CNN's Paul Begala on Wednesday smacked down Rick Santorum for downplaying President Donald Trump's embrace of the Proud Boys, a right-wing gang that has committed acts of violence against left-wing demonstrators.
During a discussion of Tuesday night's presidential debate, Santorum acknowledged that the president made a mistake by not condemning the Proud Boys.
"I agree that the president made a bad error by not coming out and just saying what he, by the way, said before," Santorum said. "But for some reason, he didn't, and I think that was a huge gaffe. And that's sort of typical of the president, when he gets backed into a corner, he doesn't like to be forced to say something."
Begala, however, didn't buy Santorum's claim that the president's encouragement of the Proud Boys was an accident.
"It was not a mistake, it was intentional," he said. "Mr. Trump is intentionally stoking a neo-fascist organization to commit violence. That was not a mistake, Rick! That was an intentional incitement of violence!"
Santorum tried to interject at this point but Begala wouldn't back down.
"He said he wouldn't recognize the results of the election if he didn't like it and told those Proud Boys to 'Stand back and stand by,'" he said. "He was doing it on purpose. A mistake is when you say Slovenia when you mean Slovakia -- this was an intentional incitement of violence against his fellow Americans."
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