MARK THOMPSON (HOST): That was the most immature thing I have ever seen. And it appeals to the immature group of people that support [Trump]. 

ANGELO CARUSONE, MEDIA MATTERS PRESIDENT: Yep, and that's I mean -- and that's ultimately what his big argument and approach is, is -- during the campaign one of the things we had talked about occasionally was that Trump does really believe in this 10 percent theory, which was this idea that had percolated in talk radio starting around 2009, which was that you really only need 10 percent of the country. And as long as you have 10 percent, and they're incredibly fervent in their support of you, that it doesn't really matter. Because that 10 percent you can utilize in order to persuade others and to silence or to bully them into basically subjugation. That could just just basically use that 10 percent as the tip of the spear to sort of do whatever you want. And he really does in -- deep down inside, really really believe that. 

[...]

Well, the thing I can't understand is, just two weeks ago, all they were doing was freaking out about how a Shakespeare play that has repeated -- where the leader has always been swapped out for the current leader, the president, was a violent, terrible assault. I mean they were talking about whether or not the people there needed to be be put in jail. They were leading boycotts against the play. That somehow that was absolutely off the wall, totally not just unacceptable, but in some cases the right wing was arguing that it was illegal to have that play running because of the fact that they believed that it incited violence and all this other stuff. And yet, they could have - they could be comfortable with the kinds of imagery coming from the Office of the President that literally depicts actual violent acts against a consistent source of criticism that he's levied against. And I would point out that the GIF is scary. The even scarier thing that he's done, from my perspective, has been that because CNN has really dug in on this -- and look I think CNN has problems, I mean they were one of the biggest enablers of Trump during the campaign -- but the fact of the matter is that they are doing journalism and reporting in many situations and what Trump has done recently -- yesterday the White House administration started to argue that if CNN doesn't start behaving well, that they are going to squash the -- their acquisition, their merger. And that to me is -- I don't like the idea of media consolidation. I think their merger should be stopped anyway, but I think it's important to consider the idea that the White House would use the Justice Department as a weapon against a news outlet because they don't like the coverage.  

Previously:

No, the Redditor who made the Trump/CNN GIF is not 15 years old

Fox News host called out after calling “racist meme-making man” behind Trump/CNN GIF “a young kid”

Reporters fall into the “alt-right” trap with Julius Caesar stunt