MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Wednesday argued why the “Orange Jesus” nickname that one Republican lawmaker reportedly used to refer to Donald Trump is actually damningly emblematic of the entire GOP.
In former Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) new book, she writes that she heard Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) refer to Trump by the biblical burn while Green signed documents objecting to Trump’s 2020 election loss. A spokesperson for Green denies he made the comment.
“It is hard to think in the American political context of words more blasphemous than ‘Orange Jesus,’” said O’Donnell. “The Republican congressman’s use of that name for Donald Trump once again proves that Republican politicians professing their Christian faith is as empty as the rest of their political rhetoric.”
O’Donnell cited dictionary definitions of “blasphemy” as “the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God,” “the act of claiming the attributes of a deity,” and “irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable.”
“According to Christian theology, the name ‘Orange Jesus’ meets all of those definitions of blasphemy,” he continued. “Jesus Christ has endured countless attacks over the centuries since the crucifixion, but never in American history has an American politician slandered the founder of Christianity the way Republican members of the House of Representatives do every time they privately called Donald Trump ‘Orange Jesus.’”
Watch O’Donnell’s monologue here:
O’Donnell also responded to Trump’s Tuesday night rant on his Truth Social platform about MSNBC, in which the Republican 2024 front-runner railed:
“MSNBC (MSDNC) uses FREE government approved airwaves, and yet it is nothing but a 24 hour hit job on Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party for purposes of ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
Read Trump’s full post here:
O’Donnell said, “We know what Donald Trump means by come down hard. He means completely destroy. He means violently attack, attack the way he wanted Trump supporters to come down hard on Congress on Jan. 6.”
Trump’s claim that MSNBC uses “free government approved airways” would be called “a lie if I didn’t think Donald Trump was too stupid to know that that was a lie,” O’Donnell added.
Other critics used X, formerly Twitter, to call out Trump’s attack on the network: