Donald Trump, by criticizing the legal rights being given to New York City bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, was saying "what we should have done is taken him out and beheaded him," political commentator Mike Barnicle said Tuesday.
"What do you say?" Barnicle said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program of Rahami, who was shot while being captured in Linden, New Jersey, on Monday. "You know, he's hospitalized. He's being treated. He will soon be in a prison infirmary or jail infirmary."
On Monday, during a rally in Florida, Trump called for "speedy but fair trials," while delivering a "just and a very harsh punishment to these people."
However, he also commented that police caught "this evil thug" who planted the bombs, but "the bad part, we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room. And he will probably even have room service, knowing the way our country is. And on top of all of that, he will be represented by an outstanding lawyer. His case will go through the various court systems for years. And in the end, people will forget and his punishment will not be what it once would have been. What a sad situation."
Show co-host Mika Brzezinski asked if Trump was "just riffing," but host Joe Scarborough pointed out his words came from a scripted speech, or a campaign message.
"We did give [Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh a trial," Scarborough said. "By the way, they're not pampered. I mean, Donald Trump should try going to where this guy is going to go."
"Does he want it to be Russia?" Brzezinski responded.
"I would like to ask Donald J. Trump one question," Barnicle said. "After they shot and wounded this guy over in New Jersey, they cuffed him. Do you think he complained, 'Ow, that hurts.' I bet he did. Do you think the cops cared? He's not pampered. He's not babied."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded to Trump's comments Monday, which Scarborough called a "voice of reason."
"Welcome to America, right?" the Democratic governor told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "We have a system of jurisprudence. You're innocent until proven guilty. You have a right to counsel. And you have a right to hospitalization if you are ill. That is our system. And it's what makes this country special and what makes this country great. Sometimes the government is wrong. And that's why we have a judicial process and trials and hearings, et cetera. So I don't know what the alternative would be. Unless you said we should have a government that on their own belief is judge and jury and executioner all in one."
"He could be like Putin," Scarborough responded. "You could just, you know, shoot people that you don't like, journalists...you could have people shoot suspects. You could have business people you don't like. You just kill them all. That's, I mean, that's one vision of how you do it. I think most Americans are comfortable with how we have been doing it for over 240 years."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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