MSNBC's Friday night edition of The 11th Hour marked the passing of President Biden's COVID package by hailing it as a "Rooseveltian" and "Johnsonian" achievement. Which, from the perspective of historian Michael Beschloss, was not just a good thing on a practical level, but necessary on a larger level because if Biden fails, then democracy itself is danger of falling to conspiracy theorists.
Host Brian Williams referenced Biden's Rose Garden signing ceremony when he inquired of Beschloss, "Michael, the president quoted FDR today. This has been called a Rooseveltian achievement, it's been called a Johnsonian achievement. What do you call it?"
Beschloss agreed, "I call it both of those things." After joking about the fact it was fellow guest Eugene Robinson's birthday, he elaborated by calling the moment historically great, "I think you have to look at what happened this week and say this is a moment we will be reading about and learning about for a long time and so will our grandchildren."
If that seems hyperbolic, Beschloss explained:
Because here's a moment where Joe Biden has to deal with crises and challenges of a kind almost no other president has had to deal with. A pandemic killing more than half a million people, an economic problem that's caused people to starve and be without their jobs, all at the same time as terrible racial division, which has only lasted for four centuries or so, plus a crisis of democracy that we almost lost on the 6th of January, and also our public school system is in crisis at this moment.
People starved? Where did that com
ce from? If people actually starved under Trump, do you think MSNBC would have missed it?
If racial divisions have been around for over 400 years, then it isn't exactly something "no president has had to deal with." Furthermore, he naturally omitted the Democratic Party-teacher union alliance when talking about public schools.
Still, Beschloss wasn't done comparing Biden to FDR, "All this at once, almost like FDR in 1933 when he had to deal with the banks, a bad economy and total loss of faith in government. If this all works, Joe Biden can be a great president."
But, if Biden fails that would be disastrous because then "there's a very good chance that the Democrats in 2024 could have a very hard time keeping the presidency, which may then go to strange conspiracy theorists."
The 2024 election is over three years away away, Republicans haven't even announced their candidacies yet, but Beschloss is already portraying it as a fight for democracy itself, which is same thing he did in 2020.
This segment was sponsored by Fidelity.
Here is a transcript for the March 12 show:
MSNBC
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
11:23 PM ET
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Michael, the president quoted FDR today. This has been called a Rooseveltian achievement, it's been called a Johnsonian achievement. What do you call it?
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: I call it both of those things, and before I do, happy birthday Gene, thanks for being with us, tonight.
EUGENE ROBINSON: Thank you. Thank you
BESCHLOSS: It's not Roosevelt's or Johnson's birthday but it is Gene's. I think you have to look at what happened this week and say this is a moment we will be reading about and learning about for a long time and so will our grandchildren. Because here's a moment where Joe Biden has to deal with crises and challenges of a kind almost no other president has had to deal with. A pandemic killing more than half a million people, an economic problem that's caused people to starve and be without their jobs, all at the same time as terrible racial division, which has only lasted for four centuries or so, plus a crisis of democracy that we almost lost on the 6th of January, and also our public school system is in crisis at this moment. All this at once, almost like FDR in 1933 when he had to deal with the banks, a bad economy and total loss of faith in government. If this all works, Joe Biden can be a great president. If it doesn't, and people feel that he fails, there's a very good chance that the Democrats in 2024 could have a very hard time keeping the presidency, which may then go to strange conspiracy theorists.
