Conservative Pundit Bill Kristol Gets Called Out For Trolling On Confederate Flag Debate
Conservative pundit and perpetual shit-eating grin wearer Bill Kristol took it on the chin Wednesday morning as the entire Morning Joe panel rightfully called him out for trolling over comments he made regarding the current debate over the Confederate flag. On Tuesday, The Weekly Standard editor took to Twitter and sent out a handful of tweets claiming that the left was disrespecting the memories of those who fought in the Civil War by pushing for the Confederate flag to be taken down over South Carolina’s capitol building. He further compared efforts to make the flag less publicly acceptable to the French Revolution.
At the beginning of the Morning Joe segment, co-host Mika Brzezinski read off Kristol’s tweets, which can be seen below:
The Left’s 21st century agenda: expunging every trace of respect, recognition or acknowledgment of Americans who fought for the Confederacy.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 23, 2015
It’s our own mini-French Revolution, expunging history in a frenzy of self-righteousness. Luckily, so far: 1st time tragedy, 2nd time farce.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 23, 2015
It’s our own mini-French Revolution, expunging history in a frenzy of self-righteousness. Luckily, so far: 1st time tragedy, 2nd time farce.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 23, 2015
Next, Left will ban teaching of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural in schools. None of that “with malice toward none, with charity for all” stuff…
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 23, 2015
As Lefties might have noticed if they visited Arlington or Gettysburg, there are Confederate monuments, statues & graves. Ecrasez l’infame!
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 23, 2015
Mika immediately pointed out that the current conversation isn’t about whitewashing the Civil War or pretending that Confederate soldiers didn’t die in battle and that Kristol is fully aware of that. The situation now is that the flag is seen as a symbol or racial oppression by many, and it shouldn’t be publicly endorsed by local, state or federal governments. On top of that, if private companies decide they no longer want to sell Confederate memorabilia, that is really their decisions. As Kristol is a proponent of the free market, he should support that.
Kristol found no supporters for his trollery on the panel, not even from Joe Scarborough, who went out of his way to call Kristol a troll who was just being provocative to get some attention. However, the real fireworks began when Bloomberg Politics editor and regular Morning Joe panelist John Heilemann engaged Kristol in a discussion that quickly devolved into a shoutfest.
After Kristol reiterated that he believes the left is going to ban speeches from Abraham Lincoln and take down Confederate monuments from Civil War battle sites, Heilemann responded that nobody has mentioned this publicly and Kristol was just building a straw man to make his argument. (This is a classic tactic by the always-wrong Kristol.) Kristol then took offense when Heilemann said to the neocon, “And I know it’s fun for you. You are trolling by doing these things because no one on the left is suggesting what you’re suggesting.” The back-and-forth between the two ended with Kristol yelling, “I am not a free market fanatic!”
After the pundit fight, the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart was asked to weigh in on Kristol’s comments. All he could do was laugh, explaining that this whole debate started because of the horrific deaths of nine black churchgoers in South Carolina and their killer’s embrace of Confederate symbolism and ideology. Capehart then claimed Kristol was “belittling the pain” of those who have suffered from this tragedy by pretending this is a debate about history.
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of MSNBC:
