Jake Sherman Quotes Ben Shapiro on MSNBC in Epic Takedown of GOP Leaders’ Silence on Trump Meeting With Anti-Semites

Political journalist and co-founder of Punchbowl News, Jake Sherman, pulled no punches on MSNBC Monday while shredding the GOP leaders of both the House and U.S. Senate for their continued silence on former President Donald Trump’s dinner with anti-Semites Kanye West and Nick Fuentes.

“What’s wrong with Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell? Why isn’t this a bridge too far? And I know I know Cassidy and Collins criticized the dinner, but where are the leaders?” anchor Nicolle Wallace asked.

“So they’re back today. Both of them are back in the capital today where they’ll no longer be able to dodge or dodge comment through spokesman or through whatever means they want,” Sherman began, adding:

I mean, the Senate is back in session. As of about a couple of minutes ago will be voting tonight. And I have to imagine McConnell is going to want to address this now, having not spoken to either of them about this issue or about any issue because they’re just coming back into session.

I imagine McConnell is going to come out pretty forcefully against this because that’s been in his nature to do. McCarthy, I don’t know. I honestly have no idea. He’s obviously in a very tricky battle for speaker. But let me just be perfectly clear here, and I will get off my soapbox in about 3 seconds. This is not actually a partisan issue.

“This is actually a neo-Nazi. And Donald Trump is an adult. And I personally, I’m sick of that. I’m sick of people saying, well, he didn’t know. I mean, like, if you don’t know, that’s a big enough problem. I mean, we’re not going to dinners with neo-Nazis. So I think there has to be, like a baseline of like something here, where we have to take responsibility for our actions. Like, I don’t end up at dinners with neo-Nazis. You don’t, Nicolle. So, you know, I just think, you know, I’ve made my point and I’ll try not to get too exercised as an American Jew on your show,” Sherman concluded.

“No, no I like you on your soap box, I like it. But let me ask you a follow-up question, and I’m going to ask you to stay on the soapbox for this. Jonathan Greenblatt of ADL sat right here, and it was after Trump tweeted anti-Semitic rants,” Wallace replied, adding:

He doesn’t get to tweet, but whatever it is, he does. And I said, you know, did you call McConnell? Did you call McCarthy? What did they say? And he wouldn’t reveal the substance of their conversations when he pleaded with them as the two leaders of the Republican Party in Washington who refused to condemn Trump’s anti-Semitic, whatever, they are true socials. He said, ‘listen, they didn’t condemn it, but McConnell won’t condemn attacks, racist attacks against his wife, Elaine Chao.’ What do you expect? I mean, are you sure, McConnell, in the 4:00 hour or whenever you see him is going to condemn this?
“No. I’m not sure. I’m not sure about anything,” replied Sherman.

“McConnell’s general, and I’ll offer the bear case here, I guess McConnell’s general position on Trump is to pretend he doesn’t exist and say nothing about him no matter what he does or says, for the most part, with a few exceptions,” Sherman continued, adding:

So I’m not at all confident, but I would say Nicolle, like this isn’t somebody, Nick Fuentes, who is dancing around anti-Semitism. This is somebody who is openly and outwardly anti-Semitic. And I just I can’t understand how there is no gray area here with this person. So I don’t and frankly, by the way, Nicole, there’s no gray area with Kanye West at the moment either. So, and he did know he was having dinner with Kanye West. And Kanye West has been openly anti-Semitic over the last couple of weeks.

Just my last point here. Ben Shapiro, who is probably not often quoted on this network or many networks as saying something that a lot of people will agree with. He said, ‘The best way to not have a dinner with an anti-Semite you don’t know is to not have a dinner with an anti-Semite you do know.’ So I thought that was actually a pretty useful point.

“It was a good tweet, but it goes in the category. Claire McCaskill, how bad is it? It’s so bad that that guy attacked you,” Wallace concluded, before moving on.

Watch the full clip above via MSNBC

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