Conservatives are calling for MSNBC host Joy Reid to be taken off the air after she shared incendiary theories about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Reid, 55, twice angered critics after a gunman shot Trump in the ear, even sharing a video with X suggesting he hadn’t even been shot.
And after President Biden tested positive for Covid days after the assassination attempt, Reid said on a broadcast that Biden’s brush with the virus was as heroic as Trump’s reaction in narrowly avoiding a bullet.
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk led criticism of Reid’s comments, calling on MSNBC to “take Reid off the air” for his “outrageous, insane and defamatory” theories.
In an X-rated video following the assassination attempt, MSNBC’s Joy Reid shared a number of conspiracy theories about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, including that he may not have even been shot.
Reid’s X-rated video emerged amid mounting pressure on the Secret Service to explain the disastrous security lapse that allowed the shooter to shoot Trump, as he listed several things he found “strange” about the episode.
She seemed to imply that it was a staged event that allowed Trump to “pose” for the iconic photo of him pumping his fist in the air, which Kirk said would mean that the “Trump campaign and the Secret Service colluded to kill two people in a fake assassination attempt just so Trump could have a photo opportunity.”
“Donald Trump should sue her immediately,” he added.
Reid also said that “we still don’t know for sure whether Donald Trump was hit by a bullet,” citing preliminary reports that he may have been hit by a shard of glass from a teleprompter.
Reid appeared to imply that Trump’s shooting was staged to allow him to “pose” for an iconic photo of him surviving the assassination attempt.
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk led the criticism of Reid’s comments, calling on MSNBC to “take Reid off the air” for his “outrageous, insane and defamatory” theories.
After also calling the assassination attempt a “photo opportunity” on the earlier MSNBC broadcast, Reid took a similar tone in his X-rated clip when he speculated that Trump’s Secret Service agents paused to allow Trump to pose for cameras.
“We don’t know why, for nine full seconds, Donald Trump was allowed to stand back up during an active shooter,” Reid said.
‘Even though they had said at the time that the shooter was down, how would they have known if there were more shooters or not? There could have been five shooters for all they knew.
‘Yet they allowed him to stand up in the middle of that crisis, pose for a photo and raise his fist so he could get the iconic photo.’
Conservative commentator Kenny Webster criticized Reid’s suggestion that the shooting may have been staged, comparing it to Alex Jones’ legal battle over his outrageous comments about Sandy Hook.
‘Alex Jones was fined $1.5 million for his comments on Sandy Hook. How is this any different? Joy Reid should be fined and MSNBC’s studio equipment confiscated’ said in X.
Reid’s comments come amid growing scrutiny over the Secret Service’s failure to prevent the shooting and the decision to stand Trump up shortly after shots were fired.
Trump said a bullet went through the top of his right ear and appeared at the Republican National Convention with a small bandage over the wound, but Reid said she is still unsure “what is the actual injury to Donald Trump’s ear that is underneath that bandage?”
In his broadcast from the Republican National Convention, Reid also weighed in on the assassination attempt when news broke that Biden had tested positive for Covid.
He compared Biden’s recovery from the virus in “a couple of days” to Trump standing up and pumping his fist seconds after being shot, and felt they “convey exactly the same thing.”
Reid’s comments about the shootings sparked outrage in conservative circles, with CPAC host Mercedes Schlapp calling her “out of control.”
“Your comments are irresponsible and dangerous,” She said in X“She is the ultimate conspiracy theorist.”
“Joy Reid should be fired,” another critic concluded. “MSNBC, you’ll never be taken seriously with this woman on the air.”