MSNBC anchor: Is Trump ‘trying to provoke a domestic terrorist attack’?

MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts twice asked if President Trump “is trying to provoke a domestic terrorist attack” during a Sunday afternoon segment. 

Trump warned after the weekend attack at London Bridge that killed seven and injured 48 that terrorism will “only get worse” if officials don’t “get down to the business of security for our own people” and end political correctness.

“We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don’t get smart it will only get worse,” he tweeted early Sunday. 

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“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’ ” he added in a subsequent tweet.

“Let’s not be PC about this,” Roberts said before first asking Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (D), “Is the president trying to provoke a domestic terrorist attack with this Twitter rant because — only to prove himself right?”

Reed didn’t address the question directly but stated, “not being politically correct doesn’t mean being misinformed or leaking intelligence that harms one of our most important allies.” He later added, “The way to handle a matter of this kind is not through the form of tweet, it’s form of leader to leader direct conversations often handled in a confidential manner.” 

Roberts, who primarily anchors on weekends, tried again with former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who also avoided answering directly.

“I asked this of Mayor Reed, but it seems like the president is trying to provoke something that he can politicize more for his own gain in America. Do you feel that way?” Roberts asked.

“Well, I think he’s totally incompetent,” said Dean before pivoting to criticism Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord. 

“I’m tired of this crap,” Dean later said. “Let him do what he wants. He’s not the president of what the American dream stands for. He’s not the president of the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. 

“He can be his own president and get whatever he wants out of that. We’ll speak for America. He can speak for whoever he wants.”

Trump renewed his call after the attacks for courts to approve his executive order banning travel from six Muslim-majority countries.

“We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights,” the president tweeted. “We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!”