Far-left MSNBC host Joy Reid appears to be so excited about the possibility of Democrats taking control of Congress in the 2018 midterms, she's already started a segment to promote Democratic candidates almost a year and a half before the general election even takes place. On Sunday's AM Joy, Reid ended the show with the "first installment of a new segment" as she showed no subtlety in naming it "Flip This House."
When asked by Reid if she would support impeachment against President Donald Trump, New Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Linda Weber credited MSNBC with making her support impeachment, and went on to question Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan's Christian faith.
Near the end of the show, Reid introduced the segment:
The 2018 midterm elections are still more than a year away, but the Democrats are already hoping to flip this house. To do that, they need to take 24 seats from the Republican majority. Midterm elections have historically not gone well for the President's party -- most recently in 2006, 2010, and 2014. But these losses can be even more big league for Presidents with low approval ratings. A Quinnipiac poll finds that more than 54 percent of voters would prefer a Democratic-controlled House while just 38 percent said that they want Republicans to remain in charge. It's the widest margin Quinnipiac has ever recorded.
She then added:
One of these seats the Dems are targeting is in New Jersey's Seventh Congressional District -- a district that Hillary Clinton won narrowly in 2016. And, joining me now for the first installment of a new segment we call "Flip This House," is Linda Weber, a banking executive and a Democrat who is looking to take the seat.
After spending the first few questions talking about the New Jersey district's voting patterns, and Republican incumbent Leonard Lance's record of not always voting with other Republicans, Reid brought up the subject of impeachment as she posed: "If you were in Congress and Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, and there was a move to impeach President Donald Trump, would you support it?"
After declaring, "Absolutely, 100 percent," Reid followed up: "Based on what?" The New Jersey Democrat then implicated MSNBC in her views:
Based on listening the other day on MSNBC to someone read the articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton. And I said, "You know what, every one of those could apply to Donald Trump." He lies consistently. I don't go for the word "untruths," by the way. These are lies, in my opinion. And what he is doing to literally tear apart the republic. We're in a constitutional crisis. And no leader should be allowed to do what he has done and get away with it.
After the MSNBC host asked why her guest believed Speaker Ryan and other Republicans were not "standing up more" to President Trump, Weber took aim at Ryan's Christianity:
I honestly can't figure that out. Paul Ryan professes to be a Christian, yet supports the legislation that he does. I mean, I don't understand it at all. There seems to have been a movement over the last few years of really moving towards party over country, in the Republicans -- in the Republican party.
Reid then ended the segment by promising to follow her Democratic guest's campaign and see if she "can flip that House district" as the MSNBC host concluded the show:
JOY REID: Yeah, well, we will see how you do, Linda Weber. Good luck. When is the primary?
LINDA WEBER: Thank you very much. The primary's next June.
REID: Okay, next June. So we will be paying attention to that race, and we will see if you can flip that House district.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Sunday, May 14, AM Joy on MSNBC:
JOY REID: The 2018 midterm elections are still more than a year away, but the Democrats are already hoping to flip this house. To do that, they need to take 24 seats from the Republican majority. Midterm elections have historically not gone well for the President's party -- most recently in 2006, 2010, and 2014.
But these losses can be even more big league for Presidents with low approval ratings. A Quinnipiac poll finds that more than 54 percent of voters would prefer a Democratic-controlled House while just 38 percent said that they want Republicans to remain in charge. It's the widest margin Quinnipiac has ever recorded.
One of these seats the Dems are targeting is in New Jersey's Seventh Congressional District -- a district that Hillary Clinton won narrowly in 2016. And, joining me now for the first installment of a new segment we call "Flip This House," is Linda Weber, a banking executive and a Democrat who is looking to take the seat. Thank you very much, Linda, for being here.
LINDA WEBER, NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Thank you for having me, Joy.
REID: All right, so let's talk about your district first. We have a little sort of a timeline of your district going from 2008 to 2016. One thing that our viewers will notice as we go through this timeline is that Republicans have won it every time, although the margin has varied. It's been by as much as 59-26 in 2010, that big shellacking the Democrats took there, and the same thing in 2014. But it's ticking down. It's ticking in Democrats' favor. What makes you think that you can close about a 10-point gap this next year?
[LINDA WEBER]
And Leonard Lance you mentioned -- who is the sitting incumbent congressman -- he's positioned himself in an interesting way. You know, we've never heard any headlines of him holding Donald Trump accountable or opposing him, but he did vote against the AHCA, the Affordable Health -- their version of the health care bill which is incredibly unpopular across the country. He was one of the small number of Republicans who voted against it. Does that make it harder to make a case against him?
[WEBER]
Is the issue of Russia-gate resonating in the district, particularly -- is it something that could actually move votes from the R column to the D column?
[WEBER]
So it's an interesting district in that Hillary Clinton won the Seventh District, but it is a Republican district in terms of the congressional representation. But, as we know, one of the big knocks on Hillary Clinton was this closeness to Wall Street issue. You do come from the banking industry. It's sort of a boogeyman industry, particularly to young voters. They see anything with banking as being sort of from the dark side. How do you get over that issue in terms of young voters?
[WEBER]
If you were in Congress and Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, and there was a move to impeach President Donald Trump, would you support it?
WEBER Absolutely 100 percent.
REID: And based on what?
WEBER: Based on listening the other day on MSNBC to someone read the articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton. And I said, "You know what, every one of those could apply to Donald Trump." He lies consistently. I don't go for the word "untruths," by the way. These are lies, in my opinion. And what he is doing to literally tear apart the republic. We're in a constitutional crisis. And no leader should be allowed to do what he has done and get away with it.
REID: And what do you make of the current leadership of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan and the other Republican leaders? Why do you suppose they are not standing up more to Donald Trump?
WEBER: I honestly can't figure that out. Paul Ryan professes to be a Christian, yet supports the legislation that he does. I mean, I don't understand it at all. There seems to have been a movement over the last few years of really moving towards party over country.
REID: Yeah.
WEBER: In the Republicans, in the Republican party.
REID: Yeah, well, we will see how you do, Linda Weber. Good luck. When is the primary?
WEBER: Thank you very much. The primary's next June.
REID: Okay, next June. So we will be paying attention to that race, and we will see if you can flip that House district.
