On Wednesday night’s The 11th Hour on MSNBC, host Stephanie Ruhle used the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school to stand on the graves of the children who died by suggesting Republicans who oppose Democrat gun grabbing schemes don’t want kids to be safe in school. Ruhle apparently believes it's a binary choice between authoritarian gun control or letting children get shot to death in mass shootings.
Ruhle started off by asking Washington Post White House reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb about Biden’s promise “to do something to restrict access to assault weapons.” “Seeing that we're walking into a very divided Congress, does he have any shot of doing that?” Ruhle asked.
Abutaleb was forced to break the bad news to Ruhle that “it seems pretty unlikely that there’s a path to do that in Congress.” She even admitted how if you talk to White House aides privately “they say they know there is not a path” to pass any form of gun control.
“There are some Democratic Senators who say there are some things the President can look at doing through executive action,” Abutaleb noted. “But these would be much narrower and sort of be at the edges. It wouldn't be something as ambitious as what he's calling for.”
“But even though it's a divided Congress, Yasmeen, Republicans only have a narrow majority in the House,” Ruhle whined. “Are there are no centrist Republicans who want kids to be safer in schools and do something about this?”
Abutaleb thought the “bigger question” is if Senate Democrats can “force a vote on this in some way and really put that question to the test.”
Strategizing on national television for the Democrats, Abutaleb proclaimed “if Chuck Schumer brings it up in the Senate and they decide to put everybody on the record on this, and then see if Kevin McCarthy, the House leader, is willing to bring it up.”
“I think there probably are centrist Republicans who would support this,” Abutaleb insisted.
“The bigger question here is whether Kevin McCarthy would even bring up a bill like that to the floor and put his members in that position,” she added.
Ruhle then jumped in to get in another shot at McCarthy by taunting him like a five year old: “Assuming Kevin McCarthy gets the job he so desperately wants.”
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The relevant transcript is below:
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
12/14/2022
11:05:26 p.m. EasternSTEPHANIE RUHLE: President Biden has promised to do something to restrict access to assault weapons. Seeing that we're walking into a very divided Congress, does he have any shot of doing that?
YASMEEN ABUTALEB (WASHINGTON POST WHITE HOUSE REPORTER): It seems pretty unlikely that there’s a path to do that in Congress. They of course passed the bipartisan gun safety bill earlier this year, which is much narrower and much less ambitious than an assault weapons ban and what the President’s been calling for for several months, really, since he was the Vice President when Sandy Hook happened, so really, he's been advocating for this a decade and longer. But no, I don't think there is a path to this in Congress. I think if you talk to White House aides privately, they talk about, you know, we're going to find a way to do this, the President talks about that publicly in speeches. But privately, they say they know there is not a path. There are some Democratic Senators who say there are some things the President can look at doing through executive action. But these would be much narrower and sort of be at the edges. It wouldn't be something as ambitious as what he's calling for.
RUHLE: But even though it's a divided Congress, Yasmeen, Republicans only have a narrow majority in the House. Are there are no centrist Republicans who want kids to be safer in schools and do something about this?
ABUTALEB: I think the bigger question there is if the White House and Democratic Senators, since they do still maintain control of the Senate, force a vote on this in some way and really put that question to the test, if Chuck Schumer brings it up in the Senate and they decide to put everybody on the record on this, and then see if Kevin McCarthy, the House leader, is willing to bring it up, I think there probably are centrist Republicans who would support this, just like those Republicans who supported the gun safety bill. But I think the bigger question here is whether Kevin McCarthy would even bring up a bill like that to the floor and put his members in that position.
RUHLE: Assuming Kevin McCarthy gets the job he so desperately wants.
