On Monday evening, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow spent an entire segment of her prime time show promulgating the need to replace Republicans with far-left Democrats. The partisan host invited Amanda Litman, a co-founder and executive director of the left-wing candidate recruitment operation, Run For Something, to discuss the importance of ousting any Trump-supporting GOP politicians in office.
Maddow prefaced the segment by expressing her dismay and disgust over the fact that at least 57 Republican elected officials from across the country exercised their First Amendment right and attended President Trump’s rally on January 6. According to Maddow and her guest, those 57 individuals were complicit in the riot that occurred at the United States Capitol later that day. As a result, it is supposedly incumbent that they be defeated and replaced by a leftist Democrat as soon as possible.
In addition to the Republican-controlled positions mentioned in her tweet, Litman told Maddow that there were “hundreds” of other Republican elected officials “who facilitated the big lie” and, therefore, need to be challenged by a “young progressive”:
"Well, Run For Something got started after the 2016 election as you said in your intro, and as of today have identified more than 72,000 young people all across the country who've said they want to run. And the coolest part about that is that January 2021 was our best recruitment month yet. The day of the insurrection, the day of January 6th, we saw thousands of young people say, that's not what my leadership looks like, that is not what my democracy looks like and signed up to run for office. So we're looking at all of those races and the hundreds more with our Republican elected officials who facilitated in the big lie, who encouraged people to show up at their state capitol or in D.C., and to make sure that they are not running uncontested and that there's a strong, fierce, advocate young progressive running against them."
The violence and destruction that occurred on that infamous day is, of course, reprehensible, but Americans — journalists in particular — shouldn’t tar peaceful protesters with the same brush as violent, malicious rioters. And the disgraceful invasion of the Capitol certainly shouldn't be used to score political points in elections.
Maddow’s Democratic Party propaganda was brought to you, in part, by Tide. You can contact this advertiser, and others, via the Conservatives Fight Back page, conveniently linked here.
Click "Expand" to read the entire February 15 transcript:
The Rachel Maddow Show
02/15/21
9:50 PM Eastern
RACHEL MADDOW: This is a sort of stunning headline, today. According to a tally from HuffingtonPost, present on January 6th at the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington that ultimately turned into the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, present that day among the QAnon cultists and the militias and the right-wing proto-fascist street gangs, were at least 57 state and local elected Republican officials—57 of them. And among those 57 were some that actually took part in physically storming the Capitol and they're now facing charges for it. But there were 57 elected Republicans in the crowd that day? In the mob? The group, Run For Something, which helps Progressive first-time candidates put together winning state and local campaigns, Run For Something is now asking you, potentially, to do something about that and about what happened on January 6th. The organization's co-founder announced this today, quote, 16 Republican members of state houses, 4 state senators, 6 county commissioners, 7 city council members, 2 mayors, 3 school board members, 2 prosecutors and more all attended the January 6th insurrection. If you run against any of them, the group, Run For Something, will help you. Joining us now is Amanda Litman, co-founder and executive director of Run For Something. Miss Litman, it's nice of you to make time to be here, tonight. Thanks so much.
AMANDA LITMAN [CO-FOUNDER OF RUN FOR SOMETHING]: I am thrilled to talk about this, so thanks for having me.
MADDOW: [LAUGHS] So tell me about this – tell me about the basic idea, obviously, Run For Something has been trying to turn people's idealism and agita about the state of the country into a personal cause for people who can be first-time candidates. But in this case you're identifying a specific type, a specific class of Republicans, against whom you want to recruit new candidates.
LITMAN: Well, run for something got started after the 2016 election as you said in your intro, and as of today have identified more than 72,000 young people all across the country who've said they want to run. And the coolest part about that is that January 2021 was our best recruitment month yet. The day of the insurrection, the day of January 6th, we saw thousands of young people say, that's not what my leadership looks like, that is not what my democracy looks like and signed up to run for office. So we're looking at all of those races and the hundreds more with our Republican elected officials who facilitated in the big lie, who encouraged people to show up at their state capitol or in D.C., and to make sure that they are not running uncontested and that there's a strong, fierce, advocate young progressive running against them.
MADDOW: So, if you are a person who has contacted Run For Something, you live in Nevada, or you live in Colorado, or you live in Idaho, and one of your local officials there is somebody who's been implicated in what you just described in what happened on January 6th, the lie surrounding it and all the radicalism around that, somebody from one of those states contacts you and says my local councilman, my mayor here, is one of the bad guys here and I want to oust them, what kind of help do you give them? How do you help them figure out if they're the right person to run, and if they are, how your organization can lend assistance?
LITMAN: If that person goes to runforwhat.net, and signs up, fills out their information, they'll get invited to a conference call. We’ll help coach them through, from there, every step of the process, how do you actually get on the ballot, what do you do once you're on the ballot, how do you get endorsements you need from unions or state parties, how do you build a campaign plan that can win? And we'll connect them with other young candidates we’ve worked with across the country. Our alumni network is now nearly 1,500 people in every state, predominantly women, predominantly people of color who have been through this before. We endorse candidates, we get money where we can, we help find volunteers. We do everything a local candidate needs in order to succeed.
MADDOW: You said that you've had your biggest recruitment time ever. More people expressing interest in Run For Something, Run For What, since the insurrection happened. Do you anticipate that's going to change either your overall capacity or your overall mission in terms of how you approach this work?
LITMAN: It doesn't change our mission. The only thing that it changes is how much our staff has to do to reach every person who signed up with us. You know, the best thing you can do, if you want to help, is contribute. We're working off of a really small budget. I think it's worth noting that part of the reason the GOP is what it is right now is a 40-plus-year long-term sustained investment in local governments trying to facilitate these kinds of candidates running and winning. We are barely punching at the same level. So we're going to try to do everything we can for the more than 10,000 people who signed up since election day 2020 but every dollar folks can contribute goes a long way.
MADDOW: Amanda Litman, co-founder and executive director of Run For Something. Fascinating discussion. Fascinating concept. Thanks for being here to help us understand it.
LITMAN: Thanks for asking me.
