'Very perilous moment': ADL leader says MAGA 'terror attack' portends worse to come
In conversation with Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt outlined the warnings from his new book, It Could Happen Here: Why America Is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable ― And How We Can Stop It.
"I imagine, this uptick in violent rhetoric comes — imagine it comes as no surprise to you, especially given the book you have just written," said Blitzer. "But what does this new report tell you about where we are as a country right now, one year after the insurrection?"
"I think we are actually at a very perilous moment," said Greenblatt. "I mean, who would have imagined in some ways that you would see this terror attack on our nation's Capitol? That's really what it was. Perhaps, the most predictable terror attack in American history because they told us they were going do it. But in fact, you could predict it, Wolf, because there was sort of a through line from Charlottesville to Capitol Hill, from Charleston to Pittsburgh, you have seen the normalization of extremism in this country."
"There is no silver bullet that will stop the rise of hate or that even will prevent us from tearing the social fabric," said Greenblatt. "What can businesses do, what can faith leaders do? What can parents and teachers do? And let me just give you a quick, couple examples. Number one, we have got to speak out when hate happens, even when it originates on our side of the aisle, so to speak, right? We need conservatives to call it out and liberals to call it out. Number two, Wolf, we've got to cancel cancel culture. We've got to lose the litmus tests. My Jewish faith tells me everyone can be redeemed, everyone has an opportunity to amend for their errors. And number three ... social media. We have really got to curb the excesses and the algorithms that are literally engineered to inflame people. That's got to be corrected, once and for all."
Watch below:
Leave a Comment