MTP Daily might be on its last legs on MSNBC, but before the show goes exclusively to NBC News Now, host Chuck Todd will still be spreading liberal narratives on cable. On Friday, that included an interview with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, where Todd was confused by basic civics of how federalism works and refusing to fact check Polis when he alleged that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is no different than Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez, and Nicolas Maduro.
While talking about abortion, Todd was shocked that the Court might apply a legal principle, such as the Tenth Amendment, in its upcoming Dobbs ruling, “What is a better way to protect the -- I mean, it does, look, doing this via the states is going to mean that essentially if a woman lives in Utah, they’re going to have less rights than if they live in Colorado and it just seems astonishing to me that — that we’re going to have a judiciary that is going to allow that to happen.”
He then asked, “I mean, would you like, at some point, I think people are going to want to see this codified in Congress. You were in Congress; I guess this is going to be an impossibility. What would a codified law look like on the federal level?”
Of course, not all “people” want to see that. For his part, Polis didn’t answer the question but instead went to eleven on the fearmongering scale: “In many of the states it’ll be returning to the era of back alley abortions with underqualified or unqualified, but well-intended people performing them at great risk to the mother outside of medical facilities, it’s dangerous, people will die. I mean, this is not just some legal framework we’re talking about, there's no question that if this decision moves forward, people will die.”
Not being willing to address such accusations, Todd moved on to other things, “If I’m not mistaken, you’ve — you’ve started to send a message to corporations, you know, who may be uncomfortable doing business in states that make it harder for them to hire employees. Do you see an opportunity for Colorado to become home to more of these corporations?”
The governor of the state that has spent the last several years persecuting Jack Phillips proceeded to launch into an even more wild answer than the previous one:
When Governor DeSantis attacked Disney because of their political advocacy for LGBT rights, I was, frankly, just taken back. And we said, in Colorado, I don't care if your organization is conservative or liberal, I don't care what your health care plan does, but we — we — we have a home for you. We don’t interfere or we don't retaliate based on your politics, that's a very authoritarian mindset, that’s what Putin does and that's what Chavez did and Maduro, this is not what America is about.
Todd did not fact-check that statement and judging by the fact that a PolitiFact search for “Jared Polis” turns up results for Jared Kushner, the professional fact checkers probably won’t either.
This segment was sponsored by E-Trade.
Here is a transcript for the May 6 show:
MSNBC MTP Daily
5/6/2022
1:24 PM ET
CHUCK TODD: What is a better way to protect the, I mean, it does, look, doing this via the states is going to mean that essentially if a woman lives in Utah, they’re going to have less rights than if they live in Colorado and it just seems astonishing to me that—that-- we’re going to have a judiciary that is going to allow that to happen.
I mean, would you like, at some point, I think people are going to want to see this codified in Congress. You were in Congress; I guess this is going to be an impossibility. What would a codified law look like on the federal level?
JARED POLIS: Yeah, of course I would support the codification. What’s--what’s—really scary here is there will also be a human toll to this. When you criminalize abortion, you put doctors in jail, you put women in jail, you don't end abortion, you just make it a lot more risky and in many of the states it’ll be returning to the era of back alley abortions with underqualified or unqualified, but well-intended people performing them at great risk to the mother outside of medical facilities, it’s dangerous, people will die. I mean, this is not just some legal framework we’re talking about, there's no question that if this decision moves forward, people will die.
TODD: If I’m not mistaken, you’ve—you’ve-- started to send a message to corporations, you know, who may be uncomfortable doing business in states that make it harder for them to hire employees. Do you see an opportunity for Colorado to become home to more of these corporations?
POLIS: Yeah, we're open for business. When Governor DeSantis attacked Disney because of their political advocacy for LGBT rights, I was, frankly, just taken back. And we said, in Colorado, I don't care if your organization is conservative or liberal, I don't care what your health care plan does, but we—we—we-- have a home for you. We don’t interfere or we don't retaliate based on your politics, that's a very authoritarian mindset, that’s what Putin does and that's what Chavez did and Maduro, this is not what America is about.
You have the freedom to have your political opinion, whatever it is, and, of course, the state is not going to have retribution against you because of that. So, I think that's a sweet spot for Colorado's competitiveness. We’re attracting companies from across the country, across the world in part because of that. Whether we get Disney World or not, we'll see, but lots of companies are coming to Colorado.
