Reporting from Ukraine on Tuesday, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell could hardly contain her excitement for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's upcoming visit to the country. after he met with his G7 counterparts in London. It's more of the "America's back" line from the liberal media.
Mitchell began by trying to portray the administration as a collection of clear-eyed Russia hawks. "The message to Russia is very clear. You just heard from Tony Blinken, that’s what he said and now they’re meeting on Russia today as a group, the G7. Their first meeting that’s not virtual, the first meeting of these ministers since 2019 of course because of the pandemic and together they’re trying to show they can stand up against Russia."
She claimed this is a notable departure from the Trump years. "This is in contrast to former President Donald Trump placating and embracing Putin and also disavowing the allies -- that the Atlantic alliance is really strong, so this the G7 really being reinvigorated, the U.S. hopes with being able to rely on the United States."
Mitchell then appeared to remember that she was a journalist and not acting as Blinken's unofficial press secretary when she weakly added, "for the first time – they say, the critics of course, the Biden team -- the first time in four years."
Should we really believe Trump was easier on Russian than the Obama "Reset Button" team?
Not only did Mitchell omit that the Russian takeover of Crimea happened on Obama's watch and that he did very little to aid to Ukraine, but she also omitted that there is bipartisan concern on The Hill that Biden is all talk and no walk when it comes to Russia. Additionally, if Trump had turned back two destroyers from entering the Black Sea, Mitchell likely would have accused him of appeasement.
Hallie Jackson, who was filling in for Mitchell back in the studio, toed the MSNBC line that the Trump years were "indeed a rough four years." Jackson then shifted the conversation to China.
Again Mitchell sang Blinken's praises by rewriting history, "He was explicit about this when he was in South Korea, of course in Japan also talking about China, calling out China for what they say is genocide against Muslim Uyghurs, the minority Uyghurs which is something that had not been said before."
In reality, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that Chinese actions against the Uyghurs constituted genocide in the closing days of the Trump Administration.
She then claimed that the Biden Administration has "they’ve been very tough on China regarding the South China Sea, Taiwan, crushing democracy in Hong Kong," but that is only because Blinken himself acknowledged that Trump got China right.
This segment was sponsored by Subway.
Here is a transcript for the May 4 show:
MSNBC
Andrea Mitchell Reports
12:11 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: The message to Russia is very clear. You just heard from Tony Blinken, that’s what he said and now they’re meeting on Russia today as a group, the G7. Their first meeting that’s not virtual, the first meeting of these ministers since 2019 of course because of the pandemic and together they’re trying to show they can stand up against Russia, that is a very important message, that they are united and this is in contrast to former President Donald Trump placating and embracing Putin and also disavowing the allies, that the Atlantic alliance is really strong, so this the G7 really being reinvigorated, the U.S. hopes with being able to rely on the United States for the first time – they say, the critics of course, the Biden team -- the first time in four years.
HALLIE JACKSON: It was indeed a rough four years. Andrea, let’s talk a little about China. The Secretary of State has been they’ve been acting more aggressively abroad.
MITCHELL: He was explicit about this when he was in South Korea, of course in Japan also talking about China, calling out China for what they say is genocide against Muslim Uyghurs, the minority Uyghurs which is something that had not been said before, so they’ve been very tough on China regarding the South China Sea, Taiwan, crushing democracy in Hong Kong at the same time they want China to get the message that we want to compete against China, we don’t somehow want to confront China. This is what he had to say last night.
ANTONY BLINKEN: It is not our purpose to try to contain China or hold China down. What we are trying to do is uphold the international rules based order that our countries have invested so much in over so many decades to the benefit, I would argue, not just our own citizens, but people around the world, including, by the way, China.
MITCHELL: So, they know they need to work with China, of course, on climate and other big issues, on North Korea, they hope. But at the same time they acknowledge that China is the biggest threat, the biggest adversary that they face geopolitically, even more so than Vladimir Putin, but it is Putin, of course he’ll be focused on when he comes here to Kyiv.
