Over the past several years the media has had no qualms about comparing President Trump to Joseph Stalin for using the phrase "enemy of the people," so for purposes of fairness, one would have hoped that MSNBC Live host Ayman Mohyeldin would have at least offered a little push back when Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to Republicans as "enemies of the state" on his Monday show, but such a condemnation was not in the cards.
Pelosi's comments came during a wide ranging interview with Mohyeldin that actually started off quite well with Mohyeldin asking about the 500,000 mail-in votes that were rejected during the primaries and how that could impact the general election.
After Pelosi rambled on about the CARES Act and the need to have a voter education program to make sure people follow instructions on their mail-in ballots, Mohyeldin shifted the conversation to, "our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, only 45% of Americans, 45% of Americans, that’s less than half, are confident in the results of the election being accurately counted. That's 14 points down from back in 2016. Can you tell people today that they should not be afraid of what happens on November 3rd?"
Pelosi thanked Mohyeldin for the opportunity to rant about how Trump and Republicans are trying to intimidate and suppress voters, are welcoming Russian interference by "letting Putin decide who will be president," and encouraged viewers to "ignore him."
She then said Russians weren't the only enemies interfering in the election, "the Russians were there and they're there now, 24/7, trying to interfere in our election. But they're not the only ones. We took an oath to protect from both foreign and domestic and sadly, the domestic enemies to our voting system and our honoring our constitution are right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and their allies in the Congress of the United States."
Concluding her rant, Pelosi turned to the battle over the post office, "they're doing everything they can, suppress the vote with their actions, scare people, intimidate by saying law enforcement will be there, diminish the role of the postal system in all of this. It's really actually shameful. Enemies of the state."
Speaking of shameful, Mohyeldin simply ignored the "enemies of the state" remark and turned to, "the issue of the FDA, Congressman Jim Clyburn say he's troubled by the FDA’s move, under pressure from the White House to give emergency approval for expanded use of convalescent plasma to help coronavirus patients, will the select committee on the coronavirus crisis hold hearings into the FDA’s decision as to why that happened?"
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript of the August 24 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Live with Ayman Mohyeldin
8/24/2020
3:08 PM ET
AYMAN MOHYELDIN: But I do want to get a few other points. As you know, 500,000 mail-in ballots rejected in this year's primaries, we're anticipating even more come this November, it could delay or call some results into questions for weeks, similar to what happened in Florida, excuse me, back in 2000, you obviously received continuation of government briefings, are we as a government prepared for a situation like this in multiple states at the same time?
NANCY PELOSI: Well, we have to be and that’s why we.
MOHYELDIN: Are we?
PELOSI: We would if the president would agree to what we have in the HEROES Act to aid the states to conduct their elections according to the way they do and that is, to have safety if people want to vote in person, so they have distancing, that means they have to have more space, more days, more time, more polling places in order to enable people to vote safely and have a vote by mail so people don't have to choose between their health and their vote. But in addition to that, we also have to have people prepared, many of the concerns that were expressed that you pointed out that people didn't sign the envelope, they didn't put the address, things like that, so we have a real education program. I was a former chair of the California Democratic Party, I know a great deal about this. We have a plan to make sure that people have their own individual plan to vote and to vote early and to vote correctly, because, again, we can do all that we need to do to reach out -- but we have to make sure when people turn it in it will be count as cast.
MOHYELDIN: So, speaking of people, our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll only, 45% of Americans, 45% of Americans, that’s less than half, are confident in the results of the election being accurately counted. That's 14 points down from back in 2016. Can you tell people today that they should not be afraid of what happens on November 3rd?
PELOSI: Well thank you for the opportunity to say. One thing I'll say to the American people, don't pay attention to Donald Trump. It's his goal to scare people from voting. To intimidate them by saying he's going to have law enforcement people at the polls. To welcome in fact Russia intervention into our election, letting Putin decide who will be president instead of the American people, but ignore him. His purpose is to diminish the vote, to suppress the vote and shame on the Republicans for enabling that to happen, for enabling that to happen. But we don't agonize, we organize. And people are right to be concerned because the president of the United States is saying what he's saying. But don't pay any attention to him, because that's just a victory for those who want a lower turnout, so that fewer people are engaged in the decision. And again, what happened in 2016 was discouraging, the Russians were there and they're there now, 24/7, trying to interfere in our election. But they're not the only ones. We took an oath to protect from both foreign and domestic and sadly, the domestic enemies to our voting system and our honoring our constitution are right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and their allies in the Congress of the United States, but again, let's just get out there, mobilize, organize and not let the president deter anyone from voting, and again support the postal system which is election central, they're doing everything they can, suppress the vote with their actions, scare people, intimidate by saying law enforcement will be there, diminish the role of the postal system in all of this. It's really actually shameful. Enemies of the state.MOHYELDIN: Madam speaker, you brought up the issue of the FDA, Congressman Jim Clyburn say he's troubled by the FDA’s move, under pressure from the White House to give emergency approval for expanded use of convalescent plasma to help coronavirus patients, will the select committee on the coronavirus crisis hold hearings into the FDA’s decision as to why that happened?
