Nicolle Wallace slams ‘toxic stew of grievance’ pushed in conservative media

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace went after conservative political and media figures on Thursday, accusing them of contributing to turbulence in the country by pushing a “toxic stew of grievance and violent rhetoric.” 

Wallace noted during a segment of her show that the Department of Homeland Security issued a new bulletin this week that cast domestic violent extremists as the greatest terror risk to the country. The bulletin said that “threat actors both foreign and domestic” have “called for violence against elected officials, political representatives” and others.

“This threat is emboldened and empowered by a right-wing disinformation machine that includes members of Congress, people like Arizona Republican Paul Gosar, whose post depicting the murder of Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was met with calls for censure and an ethics investigation from one party, the Democratic Party,” Wallace said. “But you guessed it, silence from Kevin McCarthy and his entire Republican leadership.”

“A domestic extremism threat unlike any other before in our country’s history looms over every facet of American life right now. It’s fueled in part by a disgraced ex-president who’s still lying about the fact that he lost the 2020 election” – @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/nMY3TS4TFl

— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) November 11, 2021

Wallace was referencing criticism that erupted earlier this week after Gosar posted an altered anime video that portrayed him attacking Ocasio-Cortez and Biden. The lawmaker later said the video was “symbolic” of a fight among policymakers over immigration and was “in no way intended to be a targeted attack” against the Democrats.

On Thursday, the MSNBC host suggested that other media coverage on the right was also responsible for federal officials’ growing concern about domestic violence.

“It also includes right-wing media networks who glorify vigilantes, people like Kyle Rittenhouse, and supply millions of Americans with a steady supply of toxic stew of grievance and violent rhetoric,” said Wallace, who served as press secretary in the George W. Bush White House.

Wallace then played a series of clips from segments of hosts and guests on conservative news networks like Fox News and One America News who invoked rhetoric about revolutions.

The former Republican White House official turned cable news pundit said the injection of “grievance” into the programing of conservative media is “colliding with the proliferation of guns in America.” 

“Folks, the lights are still flashing red,” she said.