Mika Brzezinski slams former NRATV host Dana Loesch's 'greedy, heartless, sick and deranged platform'
Last weekend’s shootings in El Paso, Tex., and Dayton, Ohio, have understandably stirred up strong reactions from public figures, from Reese Witherspoon demanding gun reform and Ivanka Trump getting called “complicit” after offering her prayers for the victims, to Neil deGrasse Tyson outraging his followers with a tweet many slammed as “tone-deaf.”
It’s also sparked a Twitter war of words between Morning Joe co-hosts (and real-life married couple) Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski and conservative commentator Dana Loesch, who until this June was an NRATV host and spokesperson for the NRA.
The feud reignited after Loesch pushed back against criticism online that she had “blood on [her] gun-shilling hands” because of her support of the NRA and defense of the Second Amendment.
No, I don’t, and ridiculous remarks like these betray any concern you feel for the people whose deaths you’re exploiting right now in such a vile manner. Get some empathy and Jesus in your life. God bless. https://t.co/aRZQxTkcFc
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 3, 2019
Loesch’s denial that her pro-gun rhetoric had anything to do with the latest mass shootings prompted political correspondents like Joan Walsh and Charles P. Pierce to argue otherwise. She reacted by accusing critics of inciting “death threats” against her and “calling me a murderer.”
Look more closely.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) August 4, 2019
Another verified account calling me a murderer. The death threats you all are helping to incite are just awesome. Good job pretending to denounce violence with this hideous behavior. https://t.co/W1lSDVncdG
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 4, 2019
That’s when Scarborough joined in, essentially accusing Loesch of playing the victim after she herself appeared in an “inflammatory” 2018 NRATV ad which targeted him and Brzezinski, among others. "Your time is running out. The clock starts now,” Loesch intoned as she turned over an hourglass in the ad, though she has insisted that it was not a threat of violence but rather a special on “media bias.”
Scarborough and Brzezinski feel otherwise.
“You have a lot of nerve, inciting violence against my wife and me in an NRATV ad,” he fired back at the “shameless” gun rights advocate, prompting her to call his accusation a “shameful lie.”
This is a shameful lie, Joe and you have a lot of nerve with this malicious misrepresentation. It was literally an ad that featured a countdown to a special on media bias. https://t.co/hZ0xgwCWK0
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 4, 2019
Scarborough continued to accuse the former NRATV host of inciting violence.
You incite violence against us by looking to camera saying “your time is running out” and you want to engage in a semantics debate over background checks? https://t.co/YMtyL5K3s2
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 4, 2019
You mean the ad where actual footage of Antifa violence played while I condemned it in a VO? More malicious representation, Joe. I’m not going to comment on an ongoing fight between two entities that had nothing to do with me. https://t.co/I2fjFsGya5
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 4, 2019
Brzezinski, fresh off last week’s confrontation with Donald Trump, sided with her husband and told Loesch to “please leave us alone.” The women’s back-and-forth saw Loesch accuse the couple of making “malicious” claims about the NRATV ad, while Brzezinski hit out at Loesch’s “greedy, heartless, sick and deranged platform.”
Dana, You threatened us— Please leave us alone. I repeat, leave us alone. We ask peacefully for no more threats from you or anything else. Please leave us alone. https://t.co/5WzJIXosFf
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) August 4, 2019
Incredible https://t.co/mATlHMPsA4
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) August 4, 2019
Once again, leave us alone. You Went to after my husband on Twitter. I responded with a warning. And the warning is this- You threatened us on your television show. You told us our time was running out. Once again Dana, Leave us alone. https://t.co/78vfTnmZan
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) August 4, 2019
Since you keep Tweeting me, again I’ll say that it’s incredibly disingenuous to make an ad that was about a program launch into something so malicious. It wasn’t about you, Mika. I don’t find you revolting, just wrong here. Sincerely, God bless. https://t.co/fcwO3Fg5Jx
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 4, 2019
For the third time, since you keep Tweeting me as I never Tweeted to you, you’re maliciously misrepresenting an ad that announced the launch of a program that discussed media bias. I wish you well. https://t.co/mPbbBoPkfs
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 4, 2019
Mika, it was a show announcement. For a program I did. On media bias. Specifically. I’m not sure why you are trying so hard to make this all about you. Also, if people criticize you for your bias, it isn’t a “threat.” Be well. https://t.co/buasuEDzif
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 4, 2019
Scarborough and Brzezinski received support from Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg, who was one of the students killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting.
@DLoesch, only one hour ago, this was your tweet. Serious question for you. 29 people just died. Why is it that you would even think of playing this semantics game rather than wanting to do something? https://t.co/vrDCCLLYHw
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) August 4, 2019
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