In addition to his hours-long Twitter tirade on Wednesday attacking God-fearing people for offering their “thoughts and prayers” in reaction to the San Bernardino, Think Progress contributing editor Igor Volsky capped off his day on the 11:00 p.m. Eastern edition of MSNBC’s All In where host Chris Hayes gave him the floor to pontificate about how “all we hear from these people is thoughts and prayers” and no action against the NRA.
Hayes first introduced Volsky after interviewing socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and showed one of Volsky’s many tweets before asking him how he came to making such a stance against conservatives and people of prayer.
Sitting in Washington, the snide Volsky smeared those offering “thoughts and prayers” as “so predictable” because “they've been thinking and praying about this since Newtown” and ignored the “opportunity then as a country to pass some actual gun reforms.”
When the reliably liberal Hayes pushed back by telling Volsky “what’s wrong with thoughts and prayers” and wondering why he thinks its “a sentiment worthy of criticism in your mind,” Volsky fired back: “[T]hese folks only want to think and pray and the NRA pays them to only think and pray about gun violence and not to do anything else about it.”
Volsky continued by spewing about how the National Rifle Association “spend[s] $20 million making sure that all certain lawmakers do is think and pray nothing else” and while he’s supposedly “all for thinking and for praying and for having these very serious moments when we reflect on what happened, when we remember the victims,” he also possessed the belief that “the country is really ready for action.”
Moments later, Volsky used his final chance to speak by raising his voice to lament that:
[I]t's shocking that when it comes to gun violence, time and time again, all we hear from these people is thoughts and prayers and people keep on dying and dying and dying, and all they can say is, thoughts and prayers, let's not talk about this now. Let's wait. Respectful amount of time, and then in certain amount of weeks or months we can address it, but we can't because there is a mass shooting almost every single, you know, week in this country at this point.
The relevant portions of the transcript from the 11:00 p.m. Eastern edition of MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes on December 2 can be found below.
MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes
December 2, 2015
11:24 p.m. EasternCHRIS HAYES: Think Progress contributor editor Igor Volsky also throughout the day noted Republicans were tweeting their thoughts and prayers but questioned why their party won’t hold votes on gun safety to help prevent another mass shooting. Volsky began tweeted out a laundry list of GOP connections to the NRA, like this tweet, aimed at Senator Mitch McConnell: “NRA dumped $922,000 into the reelection bid, so when it comes to preventing gun violence all u get this tweet.” He is joining me now is Igor Volsky, contributing editor to Think Progress. Igor, I've seen a tremendous amount of attention paid to these tweets today. How did this start?
THINK PROGRESS CONTRIBUTING EDITOR IGOR VOLSKY: Well, it just started in the sense that it's so predictable. The responses are so predictable. I mean, they've been thinking and praying about this since Newtown where almost as you point out at the anniversary, December 14th, we had such an opportunity then as a country to pass some actual gun reforms. We didn't, here we are almost a year after, having the same conversation and these lawmakers are having the same, same exact reaction they had then and to all of the shootings, we've seen since then.
HAYES: I’ve seen a lot of people say, what's wrong with thoughts and prayers? I mean, we don't know what happened and this is obviously — all we know is that something horrific happened, particularly early on when folks are tweeting this. Why is that a sentiment expressed worthy of criticism in your mind?
VOLSKY: Well, because it's okay, think and pray, but these folks only want to think and pray and the NRA pays them to only think and pray about gun violence and not to do anything else about it. You know, they spend $20 million making sure that all certain lawmakers do is think and pray nothing else. I'm all for thinking and for praying and for having these very serious moments when we reflect on what happened, when we remember the victims, but I think the country is really ready for action, for actually something to be done, not just the thinking and the praying.
(....)
HAYES: Are you struck today as you think about thoughts and prayers as I am as we watch the development of the story and we watch the political position in the midst of a campaign essentially digest this horrible tragedy, the ways in which you can see pieces fall into place depending on what set of facts. So, in the beginning, it's guns, so we see Republican politicians react in another way, Democrats react in another. As we go on, we may learn there is a motive, we may learn the organization passed these people, was attached to this act of violence, and we'll also see the response play out in that way?
VOLSKY: Well, Chris, it would be ridiculous, if it was clear this was a terror attack, like God forbid the one we that we saw in Paris, it would be ridiculous to think that certain lawmakers would go on Twitter and say thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers. You — there's an understanding that those kinds of issues with, you can't solve with thoughts and prayers, you need actual action and it's shocking that when it comes to gun violence, time and time again, all we hear from these people is thoughts and prayers and people keep on dying and dying and dying, and all they can say is, thoughts and prayers, let's not talk about this now. Let's wait. Respectful amount of time, and then in certain amount of weeks or months we can address it, but we can't because there is a mass shooting almost every single, you know, week in this country at this point.
