This week, MSNBC tried really, really, really, really hard to make the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention out to be earth-shattering, gripping, inspiring, and riveting TV.
So on Thursday before the final night’s program, co-hosts Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid, and Nicolle Wallace continued their daily campaign to send viewers into mentally-crippling fear, insisting that going after Hunter Biden is off limits, the media must “fight” for America’s future, and there’s not enough Russia hysteria out there in America’s bloodstream.
Wallace concluded the trio’s interview with Dr. Jill Biden by wondering what the Bidens will do next week to stay in a safe space amid the impending criticisms of Joe at the RNC: “How are you going to protect your family and yourself next week?”
Reid replied after the interview by arguing that Hunter Biden’s only crime in his life has been “getting a job or getting on a board.”
Yes, Joy. Being tossed out of the Navy, dating your brother’s widow, frequenting a D.C. strip club, fathering children out of wedlock (and being taken to court for child support), getting jobs on boards in China and Ukraine, and having a cocaine problem are non-stories:
I mean, they’re going to have to think about — what kind of a person would attack a man's only living son, right? I mean, the attacks on — on Hunter Biden for getting a job or getting on a board, right? But they — they didn't just attack Joe Biden. They attacked his remaining son and, so, there isn't — there is no bottom to where the Trump campaign, I think, will go with the family and, you know, Hunter Biden is going to be out there tonight. He's going to speak. He’s going to be on that stage and I'm quite sure that the Biden family should not get on Twitter, you know, after that speech because I'm quite sure the right is going to erupt.
In the next block, the DNC lemmings spoke to Hillary Clinton and Maddow said the quiet part out loud by tying “the public” and “the media” into groups that should work with Democrats to prepare for Election Day and thwart Trump:
Do you think that the Democratic Party has the right muscles, the right resources to bring to bear to that kind of a fight in these next 70 some odd days before the election actually happens? What do you think the public at large, the media, the Democratic Party should be trying to build up, shore up in order to get ready for that kind of fight if you think that's the most likely eventuality?
But things grew even more divorced from reality when Reid told Clinton that not enough Americans are taking Russian threats seriously and thus more should be said about them (click “expand”):
Your speech in combination with former President Obama and Senator Harris, you know, really did put together sort of a package of dire warnings to the American people, but those same warnings really have been heard really since 2016 by your former colleagues in the United States Senate and we knew that in 2016, Senator McConnell, Mitch McConnell, refused to protect the election that you were a part of. You served with these people. You know, and you were very well known for working quite well across the aisle and having a lot of good allies on the other side of the aisle.
Does it surprise you that there has been so little alarm raised? Yes, the Senate Republicans did sign off on that damning Senate Intelligence report about the 2016 election, but there has been no outcry, really, about what Russia did. No outcry about the bounties on American troops. No real outcry about any of it, including, you know, the interference of an adversary into the election. Does that surprise you or does it affirm something you learned about your former Senate colleagues on the other side?
And after that ugly fluffball of an interview, the co-hosts tried to make the case that a Trump administration has turned America into a near copy of Russia. Notably, there was no realization that if America were anything close to an authoritarian country like Russia, these three would be in prison and MSNBC would be shut down (click “expand”):
REID: We are the country that people used to turn to as the defenders of democracy and what's happening in Russia right now is democracy has already been obliterated by Vladimir Putin. He’s turned it into, as you wrote in your book, it’s sort of — it’s an oil cartel, right, that pretends to be a state and we, as the United States, should be at the front of condemning that and of defending the idea of democracy, but our President is trying to break our democracy to make it more like Putin’s. To make us more like Russia, instead of defending it, we're actually trying to replicate it. That's what Donald Trump is trying to do. He can't get away with the sheer violence against his opponents, but he does a mock violence. Lock her up. That’s Moboktuism. I mean, if you run against me in the old Congo, you go to prison. You get locked up. in the old Ukraine —
MADDOW: In five days, you’ll be in jail. He said — [INAUDIBLE]
REID: — you get locked up. That’s correct and so he's doing a proto violence similar to what Putin's vibe is and he wants to be Putin’s ally more than our former allies.
WALLACE: It is a lot worse than looking the other way. I mean, he has advanced Putin's cause.
REID: Yes.
WALLACE: He's had five phone calls — Greg Miller wrote about five calls for which there are no notes.
REID: Yep.
WALLACE: John Bolton confirms that. He was never in the room with Vladimir Putin and — and I’m — I mean, we're inching in that direction. Federal troops on the treats of Portland are a move in that direction.
Thursday night’s deranged, fear-mongering pregame show was sponsored by Amazon, Mazda, and Safelite. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from August 20, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Decision 2020: Democratic National Convention
August 20, 2020
8:15 p.m. EasternNICOLLE WALLACE: Dr. Biden, I know from working for President Bush that the attacks on a candidate or an office holder are most acutely felt by the people who love them most and Donald Trump got impeached over his effort to take your husband and smear your family and — and weaken your husband politically. How are you going to protect your family and yourself next week?
JILL BIDEN: You know, we — we knew this was going to happen. These are all distractions. When we decided to run, we knew this was going to be part of the campaign, but I looked at Joe and I said, Joe, we’ve been through the worst thing that could ever happen to us, and, so, you know, we can — we have strong shoulders and going forward, Joe’s just going to talk about the future and what he's going to do and his plans. So Donald Trump, what he — he’s trying to get to distract the American public from the issues that Joe is going to put forth.
(....)
8:18 p.m. Eastern
WALLACE: And — and she really is prepared for what's about to come. I mean, they obviously as a family made the decision to do this together. I mean, the country had a preview. Donald Trump got impeached out of his fear of running against this candidate, this man we're going to see tonight. At some cellular level, Donald Trump knew he presented an existential political threat to him, so they’ve obviously thought all that through and while we may disturbed or shocked by how low the President, the current President, is expected to go, you can just tell they have had those conversations as a family.
JOY REID: Mmhmm. Yeah.
RACHEL MADDOW: They're not going into this blind.
REID: I mean, they’re going to have to think about — what kind of a person would attack a man's only living son, right? I mean, the attacks on — on Hunter Biden for getting a job or getting on a board, right? But they — they didn't just attack Joe Biden. They attacked his remaining son and, so, there isn't — there is no bottom to where the Trump campaign, I think, will go with the family and, you know, Hunter Biden is going to be out there tonight. He's going to speak. He’s going to be on that stage and I'm quite sure that the Biden family should not get on Twitter, you know, after that speech because I'm quite sure the right is going to erupt.
(....)
8:27 p.m. Eastern
MADDOW: Do you think that the Democratic Party has the right muscles, the right resources to bring to bear to that kind of a fight in these next 70 some odd days before the election actually happens? What do you think the public at large, the media, the Democratic Party should be trying to build up, shore up in order to get ready for that kind of fight if you think that's the most likely eventuality?
(....)
8:29 p.m. Eastern
REID: Your speech in combination with former President Obama and Senator Harris, you know, really did put together sort of a package of dire warnings to the American people, but those same warnings really have been heard really since 2016 by your former colleagues in the United States Senate and we knew that in 2016, Senator McConnell, Mitch McConnell, refused to protect the election that you were a part of. You served with these people. You know, and you were very well known for working quite well across the aisle and having a lot of good allies on the other side of the aisle. Does it surprise you that there has been so little alarm raised? Yes, the Senate Republicans did sign off on that damning Senate Intelligence report about the 2016 election, but there has been no outcry, really, about what Russia did. No outcry about the bounties on American troops. No real outcry about any of it, including, you know, the interference of an adversary into the election. Does that surprise you or does it affirm something you learned about your former Senate colleagues on the other side?
(....)
8:47 p.m. Eastern
REID: We are the country that people used to turn to as the defenders of democracy and what's happening in Russia right now is democracy has already been obliterated by Vladimir Putin. He’s turned it into, as you wrote in your book, it’s sort of — it’s an oil cartel, right, that pretends to be a state and we, as the United States, should be at the front of condemning that and of defending the idea of democracy, but our President is trying to break our democracy to make it more like Putin’s. To make us more like Russia, instead of defending it, we're actually trying to replicate it. That's what Donald Trump is trying to do. He can't get away with the sheer violence against his opponents, but he does a mock violence. Lock her up. That’s Moboktuism. I mean, if you run against me in the old Congo, you go to prison. You get locked up. in the old Ukraine —
MADDOW: In five days, you’ll be in jail. He said — [INAUDIBLE]
REID: — you get locked up. That’s correct and so he's doing a proto violence similar to what Putin's vibe is and he wants to be Putin’s ally more than our former allies.
WALLACE: It is a lot worse than looking the other way. I mean, he has advanced Putin's cause.
REID: Yes.
WALLACE: He's had five phone calls — Greg Miller wrote about five calls for which there are no notes.
REID: Yep.
WALLACE: John Bolton confirms that. He was never in the room with Vladimir Putin and — and I’m — I mean, we're inching in that direction. Federal troops on the treats of Portland are a move in that direction.
