October 28, 2018

A Fox News guest on Sunday blamed CNN for not trying to understand why people like suspected mail bomber Cesar Sayoc repeat the slogan "CNN sucks."

During on Fox News segment about the attempted mail bombings, host Howard Kurtz asked if it was fair to blame President Donald Trump for the toxic atmosphere his rhetoric creates.

"I think it's unfortunate," Emily Jashinsky of The Federalist said. "And it takes responsibility away from where it belongs: with the sick and twisted individuals who are committing these heinous crimes, whether it's [the synagogue shooting] or whether it was earlier this week with these pipe bombs. To blame anybody but the people responsible for this, I find disgraceful and unfortunate."

"It was tough to watch some of the media coverage this week," she added.

However, Democratic strategist Adrienne Elrod argued that Trump's rhetoric "is a big problem here."

"There is a divisiveness in this country that the president of the United States has created," she explained. "He criticizes the media. We've had media who have had to have Secret Service protection. He's not doing anything to try to bring this country together."

But Jashinsky suggested that CNN could have prevented the mail bombs if it had tried to "understand" why Trump fans chant "CNN sucks" at his rallies, where Sayoc was seen with a sign expressing the same sentiment.

"This is what's been difficult for me to watch as a conservative," Jashinsky opined. "It's part of the reason I came to this city to do what I do because I grew up so frustrated by this."

Jashinsky said that she was hesitant to talk about her views on CNN "because obviously CNN was the victim."

"They had a device sent to their headquarters -- whatever," she continued. "When you see at rallies people chanting, 'CNN sucks' -- I would never do it personally -- but CNN makes no effort to understand why people feel that way. They do the opposite. Right? They act like they are the victims, that they've done nothing wrong to deserve this."

According to Jashinsky, the lower-third graphics on CNN broadcasts are what "gets people so upset."

"There's no room for violence," she said. "There's no room to be sending devices to CNN, it has to stop. I hate it. But they need some self-reflection."

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