MSNBC reached self-parodying status on Monday night as a segment on The 11th Hour led by guest host Alicia Menendez on racism in politics led to racist accusations that Republicans are actively looking for a “black Manchurian candidate” and “black male supplicant” to advance white power.
Menendez teed up a clip of Princeton Prof. Eddie Glaude Jr. earlier on Deadline: White House proclaiming Republicans, “have to create, find a black Manchurian Candidate, like Herschel Walker. A walking stereotype will do their bidding. I mean damn, when are we gonna finally, finally, leave this behind and try to be an actual democracy.”
Considering this was a segment on racism, Menendez utterly failed in her job to call out Glaude’s blatant racism. Making matters much worse was that Menendez’s question to Women’s and Gender Studies Prof. Brittney Cooper was almost as bad as Glaude’s comments, “Here’s the thing, you have Republicans, Tom Cotton, Rick Scott campaigning for Walker tomorrow. So, are they just okay with this?”
Just okay with what, exactly? This wasn’t a segment on the allegations Walker paid for an abortion and Menendez never provided any evidence Walker is a racist and no Republican thinks Glaude's were appropriate, let alone accurate.
Still, Cooper followed up on both Glaude’s and Menendez’s racism, “Of course they are. You know, look, we can't let Kanye West off the hook. He's also participating in this, kind of, you know, stereotype of black male, you know, being a black male supplicant to white power in the same that Herschel Walker is.”
It is one thing to condemn West for his recent anti-Semitic remarks, but that in no way justifies another racist attack towards Walker and black conservatives.
Moving on to the GOP as a whole, Cooper claimed, “This is who they need black men to be as I said, you know, last week on Twitter. This is the kind of blackness that works for the Republican Party, one that is deeply anti-black in its own way. And so, here, I mean, I think until the truth, Alicia. These folks don't want democracy. What they want as white rule, what they want is white power.”
Even more distressing for Cooper is the fact that these alleged racists exist even after the Civil War and World War II, “these folks are still willing to say ‘our money’s on white power as the solution for the future of America.’”
After claiming “these folks” want “subordinate” racial minorities, Cooper also lied, “That is what they want, they do not want democracy. They want white rule and that’s what they’re voting for.”
In this segment on racism, it was previously mentioned that a Democratic member of the Los Angeles City Council had to resign for racism, but that was not extrapolated to condemn the entirety of the Democratic Party.
This segment was sponsored by Otezla.
Here is a transcript for the October 10 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
10/10/2022
11:40 PM ET
ALICIA MENENDEZ: And some of what we’re seeing, which is also to sit out these elections. I'm going to come back to you, Gustavo, on Marjorie Taylor Greene, but Britney I want you to hear what Eddie Glaude said earlier on this network, take a listen.
EDDIE GLAUDE JR. : They have to create, find a black Manchurian Candidate, like Herschel Walker. A walking stereotype will do their bidding. I mean damn, when are we gonna finally, finally, leave this behind and try to be an actual democracy.
MENENDEZ: Here’s the thing, you have Republicans, Tom Cotton, Rick Scott campaigning for Walker tomorrow. So, are they just okay with this?
BRITTNEY COOPER: Of course they are. You know, look, we can't let Kanye West off the hook. He's also participating in this, kind of, you know, stereotype of black male, you know, being a black male supplicant to white power in the same that Herschel Walker is.
This is who they need black men to be as I said, you know, last week on Twitter. This is the kind of blackness that works for the Republican Party, one that is deeply anti-black in its own way.
And so, here, I mean, I think until the truth, Alicia. These folks don't want democracy. What they want as white rule, what they want is white power. Unfortunately, because of how we understand history in this country for a very long time folks were able to have white power and call that democracy while it was actively excluding black folks, indigenous folks, Latino folk, Asian folk, from the body politic.
Now because we have tools at our disposal we are able to say “Hey, we are here, we part of we the people, you can't have a real democracy unless you include us” and I think the thing that is, if we want to be vulnerable, heartbreaking to many of us is that when confronted with that truth in the aftermath of a civil war, World War II, which was fought in part, in solidarity with Jewish folks, right, being decimated by Hitler, the fact that we know those things about our history and that these folks are still willing to say “our money’s on white power as the solution for the future of America" when we know how devastating consequences is really hard to stomach if you are a person of color because these folks are saying "we actually want the future to not include you at best and, you know, at worst, and at best, if it does include you we want you to be clearly, legally and in practice subordinate to us."
That is what they want, they do not want democracy. They want white rule and that’s what they’re voting for.
