Against the backdrop of last week's mass shooting in Odessa, Texas, and Hurricane Dorian, MSNBC Live host Stephanie Ruhle engaged in a panel discussion to talk about whether former Vice President Joe Biden can appeal enough to an uncompromising Generation Z on the issues of gun control and climate policy in order to defeat President Trump should be the Democratic nominee.
Director of Polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics John Della Volpe began by saying that the generic Democrat needs 60 percent of the young vote to get elected and the best way for Biden to meat that threshold is not just argue for gun control, but a changing culture, "He needs to tap into the unique set of values that young people have. It's not about gun control. It's about changing a gun culture. It's about recognizing the anxiety and the fear that young people have in building a relationship. It is not a transactional generation."
Ruhle then stepped outside the role of journalist and into the role of commentator, "But, is it a realistic generation? Emily [Tisch Sussman], you make the point that for Gen Z voters they are unwilling to compromise, which is, I would love to be -- that is my dream. I would love to be unwilling to compromise. They’re unwilling to compromise. For them it is all or nothing. If you want to secure that vote, how can you secure their vote without losing moderates?"
Progressive commentator Sussman then explained why Gen Z's unwillingness to compromise appeals to Ruhle, "You do have -- they have to show they understand the real fears that Gen Z are feeling. They are truly scared of the classroom. They are truly scared of their planet burning." Sussman concluded saying that Biden would need to be more inspiring than Hillary Clinton and with some counterfactual arguments about the difficulties young people have in voting, "They have to have something to inspire them and there are a lot of structural barriers for young people to vote. They move constantly. They may not understand the system. Having to register on paper is a totally foreign concept. There's a lot of barriers there."
Anybody who has spent time recently on a college campus knows this isn't true. There is always someone shoving a voter registration form in your face to get you to update your voter information.
It would be fashionable to dump on Gen Z and their ultra-left and their utterly insane and unrealistic gun control and climate change plans, but Ruhle does not even realize that they were in part created by the adults in the media. Greta Thunberg wouldn't be a global figure if the media wasn't "smitten" with her and used her to do their bidding.
They wouldn't be afraid to go to school if CNN didn't hold a show trial after Parkland and falsely portray schools as war zones or hold climate town halls saying human civilization will cease to exist in twelve years if we don't give Democrats more power. Gen Z isn't that different than Ruhle after all.
Here is a transcript of the September 6 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle
9:43 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: All right, then John, let’s say Joe Biden wins the nomination without getting the young people's vote. Now at the general, they didn’t back in theory him in the primary, do they show up to ensure he beats Trump?
JOHN DELLA VOLPE: It depends. A generic democratic candidate starts with about 55% of the support of young people. In order I think to lock down the electoral map that number has to go to 60%, okay? Barack Obama got to 66% the first time, he got to 60% in 2012. Hillary Clinton stayed at 55%. So what he needs to do is talk far more than just what he thinks about gun control or his success in the past. He needs to tap into the unique set of values that young people have. It's not about gun control. It's about changing a gun culture. It's about recognizing the anxiety and the fear that young people have in building a relationship. It is not a transactional generation. Anyone who thinks that is going to have a very, very difficult time securing this vote.
RUHLE: But, is it a realistic generation? Emily, you make the point that for Gen Z voters they are unwilling to compromise, which is, I would love to be -- that is my dream. I would love to be unwilling to compromise. They’re unwilling to compromise. For them it is all or nothing. If you want to secure that vote, how can you secure their vote without losing moderates?
EMILY TISCH SUSSMAN: You do have -- they have to show they understand the real fears that Gen Z are feeling. They are truly scared of the classroom. They are truly scared of their planet burning. You have to show that you actually identify those fears and policies that can address them. I thought the climate forum was really interesting the way candidates were pushed on the issue and also how they framed the issues was very interesting and showed if they can really make that connection. Look, Buttigieg framed it as a moral imperative on climate. Booker talks about climate as being intersectional. Those -- that is the kind of language young people want to see that you get my fear. And you're pushing it into all pieces. It's driving all different pieces of the campaign. You can't just go back to that, I've had a pretty good record on it. The entire Clinton campaign strategy on young people was “well they're going to be so afraid of Trump they'll show up.” Being afraid of Trump is not enough. Now it is significantly worse that we see what he does in office but it's not enough. They have to have something to inspire them and there are a lot of structural barriers for young people to vote. They move constantly. They may not understand the system. Having to register on paper is a totally foreign concept. There's a lot of barriers there. You need a very high margin of them being able to essentially flake to be able to get that high margin of votes.
