On MSNBC Wednesday night, the Hardball Roundtable circled the wagons to defend CNN’s Jim Acosta after he got his clock cleaned by Stephen Miller on immigration. New York Times reporter Yamiche Alcindor led the way, treating the Statue of Liberty poem like a legally-binding document we have to abide by and blaming Ronald Reagan for supposedly pro-white pandering.
“So, Stephen Miller — today’s exchange was extraordinary, because Stephen Miller literally questioned whether or not the poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty was something that was actually a mission of this country, whether or not we actually mean that we want to bring people’s poor and people’s weary,” Alcindor complained.
Oh, and what’s the Constitution then? What’s the immigration laws on the books compared to this poem? They’re all equal or something? Give me a break.
She also lamented that the Trump White House made the sinister determination that “we’re not going to try to even hold our tongues and say that we’re trying to be egalitarian or trying to be fair here.”
Politico’s Annie Karni wasn’t any less partisan, suggesting Trump supporters are so inept that fights with the media keep them happy:
No, but the fireworks in the briefing, the audience of this isn’t just Trump. It is an audience of a base that’s scared of immigrants and hates the media. And they see yelling with CNN and yelling with The New York Times and they think that it is going well. The show is the point.
Turns out, conservatives and Trump supporters enjoy plenty of things besides taking on the liberal media. Lower taxes, stopping MS-13, withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, appointing conservative judges, and spurring economic growth are just a few of the things people not on the left enjoy.
“In the Left's America, Emma Lazarus' poem on the Statue of Liberty is to be read literally as law, but the Constitution is vague poetry,” conservative and Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro tweeted.
Shapiro’s point is excellent. For the left, the Constitution is seen as a living, breathing document, but this poem? No, no! That is and will remain impenetrable!
A few minutes later, Alcindor returned and blamed Ronald Reagan for starting the campaign by Republicans to engage in white identity politics:
[B]ut at the end of the day, his base is sticking with him....The Republican Party, going back to Reagan, was about this idea that you have to challenge whether or not white people are being in some ways discriminated against, whether or not trying to reset, trying to pass civil rights issues and trying to really go after civil rights and justices, whether or not that is somehow hurting middle- class white Americans who are watching Trump and voting for Trump and saying, we want to be taken care of. Some people really thought the country is going in a direction that’s leaving behind white people, essentially.
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on August 2:
MSNBC’s Hardball
August 2, 2017
7:34 p.m. Eastern
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: One of the truest things that Stephen Miller said was that this is what people voted for and that this is what they were promising.
MATTHEWS: The red meat.
ALCINDOR: Exactly. So, Stephen Miller — today’s exchange was extraordinary, because Stephen Miller literally questioned whether or not the poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty was something that was actually a mission of this country, whether or not we actually mean that we want to bring people’s poor and people’s weary. So, what they’re doing really is saying, look, we’re going to go back to our basics and we’re going to give you exactly what you said. And, by the way, we’re not going to try to even hold our tongues and say that we’re trying to be egalitarian or trying to be fair here.
MATTHEWS: Go back to the — it goes back to the beginning, Annie. Half this country spoke German, as well as English. German was a really big language. So, we weren’t all English speakers when we started.
ANNIE KARNI: No, but the fireworks in the briefing, the audience of this isn’t just Trump. It is an audience of a base that’s scared of immigrants and hates the media. And they see yelling with CNN and yelling with The New York Times and they think that it is going well. The show is the point.
MATTHEWS: By the way, Sabrina, I think he was playing to one audience, Mr. Trump. Trump loved that explosion of id. He just lost Scaramucci. He has got to figure that — fill that hole.
(....)
7:36 p.m. Eastern
ALCINDOR: Yes, but there’s a lot of talk about approval ratings with Trump, but at the end of the day, his base is sticking with him. The people are saying, this is exactly the person that we want and these are exactly the policies. And I was talking to some experts today who said this is also not just Trump. The Republican Party, going back to Reagan, was about this idea that you have to challenge whether or not white people are being in some ways discriminated against, whether or not trying to reset, trying to pass civil rights issues and trying to really go after civil rights and justices, whether or not that is somehow hurting middle- class white Americans who are watching Trump and voting for Trump and saying, we want to be taken care of. Some people really thought the country is going in a direction that’s leaving behind white people, essentially.
