MSNBC analyst Rick Stengel compared boycotting supporters of President Donald Trump to fighting apartheid during a Thursday panel on MSNBC's Deadline: White House.
Stengel, the former managing editor of Time magazine, argued that people should avoid buying products from Trump supporters in the same way that "you wouldn't buy stock or product from any company that supported apartheid South Africa."
The panel reacted to news that liberals are calling for boycotts of companies run by billionaire developer Stephen Ross due to Ross's decision to host a fundraising event for Trump's re-election campaign.
"Part of the privilege of being a wealthy person is to be insulated to some extent from pressure, from public opinion, you can do what you want and money buys power," New York Times political reporter Nick Confessore said.
"What we are seeing now is there are people who will go out there on the left and beyond and say, look, you can't have it both ways," he continued. "You can't just say you support this president because you like some of his policies," he said, adding, "You support him, you're getting the whole bundle."
Stengel chimed in to make the direct comparison to fighting South African apartheid.
"And remember people boycotted apartheid products," he said. "Remember years ago you wouldn't buy stock or product from any company that supported apartheid South Africa. Why is there not that same thing with people who support Donald Trump and their product and their companies? And there has been with Equinox this past week."