MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross lamented on her Saturday show that President Biden was not hard enough on Republicans during his Thursday speech. With LaTosha Brown of Black Voters Matter, Cross expressed dismay that Ronald Reagan and the GOP “of the 1970s, the 60s, the 50s” was not included in Biden’s denunciation because such references are necessary to overcome racism.
After playing a clip of Biden’s speech, Cross claimed the speech has put her in a difficult position, “So, LaTosha, this is my challenge here. The Republican Party today is driven by, yes, the MAGA Republicans. The Republican Party yesterday was driven by MAGA Republicans, the original MAGA in Ronald Reagan, those policies are not good for us. The Republican Party of the 1970s, the 60s, the 50s, they had policy that was harmful to black folks.”
Just wait until Cross hears what the Democrats were doing in those days. Still, she lamented that Biden’s speech makes it more difficult to label all Republicans racist, “I just wish we could call a thing a thing and speak truth about it. What did you think of Biden's, you know, kind of, olive branch? Hey, I don't mean all Republicans.”
Brown also lamented that Biden believed in the myth of the Good Republican. “The truth of the matter is that the Republicans have literally—literally—ran this country into the ground. That ultimately as they have attacked everybody, they have been complicit and so while there’s this distinction to create this space as wiggle room for Republicans. The truth of the matter is that they have been complicit in allowing this. They’ve created an environment for what is happening to happen right now.”
Like Cross, Brown sought to blame Reagan, “This did not happen overnight. Matter-of-fact, we can't just blame all this on Trump. We can go back, I can go back to the Reagan years.
After Cross interrupted to express her agreement, Brown continued, “I can go back even further, prior to that. So, the bottom line is if we are to move forward as a country, unified, it needs—we’re going to have to have policies that’s not based on racism.”
Brown would go onto equate her preferred policies on the minimum wage, education, and health care with racial healing while claiming anyone opposed is part of the problem, “We have to literally be able to say that that is what we’re fighting for and anybody against that, we have to literally call them out.”
And the rest of the media wonder why Republicans don’t believe Biden’s spin about this speech being about just some Republicans.
This segment was sponsored by 4imprint.
Here is a transcript for the September 3 show:
MSNBC The Cross Connection
9/3/2022
10:08 AM ET
TIFFANY CROSS: So, LaTosha, this is my challenge here. The Republican Party today is driven by, yes, the MAGA Republicans. The Republican Party yesterday was driven by MAGA Republicans, the original MAGA in Ronald Reagan, those policies are not good for us. The Republican Party of the 1970s, the 60s, the 50s, they had policy that was harmful to black folks and I just wish we could call a thing a thing and speak truth about it. What did you think of Biden's, you know, kind of, olive branch? Hey, I don't mean all Republicans.
LATOSHA BROWN: You know, he has been consistent about wanting bipartisanship, so I understand that that’s in alignment with his strategy is, like you. The truth of the matter is that the Republicans have literally—literally—ran this country into the ground. That ultimately as they have attacked everybody, they have been complicit and so while there’s this distinction to create this space as wiggle room for Republicans. The truth of the matter is that they have been complicit in allowing this. They’ve created an environment for what is happening to happen right now. This did not happen overnight. Matter-of-fact, we can't just blame all this on Trump. We can go back, I can go back to the Reagan years.
CROSS: Right.
BROWN: I can go back even further, prior to that. So, the bottom line is if we are to move forward as a country, unified, it needs—we’re going to have to have policies that’s not based on racism. Policies that says that poor people should not be excluded or punished because they’re poor. Policies need to say that when people work, they should get paid a fair wage and that all of us deserve quality education and quality health care. We have to literally be able to say that that is what we’re fighting for and anybody against that, we have to literally call them out.
