A compilation video showing top Democrats calling for “uprisings” and violence has gone viral amid deadly unrest in American cities.
The supercut: The video, produced by the conservative website Caldron Pool, was released last week and has been promoted on social media by influential conservatives like Donald Trump Jr.
- One version has been viewed more than 3 million times on Twitter.
The two-minute montage features a who’s who of liberal politicians, media figures and celebrities urging “uprisings” and “unrest in the streets” and making inflammatory comments about Donald Trump starting from the first full day of his presidency.
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi, House speaker and California Democrat, June 14, 2018: “I just don’t even know why there aren’t uprisings all over the country. And maybe there will be.”
- Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts Democrat, Aug. 14, 2020: “There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives.”
- Johnny Depp, Hollywood actor, June 22, 2017: “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?”
- Madonna, pop singer, Jan. 21, 2017: “I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”
- Pelosi, again, Aug. 24, 2020: “The domestic enemies to our voting system and our honoring of the Constitution are right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Madonna later said her remarks were “taken wildly out of context”; Depp apologized for his “bad joke.”
Also featured in the video are actor Robert De Niro, former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, former MSNBC host Donny Deutsch, CNN hosts Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo, comedian Kathy Griffin and Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat.
The reaction: Many conservatives shared the compilation as proof the left has embraced violent activism in response to Trump’s presidency.
Blaze TV host Elijah Schaffer called it “the most important video of 2020.”
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, used the video to illustrate his allegation that the Democratic Party is trying to make the 2020 election “the ultimate hostage crisis.”
Donald Trump Jr. commented: “Dem leaders and their allies in the media cheered on the violent left every step of the way…”
With the 2020 election looming and unrest in the streets amid racial justice protests, last month saw a pair of deadly and headline-making shootings at political protests in Portland, Oregon, and Kenosha, Wisconsin.
- Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have blamed each other for rising violence in many U.S. cities.
- “Do you really feel safer under Donald Trump?” Biden asked during a speech last week in Pittsburgh.
- Meanwhile, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an interview that aired the same day that Biden’s associates are driving the violent upheaval.
