‘Cruel hypocrisy’: Morning Joe hosts blast conservatives for attacking Parkland survivors to defend guns

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski hammered Fox News commenters and other conservatives for attacking Parkland students who became gun safety activists after surviving a school shooting that killed 17 classmates and teachers.

The "Morning Joe" hosts called out the attackers for demanding free speech rights for themselves to make comments they euphemistically term "politically incorrect" while personally attacking children for exercising the same constitutional rights.

"Among the most brutal was from author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza," Brzezinski said. "After the Florida House voted down consideration of assault weapons ban, he tweeted quote, 'Adults one, kids, zero.' He also mocked the student who wept after the vote, tweeting, quote, 'Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs.'"

Brzezinski said she'd known D'Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to campaign finance fraud, since his days at the conservative Dartmouth Review, and she doesn't understand why he has a platform anymore.

"I still don't understand him," she said. "I don't even know why his voice is allowed out there, and there's two other people like this be that at some point need to get a life and figure out something else to do with their time."

Donald Trump Jr. clicked his approval of a tweet smearing one Douglas High shooting survivor as an FBI stooge, and an aide to a GOP state lawmaker was fired after calling two outspoken students "actors."

Scarborough then went after ubiquitous Fox News guest Dan Bongino, who told the networks's Tucker Carlson the teens should have done more to warn authorities -- who had been repeatedly been made aware of concerns about the gunman.

"These people are freaking out," he said. "They're attacking victims."

The hosts agreed gun proponents were trying to drive opposing voices out of the public debate by personally attacking children who survived a mass shooting -- and Brzezinski said she was disgusted.

"The other side on this is showing such a lack of humanity, no matter what your views are, just, you know what, think about it," she said. "You have been fighting so hard for free speech so you can write some of the most astounding things I've ever read over the last few decades, and yet you won't give them a moment to use their voices? That's cruel hypocrisy. It's wrong and this is where we're at. These kids can't even get our support universally at this time?"