Frank Luntz, that king of conservative spin, actually tweeted this thing tonight.
We’re barely 3 months into 2016, and it’s already shaping up to be our most violent election year since 1968.https://t.co/gUazLanGKZ
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) March 14, 2016
As if he had nothing at all to do with it. Nothing whatsoever.
I will spare you the click-through on his link. The video he linked to is embedded above.
We begin with Luntz declaring 1968 to be "the most divisive time in American history."
Because apparently a bloody civil war in the nineteenth century wasn't divisive at all. Luntz cites the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and the unrest over the Vietnam war and civil rights as the reasons for his pronouncement on 1968. I would agree with that, but I still think Lincoln freeing the slaves was a more divisive time.
Host Clayton Morris asked Luntz about "leftist activists, who are showing up in order to make a statement, forcibly getting into these rallies and calling attention to this."
Luntz answered, "It's the denial of freedom of speech. The goal of the left was to get as many tickets as they could to prevent people from actually seeing him. The first responsibility of freedom of speech is not actually to speak, it's to be heard."
"Clearly the protesters are actually trying to prevent Donald Trump from being heard," he added.
Luntz went on to blame Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in a prime example of bothsiderism that will be a classic for years to come.
"I promise you, it will get worse," he warned. "The tensions are growing with every week."
He also called on Fox to "have the conversation" because they have "more Democrats and independents watching" than any other news channel.
Well, Frank, let's just get some perspective here. Donald Trump has been heard and heard and heard, over and over again, thanks to the Fox News network, MSNBC, and CNN. His rallies have been played nonstop, and as they grew more raucous, each of these cable networks chose to cover them even more closely. Breathless coverage for an hour before, and an hour after, with an hour-long rant by Trump in between.
Frank Luntz, the king of conservative spin, worrying about violence at Donald Trump rallies is truly rich, especially when the two have been at war since last August.
But never mind that. Luntz is the author of some of the most divisive, hateful themes spewed on Fox News and across the conservative echo chamber.
In addition to his evil health care reform memo that demanded they call it a "government takeover of health care," he also penned the memo to defeat the Dodd-Frank legislation. He was also drafted by the NRCC to push back on Democrats' righteous indignation over Paul Ryan's throw-granny-off-the-cliff Medicare reforms.
But wait! There's more. To quote my colleague Capper, there's always more.
The moment when he blamed President Obama for people's anger over wealth distribution to the 1 percent was a rich one, and one that still resonates with faithful Fox News viewers.
Or that time he applauded Newt Gingrich's racist dog whistles.
There was also the time he loaded up his focus group after President Obama's State of the Union address with obvious haters, and then jawed with Sean Hannity about how horrible it all was.
And finally, Luntz also wrote the attack memo for Social Security, so Fox News and Republican politicians could bash the poor, the sick and the elderly all at the same time.
After eight years of attacking Barack Obama, they're worried about the racist violence fomenting because Donald Trump is a carnival barker with fascistic messages? Hell, Luntz wrote those messages. They didn't happen by accident.
If Frank Luntz is worried about violence, freedom of speech, and being heard, perhaps he ought to consider a line of business where he doesn't fertilize the soil in which such hate grows.
