JOE MADISON (HOST): So give me your description of what you heard, saw, and how is Media Matters going to handle this -- what do you got, what do you have your staff doing? I've been up there to your place. It's a hell of an operation, you guys do amazing job. So you must be extremely busy now. What's going on and what's your position on this?

ANGELO CARUSONE (MEDIA MATTERS PRESIDENT): Well thank you for that and thank you for having me. I -- put aside what -- one thing that I think, at least from my perspective that's sort of interesting is that what most people saw was something that was off-the-wall, outrageous, ridiculous, confusing, and obviously seemed deeply -- to sort of align with real racial animus. But from my perspective, what I saw was just another day in sort of like the right-wing media echo chamber, and I think that's the -- from my perspective, the biggest top-line takeaway from the sort of press conference today was that Donald Trump has really become basically a vessel for right-wing media. What he said today perfectly tracked much of the misinformation and the narrative that has been percolating on -- in sort of right-wing media circles, not just recently, but even going back years. So all of the stuff about both sides, the idea and notion of an “alt-left” coming from [Fox News host] Sean Hannity's circle. 

MADISON: Yeah.

CARUSONE: The idea of an “alt-left” came from Sean Hannity's circle. So, I mean, it was really just -- it just perfectly parallels what we heard, what we hear in right-wing media. So what we're doing basically is lining up everything that Donald Trump said today and showing where it comes from.

MADISON: OK.

CARUSONE: And then we're -- we're just going to start digging in there. 

MADISON: So let me -- so let me see if I -- if because -- in other word -- now here's something that's interesting. So this morning, and last night, right-wing media, including Drudge and the whole gang out there, they were jumping Donald Trump. Oh, they were -- I mean, talking about he was going to get the finger, can't get rid of [White House chief strategist] Steve Bannon. We took calls last night and I asked that conservatives who usually -- who may listen to the show but don't call in call in, what do you think. And these folks, these folks were really on Donald Trump. Even David Duke kicked him under the bus. All right, now, so now what media -- which I hear you saying, is that Media Matters, you're going to now follow and there's probably this trend where they're now applauding Donald Trump. He's now their boy. Is that what I'm -- in essence?

CARUSONE: Absolutely, and you pointed out correctly that you're right on, that what they had felt after what he had said yesterday was that he had in someway betrayed them. And what he did today was really signal to them, not in sort of any subtle way, but in an explicit way, that he is still on their side. Or as he used to say during the campaign, he would always say, “Oh, these are my people.” I mean he was so -- he was so proud of that. And it really -- it started this morning. What he did this morning when he retweeted Jack Posobiec was really a sign that this was the direction that he was going to be heading in. 

MADISON: Now tell this audience who -- tell what this audience what that tweet was like.

CARUSONE: Well what he was really doing -- what he was doing was retweeting this sort of right-wing, “alt-right” figure, who claims to be an investigative journalist, but he's really just sort of somebody who is an operative that engages in chicanery, with tricks, in order to advance an agenda. And what the tweet had basically done was attack Chicago, which is a -- a pretty consistent refrain amongst not just conservative talk, but some of the -- sort of like the “alt-right” and the other parts of the right-wing media that prey on racial anxieties. That you're not allowed to really ever talk about any harm or ill that anyone does because there's always violence in Chicago. And what they do is use that narrative to do two things: one, to consistently remind their audiences they sort of really try to amplify the scary black person idea, and so there's an important -- that's part of their core narrative, and so the fact that there's crime and violence in Chicago reinforces that false portrayal. And then they use it as a way to deflect. And so what Donald Trump did was retweet him, not just from that narrative perspective, but the real importance was who he retweeted because this person is really someone who's gaining a lot of prominence and influence within the extremist circles that we saw on display on Saturday. And so it was really a good way to start the day to reassurance that “hey, I'm still with you” and what he did tonight was just carry that through.

Previously:

White nationalists cheer Trump for assigning blame to “both sides” for Charlottesville violence

“Pizzagate,” Seth Rich conspiracy theorist troll giddy after Trump retweets him

Get ready. Things are going to get much, much worse.