Sinking to a new, anti-American low on Wednesday night, MSNBC trotted out political contributor, former Lincoln Project aide, and Republican flack-turned-Democrat Kurt Bardella during The ReidOut to declare that the Republican Party had done more damage to our democracy than Islamic terrorists al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban combined.
Notably, host Joy Reid and former CNN political commentator Angela Rye said nothing and thus expressed their agreement with this horrifying claim that a political party has done more to harm the country and our body politic than the people who’ve murdered thousands of Americans.
The topic de jour was the growing Republican calls for Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) to be removed from her position on House GOP leadership, so Bardella naturally took it to the radical end.
After claiming that “the entire party” doesn’t support American democracy and there are too few people left to build a sensible, right-of-center party, Bardella let loose his horrifying hot take:
I’ve been thinking to myself this whole time, you know, Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, the people who wanted to do harm to our nation and to our way of life and democracy, they got nothing on what this Republican Party is doing.
This served as an escalation from his incendiary rhetoric on February 11’s ReidOut when he coincidentally told Reid and Rye that the entire Republican Party was a “racist” and “radical” “domestic terrorist cell” in which all members “should be treated as such.”
Between these two hot takes, it’s safe to say that, if you vote for conservatives and Republicans and Bardella ever takes power, look for the CIA, FBI, or even U.S. troops to arrest, bound, gag, imprison, waterboard, or take out you and your family.
But in all seriousness, such rhetoric could only lead to dangerous and even violent ends when such a large network has people who poison their viewers with the notion that their coworkers, family members, and the people they attend religious services with have done more to hurt the country than actual, murderous terror groups.
Nonetheless, Bardella continued to expound upon his claim, saying that Republicans are the ones who are “detrimental and dangerous” to the country for removing Cheney for, according to Bardella, the lone sin of “telling the truth about January 6th” and the 2020 election.
Numerous people have debunked this claim, but facts aren’t exactly Bardella’s strong suit.
Without pushback from Reid or Rye, Bardella concluded by predicting that Republicans will kill innocent people in order to retake power:
When one of the two parties becomes this radicalized and the core of the party’s ideology is anti-democratic, that’s a very dangerous development going on that’s result in more violence, that’s going to result in more attempts to overthrow our government, that’s going to result in people losing lives, just like January 6th.
Reid declined to comment on Bardella’s insane take and it’s safe to say she didn’t need to because, using the left’s logic over the last year, silence equals approval.
Instead, Reid decided to deploy hot takes of her own, telling Rye that the GOP was “a white interests party” and, from now on, will resort to violence if they fail to win an election.
Reid added another racist take as she asserted that the American right doesn’t “believe people of color even should be, apparently, have access to voting booth” and thus racial minorities were in “danger” because they’re allowed to “control a lot of legislatures,” and thus use redistricting to rig elections in their favor.
Wanting to send viewers (and especially fellow African-Americans) into crippling fear of people who aren’t progressives, Rye joined in by lying about the Georgia voter law and suggesting the GOP only wins elections by cheating (click “expand”):
Yeah, Joy, you know, it’s a lot of danger and we can start with where we started two years after Barack Obama was elected — right — we’re right back at voter suppression, right back at voter I.D. legislation. Now, criminalizing people who would bring water to voters. When you have to compromise the very principles that you claim this democracy was founded upon so that you can desperately cling on to power, we’re in trouble. When you could turn a blind eye to a white supremacist and elect him, that’s when you know we’re in trouble. When you can support not just a violent insurrection but one against police officers, law enforcement, where they were yelling, “Blue Lives Matter” unless it is a white MAGA supporter taking them on, trying to take their lives, right? Or perhaps they’re law enforcement, too. But also MAGA supporters which we saw at the Capitol. So whether we’re talking about voter suppression, Joy, or we’re talking about police violence in the justification they’re in. Whether we’re talking about how they win elections, the way that they will rig them when it’s convenient through a redistricting process that is overwhelmingly throughout the country dominated by the Republican Party, we’ve left justice. And so, it’s no wonder, as my good brother Charlemagne said for Donkey of the Day against Mitch McConnell today, that you don’t want to remember a 1619 as a starting point, that you would go to a 1776 starting point. Revisionist history has always been toxic and deadly and the fact they would lean is that in 2021 after the very clear — clear vision we had in 2020 I think says all we need to know.
For years, MSNBC has used the slogan “this is who we are” during promos touting deeply partisan, funny, and/or serious moments.
So it’s in that spirit that, upon hearing Bardella’s take that al-Qaeda and the Taliban have done more to harm America than the GOP, we have one thing to say: This is who they are.
This belief that the Republican Party and its voters are worse than al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban combined was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as 4imprint, 23AndMe, Amazon Prime Video, Credit Karma, Discover, Dove, Expedia, Fidelity, Jenny Craig, Kraft, LegalZoom, Life Alert, loanDepot, MRHFM (Mesothelioma Law Firm), Noom, Qunol and Weather Tech. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page. Let them know what their ad dollars supported!
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from May 5, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
May 5, 2021
7:07 p.m. Eastern
JOY REID: And, Kurt, you know, you are somebody who had a much earlier breaking point along the lines of some of the things that Angela mentioned, right? Some of the sort of real, moral — I mean, they separated children from their parents, infants from their moms who were still breast feeding and a lot of Republicans — well, you know, well, that happens.” Like, there — there was nothing. Let me read really quickly for you before I have a question for you.. This is Liz Cheney’s op-ed. She wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post, interestingly, this morning, saying: “History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what…consequences” are. They are now turning her over for someone named Louise Stefanik. Ms. Stefanik was also normcore Republican. This lady went to Harvard. She graduated in 2006. She got kicked out of the Institute of Politics just this year because she, the Harvard educated, normcore Republican, decided she was cool with overturning an election using a violent siege on the Capitol. So, she got booted. Last item before I go to you, Kurt, here’s George W. Bush who is also in the same wing with the two party I just mentioned. And here he is talking about his party.
GEORGE W. BUSH: The idea of kind of saying you can only say a Republican “if,” then the ultimate extension of that is it ends up being a one-person party.
STEVE HAYES: But there are more of those people today —
BUSH: I hope not.
HAYES: — than there were during the Republican party
BUSH: I hope not.
HAYES: — during your tenure.
BUSH: I hope not.
HAYES: Well, either that or they’re louder, right?
BUSH: Yeah.
HAYES: I mean, many members of Congress, I mean, they were talking about starting a caucus.
BUSH: Yeah, well. It’s — it — it — yeah, to me, that’s, it basically says we want to be extinct.
REID: Is it — is it, Kurt, in your mind that we’re going to have the part of the party that is more neocon — more about — they’re pro democracy but also pro-invading Iraq — right — and sort of militarism — that little wing of the party? The neocons will be one party and the rest will just be the Trump people?
KURT BARDELLA: You know, Joy, I think what is really concerning here, and we’ll see this come down to a very, I think, public vote very soon about Liz Cheney is the majority of people in this party, and their elected leadership is siding with the anti-democratic forces within the Republican Party. It’s not that it’s just a segment of the party. It’s now becoming the entire party. I don’t think there are enough of people who are willing to stand up to this iteration of the Republican Party to build another party at this point. I mean, for all the conversation about Liz Cheney or — or Mitt Romney or Adam Kinzinger, they’re the outliers. And it’s really — it’s really something hearing those comments from George W. Bush. I’ve been thinking to myself this whole time, you know, Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, the people who wanted to do harm to our nation and to our way of life and democracy, they got nothing on what this Republican Party is doing. The idea that a member of their party, of their leadership whose last name is Cheney, could be purged from their leadership for telling the truth about January 6th, for telling the truth about a violent insurrection that claimed the lives of — of — among — a Capitol police officer — the fact that they, people like Cheney won’t support the great lie that this election was rigged, or there was voter fraud, the anti-democratic forces are hijacking this party, purging one of — one of the members who won’t — who won’t abide by the party line. That is so detrimental and dangerous. We are a two-party system in this country. That’s how it was built for better or worse. When one of the two parties becomes this radicalized and the core of the party’s ideology is anti-democratic, that’s a very dangerous development going on that’s result in more violence, that’s going to result in more attempts to overthrow our government, that’s going to result in people losing lives, just like January 6th.
REID: Well, and you know, Angela, it feels like we are at a much more dangerous point now because you’re see it merging into a white interests party. And saying that if they don’t get their way, they’re willing to literally commit violence to overturn an election because they don’t believe people of color even should be, apparently, have access to voting booths, right? So, I wonder how much danger you feel we’re in because there is still a chance, they control a lot of legislatures. They’re going to control redistricting. They can still get power back. I wonder how much danger you feel that places the rest of us in.
ANGELA RYE: Yeah, Joy, you know, it’s a lot of danger and we can start with where we started two years after Barack Obama was elected — right — we’re right back at voter suppression, right back at voter I.D. legislation. Now, criminalizing people who would bring water to voters. When you have to compromise the very principles that you claim this democracy was founded upon so that you can desperately cling on to power, we’re in trouble. When you could turn a blind eye to a white supremacist and elect him, that’s when you know we’re in trouble. When you can support not just a violent insurrection but one against police officers, law enforcement, where they were yelling, “Blue Lives Matter” unless it is a white MAGA supporter taking them on, trying to take their lives, right? Or perhaps they’re law enforcement, too. But also MAGA supporters which we saw at the Capitol. So whether we’re talking about voter suppression, Joy, or we’re talking about police violence in the justification they’re in. Whether we’re talking about how they win elections, the way that they will rig them when it’s convenient through a redistricting process that is overwhelmingly throughout the country dominated by the Republican Party, we’ve left justice. And so, it’s no wonder, as my good brother Charlemagne said for Donkey of the Day against Mitch McConnell today, that you don’t want to remember a 1619 as a starting point, that you would go to a 1776 starting point. Revisionist history has always been toxic and deadly and the fact they would lean is that in 2021 after the very clear — clear vision we had in 2020 I think says all we need to know.
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