MSNBC host of the The 11th Hour, Stephanie Ruhle, did a touchdown dance on her Thursday show in response to GOP Rep. Nick Langworthy’s admission that they have no evidence of direct payments to President Joe Biden from son Hunter’s business operations. At the same time, the Lincoln Project’s Stuart Stevens declared the party’s focus reeked of “basic hollowness and absurdity,” but nobody ever explained how Langworthy’s statement unwittingly debunked the larger point about influence peddling.
Ruhle began by introducing a clip of Langworthy on Fox News with Washington correspondent Gillian Turner of the following discussion:
GILLIAN TURNER: There has not been produced a smoking gun. Clear cut undeniable proof of the president’s involvement with his son’s foreign business deals. What do you say to that?
NICK LANGWORTHY: Well, we’ve never claimed that we have direct money going to the president.
[Jump Cut]
TURNER: That is precisely the claim that the chairman of your committee, James Comer, and also Jim Jordan, have made many times on public record.
The Turner-Langworthy exchange was edited down for MSNBC consumption, so the parts where Langworthy details how members of the Biden family were trading off the family name despite having no relevant skills and his response to Turner where he claimed that none of the official memos to come out of the Oversight Committee have alleged direct payments were left out.
Nevertheless, Ruhle turned to Stevens and wondered, “Well there you have it. Stuart, we always say it on this show. The truth matters, but only if you hear it. And Gillian Turner, right there on Fox News, delivered the cold hard truth, but are any Republicans listening?”
For his part, Stevens shifted the conversation away from House Republicans and towards the 2024 presidential candidates, “Well, look, I think this whole idea that you're going to run a campaign on Hunter Biden's laptop, like, elect me president of the United States because of Hunter Biden's laptop. I mean, just think of how absurd that is, how little has to do with anybody's life.”
One could say the same thing about the January 6 Committee or Justice Clarence Thomas’s vacations, but that didn’t stop Ruhle from obsessing over the latter in the earlier part of the show.
Stevens then falsely claimed, “You know, what, the problem here is that Republicans don't have any policy. There's really no conservative governing philosophy of America that they can articulate. I mean, you ask Elizabeth Warren how to govern, say what you will about it she has a theory, it’s consistent. You may hate it, you may love it, but she can argue with you.”
After Stevens was done speaking, Ruhle moved the conversation to the GOP’s alleged obsession with culture wars and education policy, which “you may hate it, you may love it,” but it is policy and there is a “governing philosophy” behind it.
Before that, however, Stevens also added, “Why do you want to be president? Why do they want to lead the country? To investigate Hunter Biden's laptop? I mean, it's just sort of a basic hollowness and absurdity that doesn't resonate with average people that are going about their lives trying to have somebody that helps them live a better life.”
Republicans can walk and chew gun at the same and just because Stevens does not talk about the policy proposals the Republican candidates are putting forward, does not mean they don’t exist.
This segment was sponsored by Allegra.
Here is a transcript for the August 10 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
8/10/2023
11:37 PM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Wow. Okay, I want to turn to something that happened on Fox News today, when Washington correspondent Gillian Turner called out Republican Congressman Nick Langworthy. Watch this.
GILLIAN TURNER: There has not been produced a smoking gun. Clear cut undeniable proof of the president’s involvement with his son’s foreign business deals. What do you say to that?
NICK LANGWORTHY: Well, we’ve never claimed that we have direct money going to the president.
[Jump Cut]
TURNER: That is precisely the claim that the chairman of your committee, James Comer, and also Jim Jordan, have made many times on public record.
RUHLE: Well there you have it. Stuart, we always say it on this show. The truth matters, but only if you hear it. And Gillian Turner, right there on Fox News, delivered the cold hard truth, but are any Republicans listening?
STUART STEVENS: Well, look, I think this whole idea that you're going to run a campaign on Hunter Biden's laptop, like, elect me president of the United States because of Hunter Biden's laptop. I mean, just think of how absurd that is, how little has to do with anybody's life.
You know, what, the problem here is that Republicans don't have any policy. There's really no conservative governing philosophy of America that they can articulate. I mean, you ask Elizabeth Warren how to govern, say what you will about it she has a theory, it’s consistent. You may hate it, you may love it, but she can argue with you.
Republicans have just collapsed on that and they’re really-- what are the ideas? I mean, this is what happened in ‘20 and this is what happened in ‘22.
When you—you know, what are you getting now? Why do you want to be president? Why do they want to lead the country? To investigate Hunter Biden's laptop? I mean, it's just sort of a basic hollowness and absurdity that doesn't resonate with average people that are going about their lives trying to have somebody that helps them live a better life.
