While many of President Donald Trump's defenders argued that the firing of Roseanne Barr by ABC over a racist tweet on Tuesday had nothing to do with the president, CNN contributor and author Amanda Carpenter explained how the comedian's vile words were an extension of the forces that propelled Trump to power.
"Roseanne... is similar to what promoted Donald Trump," Carpenter said. "She was alt-right before we knew what alt-right was. Everyone thinks, 'Oh, political correctness' — no! This whole hiding behind memes and jokes to push racism and anti-Semitism has been happening for a long time."
For example, on Tuesday, Barr also tweeted about a repugnant conspiracy theory that the Jewish billionaire George Soros, a Hungarian-born American, was a Nazi collaborator, despite that fact that this claim has been repeatedly debunked (Soros was 14 when World War II ended).
Barr previously made a racist insult against former national security adviser Susan Rice, echoing her racist attack on former President Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett that led to the cancellation of her show on Tuesday.
And that's just a sample of her troubling history.
Carpenter continued: "Donald Trump, in his leadership position, has brought that out more, playing the 'both sides' argument at all times. I would expect to see some both-sidesism tonight. And, I'm sorry, I can't keep wringing my hands about what Donald Trump is going to do, because this needs to be a conversation about what other people are going to do. If you are in a position of media power, are you willing to regulate your platform in some manner and give up some clicks in the name of civility? ABC did the right thing. I'm looking at Facebook and Twitter to start doing more of the same."
Watch the clip below: