: I know, but that's my point. That's the point.
TAPPER: As a scholar of this, and I'm not making light of that.
You wrote a whole book about this. Do you think it's possible that it's a coincidence that those three individuals other than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, that those are the individuals that the ad singles out are Jewish? In the same way that Kevin McCarthy tweet about Bloomberg and Steyer and Soros is a coincidence. He just happened to mention two people who are Jewish and one with a Jewish father.
WEISMAN: Well, let me ask you this, I mean, Sheldon Adelson who has -- is also Jewish and is also very rich and is also funding a political campaign, the Republican campaign, has failed to show up in any of this. I haven't seen anybody talking about -- I haven't seen Democrats railing against Sheldon Adelson for spending $50 million, $60 million to re-elect the Republican conference.
I'm sorry, I actually -- if you look back at the campaign, the 2016 campaign, a number of times -- I don't know who it is -- a number of times we saw very strong evidence that somebody in that campaign was swimming in the alt-right world. When that picture came up of Hillary Clinton on top of the Jewish star with money --
TAPPER: I think we have that element, too. Let's put that up, Jonathan Weisman, so people know what they're talking about. It was a tweet that the president sent out, and it had -- it was actually that meme was actually taken from an anti-Semitic Web site.
WEISMAN: Exactly. Somebody -- that did not --
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: It was Dan Scavino who said he did it.
TURNER: It was not by accident.
CARPENTER: Well, his campaign manager wanted to be a platform for the alt-right with Breitbart News. And so --
TAPPER: There it is. So there it is. On the left is the Trump tweet and it's about Goldman Sachs and money and it's a Jewish star, and then they re-did it with a circle. And then the initial explanation from the Trump campaign was that the Jewish star was a sheriff's star.
WEISMAN: Except it came out of an anti-Semitic Web site. They are trolling around looking for these images. You know what, many people would see that and they're not -- and they wouldn't understand it, but if you're in that world, if you're in the world of the alt-right world, and you see that, you know exactly where that came from.
TAPPER: And that's the argument with it, the Yellin-Blankfein-Soros imagery.
URBAN: Listen, I understand your point. I will tell you at that point in time Dan Scavino said he did it. Dan Scavino said he cut and pasted it from -- not from an alt-right Web site but from a Microsoft whatever, and I can't tell you. We can go back and pull the print from it, but Dan Scavino owned up to it, it wasn't some grand conspiracy that he put it up, and admitted to it. So --
WEISMAN: Is Dan Scavino still in the White House?
URBAN: Yes, he is. So you're accusing Dan Scavino of being anti- Semitic?
WEISMAN: Yes, I am.
URBAN: OK. So let him push back.
TAPPER: You are a Republican, you're not a Trump supporter, obviously, but you're a Republican. When you see all of these things and David doing his level best to try to explain this is where this happened, this is how this happened, none of it came from David, but he's trying to give the Trump point of view this is not what the intention was, I'm sure. Do you buy it? It's not David per se --
CARPENTER: I don't think all this is a coincidence. I know for sure that President Trump likes to stoke controversy. And he really doesn't have any moral objection to going to this place. He doesn't mind if we fight about this. How many times? Both times after Charlottesville? He doesn't mind. And so my question is I'm no longer looking to President Trump to do the right thing.
I hate after all these tragedies we look to see what the president says because he's never going to soothe the nation. I'm looking for other people to step up and have a better message. I'm looking for --
TAPPER: Is there anyone?
CARPENTER: I'm looking. I'm looking. Isn't everyone looking? Are we just going to let Donald Trump dominate the conversation in the worst way?
TAPPER: Well, but you're a Republican. Are there other Republican senators that you find say the right there? You used to work for Ted Cruz. Does Ted Cruz say the right thing? Is there anyone you're seeing fill the breach?
CARPENTER: No, I'm looking, and it baffles me why no one is stepping up to that plate.
TURNER: I know why not.
CARPENTER: Because there is a vacuum.
TURNER: This is all politics.
URBAN: The president said yesterday --
TAPPER: Just let Nina finish.
URBAN: I'm sorry. Sorry.
TAPPER: We're all passionate here. Go ahead.
TURNER: I mean, it's just politics. Again, it goes back to the point doing everything to win or anything to win. There is a big difference. And so most of these folks who are in these offices all they care about is their election. They don't want to step on their so-called voters by chastising people and coming out strong against racism and bigotry. We need that kind of leadership at all times. And you know what, if they lose an election over it, so be it, by standing up and doing the right thing.
URBAN: Look, I agree. There's no place for it in the public square. It should be widely condemned. Listen, why is hate so prevalent? I mean, to Jonathan's point, why is it so prevalent? Where did it start? How does it stop? How do we get back -- Stephen Carter, professor at Yale, wrote a great book about civility, right? How do we get back to civility in the public square? How does that happen?
CARPENTER: Well, I think social media plays a huge role.
URBAN: I agree.
CARPENTER: And as long as there are companies that don't mind making money off hate speech it will continue. And that's why someone would do something and hold them accountable. URBAN: And Governor Schwarzenegger said this, too, people look at
this as kind of simplistic but redistricting every 10 years makes seats safer and safer and let congressman to be crazier.
TAPPER: Yes.
URBAN: And crazier and say more and more things that are not in mainstream.
We draw these districts that are very left and very right and no check on anything.
TAPPER: All the hate that we've seen in terms of the three incidents we've talked about this week were from the right, far, far right. But Jonathan, you know, that there's anti-Semitism and bigotry on the left as well. And we see it, and I'm not equating the two, and the moral equivalence police out there, I'm not saying it's the same thing. But Lou Farrakhan is out there calling Jews termites and preaching hatred, and he is somebody who recently was on stage with several former presidents at a funeral.
WEISMAN: That was shocking. I mean, I -- I go around the country talking about this. And I talk about Louis Farrakhan as bigoted and as horrific as anything you would see. What comes out of his mouth is as awful as anything you would hear coming out of David Duke's mouth.
TAPPER: It's pretty much the same. Yes.
WEISMAN: It's pretty much the same. But I'd like to say look, Farrakhan's power kind of peaked in 1995 with the Million Mile March and has gone downhill. That line that I've used was so undermined by that image at Aretha Franklin's funeral of Bill Clinton sitting next to Louis Farrakhan. It made me sick. It really did. And I think that look, the left needs to be speaking out as forthrightly as the right. No question, no question.
TAPPER: Again I'm not saying it's the same thing, but -- I'm not saying it's the same thing but how -- why would we tolerate it on either side?
TURNER: Look, it -- it shouldn't be. But in terms of Aretha Franklin's funeral I don't know who's on the invitation list. You know, so somebody being at Aretha Franklin's funeral is not the equivalent at all about what's going on here.
TAPPER: Not at all.
TURNER: No, and I know you're not saying that but --
TAPPER: We all agree with that.
TURNER: This is making me feel some kind of way. I will say this that both the -- because we continue to see these things through left and right, let's just see it through the lens of humanity.
TAPPER: Exactly. Exactly. TURNER: That every -- this is all about how strong of a Democrat are
you or how strong of a Republican are you, when it should be about how strong of a person are you to stand up for humanity?
TAPPER: Preach. I'm saying --
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: That's what this is about.
TAPPER: Exactly. Exactly.
WEISMAN: Nina is right. It is amazing in my travels what -- how I see bigotry itself has become a partisan issue.
TURNER: Yes. It's a partisan issue.
WEISMAN: That if you stand up against bigotry somehow you're a left- wing lunatic. It's crazy. It's crazy. And --
TAPPER: Or a right-wing lunatic.
TURNER: Because I will say in my travels, too, I've seen this kind of stuff at the hands of Democrats. I mean, there's a candidate right now, (INAUDIBLE), who's running in California where we know two Democrats can go head to head, where images of monkeys are coming out against her at the hands of supporters of her opponent who's a Democrat. So nobody has a premium on whether they can be racist or bigoted. But what we do have to do is stop seeing everything through the lens of whether you're Republican or Democrat and see it through the lens of what kind of country we want to be.
URBAN: And again --
TURNER: What kind of people we want to be.
TAPPER: A hundred percent.
URBAN: And propagated and stoked by faceless, nameless folks on social media. Right? Everybody gets played.
TAPPER: So on that note of agreement, I'll -- you know, it's tough to have these conversations.
URBAN: We do, but, Jake --
TURNER: But I'm glad that we are.
URBAN: To this show's credit, you know, Nina and I talk, we go, we leave. We're friends --
TAPPER: I just want to say --
URBAN: And so unlike the discourse that's being had on social media where people get to shout down people, call them horrific names.
TAPPER: I know.
URBAN: And they vanish into the --
TAPPER: So none of us are going to look at our social media accounts for the next two days.
TURNER: Not today.
TAPPER: After this conversation. But thanks one and all for being here, for speaking from the hearts. We appreciate it.
This massacre took place in Squirrel Hill which was literally, literally Mr. Roger's neighborhood. So I want to end the show today with some wise words from the American icon about how we can cope with tragedy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED ROGERS, "MISTER ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD": When I was a little boy and something bad happened in the news my mother would tell me to look for the helpers. You'll always find people helping, she'd say. And I'd found that that's true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Look for the helpers. May that offer you some comfort and may the memories of those lost at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, may their memories be a blessing.
I'm Jake Tapper in Washington. "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" is next.
[13:00:00]
