NBC News has decided to join the NCAA, academia, and corporate retailers among the many institutions now complicit in the intentional erasure of women. Among the panel of Democratic women in Macomb County, Michigan featured on Meet The Press convened to discuss their reluctant support of Joe Biden, a trans woman.
Watch as the panel’s trans woman is coached into saying he’ll vote for Joe Biden, despite having deep reservations:
ASHLEY MITSCH: I'm not going to vote for a Republican. I'm trans. I feel like that's almost, like -- it's almost like a death sentence. But when it comes to Democrats, I just don't really see anyone who really feels like they'll be a strong pick who is running.
KRISTEN WELKER: So are you saying that you at this point are planning to vote for president Biden, but reluctantly?
MITSCH: Very reluctantly.
It’s very subtle. No warning, Kristen Welker doesn’t make a big deal out of it- it’s just there. Dude in a women’s panel like it’s a normal thing.
I love everyone but I am not compelled to indulge everyone's psychoses, nor will I become a co-participant in the intentional erasure of women.
We’re a few weeks removed from a Miss Universe which featured two confused men as contestants, one of which was placed in the Top 20, and nine months removed from an NCAA women’s swimming final won by someone who less than a year prior had competed as a man for the same university. And now, we get the trickle into an innocuous voter panel on a Sunday news show the week before Christmas- when, perhaps, fewer people are watching. Perhaps that was the intent all along.
There are many who will point to conservative (or sane) reaction to this segment as the broader stoking of an ongoing culture war, but the fact is that we did not seek this culture war. And now NBC is complicit in foisting this culture war upon us.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment as aired on NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday, December 17th, 2023:
KRISTEN WELKER: As you just heard from Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, there are startling new warning signs for President Biden from Democratic voters in battleground Michigan. We went to Macomb County and spoke to a group of women who supported Mr. Biden in the last election, but are now reluctant to commit to supporting him again. The question for these Democrats is not Trump versus Biden- it’s will they show up or stay home?
A show of hands, who is decided on who they'll vote for in 2024?
(HANDS RAISE)
Okay. So three out of five of you. Why are you still undecided?
JESSIE KELLY: Because I want the candidate that I vote for to earn my vote.
TERI BAZZI: I will probably agonize again once I'm in the ballot box about what to do, how do I do this?
ASHLEY MITSCH: I'm not going to vote for a Republican. I'm trans. I feel like that's almost, like -- it's almost like a death sentence. But when it comes to Democrats, I just don't really see anyone who really feels like they'll be a strong pick who is running.
WELKER: So are you saying that you at this point are planning to vote for president Biden, but reluctantly?
MITSCH: Very reluctantly.
WELKER: Are you going to vote for president Biden again?
JACKIE KELLY-SMITH: Yes.
WELKER: Why?
KELLY-SMITH: I may not be as enthusiastic about him as a candidate, but I am by some of the things that he's done. Reducing insulin to $39. Also, finally repairing our infrastructure, and the American Care Act. I mean, it’s a lot of things he’s done.
SHELLY WHITEHEAD: There's no way that I'm going to vote Republican, but reluctantly, yes, I will vote Biden, because...
WELKER: Why reluctantly?
WHITEHEAD: I don't -- I really don't agree with his dealings with the Middle East right now. Also his age.
WELKER: Jessie, what about you? Would you support a third-party candidate or consider supporting a third-party candidate?
KELLY: It would depend on who that candidate is. However, I don't think that a two-party system is working for America anymore.
WELKER: And Teri, would you consider working for a third party?
BAZZI: I don't know. I don’t know. I feel as- I feel compelled to, but I really feel as though my vote will be just wasted and my vote counts.
WELKER: Shelly, what about you?
WHITEHEAD: The power. Yeah. That’s the problem.
WELKER: How do you see a third party?
WHITEHEAD: As a dream, but not a reality. I mean, in my ideal world I see it as -- as a party that is truly for the people, by the people, and I don't see people having that power- that respect.
WELKER: Let me follow up with you on that, Jackie. Are you concerned that people are going to stay at home and not vote in 2024? What are you hearing from the community around you?
KELLY-SMITH: Pretty much what I said. That they're not enthusiastic about either candidate, but they don't want one or the other to get in. So they’re gonna vote against someone more so than voting for someone.
WELKER: Shelly, what are you hearing? Are you concerned that people are going to stay home?
WHITEHEAD: I am concerned people are going to stay home.
MITSCH: There are a lot of people who I know who are just completely checked out of the game. It feels like it's already lost. It doesn't feel like we're getting the progressive change that we were all sort of promised.
WELKER: Where does the economy fit into how you are viewing 2024? How do you feel about the economy?
WHITEHEAD: I mean, I don't feel great. I was -- today even more shocked because sometimes I think I put my head in the sand with the economy. Um. I don't like my car. So I was like, oh, maybe I'll just get a new car and I saw these car rates and I’m like, okay. I'm not getting a new car.
KELLY-SMITH: Our economy, I think, is better than what it has been. Is everything affordable? No. Everything is going up quicker than our checks are.
Right
WELKER: If you could come up with one word to describe President Biden what would it be? And I'll start with you.
BAZZI: Tired.
MITSCH: One word, he just seems out of it, honestly.
KELLY: Status quo.
KELLY-SMITH: Caring.
WHITEHEAD: Honestly, it doesn't have to do with politics, family. I think he cares a lot about his family.
