A Trump supporting Pennsylvania man called in to C-Span’s Greta Brawner threatening to shoot CNN reporters Brian Stelter and Don Lemon saying that the two had labeled “all” Trump voters as racist. Stelter later noted that Sean Hannity had, on Thursday night preceding the Friday show, played a clip of him discussing the role racial anxiety had played in Trump’s election.
Huffington Post
The caller’s threat comes amid repeated attacks on the media from Trump, who has described the press as “the enemy of the people” and “fake news.”
The caller, identified by C-SPAN host Greta Brawner as “Don from State College, Pennsylvania,” had phoned into her show Friday to express support for Trump’s criticism of the media.
“It all started when Trump got elected,” the caller said before falsely accusing the reporters of labeling all Trump supporters as racist. “[Stelter and Lemon] don’t even know us. They don’t even know these Americans out here and they’re calling us racist because we voted for Trump.”
“They started the war. If I see ’em, I’m going to shoot ’em. Bye,” he added before abruptly ending the call.”
Stelter discusses the episode, replays the call, and talks about Hannity’s possible role in it below:
Brawner did not rebuke the caller on the show as she did not hear all of his remarks. She did urge callers to turn down their televisions before calling.
C-Span producer Howard Mortman noted:
“When a caller makes ad hominem attacks or uses indecent language or obviously racist language, program hosts are certainly permitted to step in,” according to C-SPAN’s website. “Given that this involves quick judgment during a live television production, it’s an imperfect process.”
Just another day in Trump’s America.
This reply to Stelter’s post asks a good question:
