CNN Panel Erupts After Reporter Says Trump Has Radicalized More People Than ISIS
Julia Ioffe, a correspondent with GQ magazine, claimed on CNN on Monday that President Donald Trump has “radicalized more people than ISIS.”
Ioffe made the charge during a panel discussion on the president’s rhetoric in light of the attack on a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday that left 11 dead, and the pipe bombs sent to over a dozen prominent Democrats last week.
“This president, one of the things that he really launched his presidential run on is talking about Islamic radicalization,” Ioffe stated. “And this president has radicalized so many more people than ISIS ever did.”
David Urban, a former Trump campaign adviser, interjected turning to CNN host Jake Tapper and saying the newsman needed to push back on Ioffe’s claim.
Tapper responded calling on Urban to do so himself.
“For her to say that the president of the United States has radicalized more people than ISIS is irresponsible,” Urban said.
He looked to Ioffe and asked her on what facts she could possibly be basing her assertion.
“ISIS had like 10,000 members,” she replied. “I think the president has far more supporters, who espouse an equally hateful ideology that dehumanizes other people.”
Steve Guest, deputy rapid response director with the GOP media team, tweeted a clip of the video, captioning it: “This might be one of the most ridiculous things ever said on @CNN.”
This might be one of the most ridiculous things ever said on @CNN.@GQMagazine's @juliaioffe just claimed @realDonaldTrump has "radicalized so more people than ISIS ever did."
Sheer lunacy.
And oh by the way, no push-back from @jaketapper. pic.twitter.com/suFC2WKHya
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 29, 2018
“Sheer lunacy,” Guest added. “And oh by the way, no push-back from @jaketapper.”
Tapper defended how he handled the discussion saying he went right to Urban and panelist Mona Charen to rebut Ioffe’s claim.
I immediately went to @monacharenEPPC and @DavidJUrban to rebut it and later in the snow @juliaioffe apologized and took it back.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 29, 2018
Later in the program, Ioffe apologized saying she had “exaggerated” and that it was an “emotional” time for her as a Jewish American.
“I do want to clarify. I spoke in the heat of the moment,” the reporter said. “This has been an emotional and very painful time for me. I think I exaggerated, and I apologize for that.”
@juliaioffe apologizes on CNN for saying that Donald Trump “radicalized more people than Isis” pic.twitter.com/PEZ08N7VUy
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) October 29, 2018
“The point I was trying hamfistedly to make,” Ioffe continued, “it’s not a coincidence that according to the (Anti-Defamation League), the number of anti-Semitic attacks has jumped by nearly 60 percent in the first year Donald Trump was in office.”
Shortly after the shooting in Pittsburgh on Saturday, the reporter tweeted, “And a word to my fellow American Jews: This president makes this possible. Here. Where you live. I hope the embassy move over there, where you don’t live was worth it.”
And a word to my fellow American Jews: This president makes this possible. Here. Where you live. I hope the embassy move over there, where you don’t live was worth it.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) October 27, 2018
Trump enjoys solid support among the conservative Jewish community in America.
Daily Wire editor Ben Shapiro, who is Jewish, wrote in a piece published on Monday, “President Trump’s pro-Israel policy is the strongest in the history of the country. Not only did Trump move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, he has cut off aid to the anti-Semitic, terror-supporting Palestinian Authority, and fought the Obama administration’s Iran deal tooth and nail.”
He added, “Trump’s warmth toward the Jewish community in the United States has been obvious.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Monday called anti-Semitism, “a plague to humanity” and said Trump “adores Jewish Americans as part of his own family.”
"[The president] adores Jewish Americans as part of his own family. The president is the grandfather of several Jewish grandchildren. His daughter is a Jewish American and his son-in-law is a descendent a holocaust survivors," @PressSec says https://t.co/4H2ySFbTVa pic.twitter.com/op6K3o0X5q
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 29, 2018
She pointed out, with emotion, that the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is the descendent of Holocaust survivors, and that he and his wife Ivanka Trump are raising their children in the Jewish faith.
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