Fresh off his CNN appearance, presidential historian Jon Meacham took his shoehorned Abraham Lincoln analogies to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports on Friday to warn “this is the gravest test of citizenship since the Civil War.” Therefore, just like Lincoln fought slavery, voters must vote Democrat to save democracy.
Tying the Civil War to current times, Meacham declared, “The war had come, however, because he was convinced that slavery had to die and democracy had to endure. And so, in our own time, we have to do -- to use a popular term, we have to do an inventory.”
Imploring voters to vote for the blue team, Meacham continued, “We have to decide what do we really believe? Do--are we so wedded to a partisan agenda in real time that we are -- we want our way right now, or are just enough of us able to say, you know, I may not agree with the Democrats there this case on policy, but you know what, democracy is more important than a marginal tax rate.”
After Mitchell mentioned about “345 election deniers”—by which she meant Republican election deniers, Democrat election deniers never factor into these conversations—running for office, she asked, “How confident can we be that democracy does survive?”
Meacham replied by warning, “We can't, we can’t be confident. We have to work really, really hard. This is the gravest test of citizenship since the Civil War and it’s, this is, as President Biden might say, it’s not hyperbole and it's not a joke.”
At least Mitchell managed to mention at the beginning of the segment that Meacham occasionally advises Biden. Still, Meacham then returned to his earlier point about voting for Democrats:
And I think one of the groups that has a moral reckoning to do are people who disagree with President Biden and Speaker Pelosi, whom we are thinking about at this hour, and the Democratic Party on policy who say they don't appreciate Trump but who nevertheless vote Republican because of judges and taxes and that sort of thing. All important, of course. But as our friend Doris Goodwin pointed out, quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, this is not an ordinary time.
Meacham might have more success with that group if he stops insisting history began in 2020 which, being a historian, should be obvious to him.
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript for the October 28 show:
MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports
10/28/2022
12:31 PM ET
JON MEACHAM: The war had come, however, because he was convinced that slavery had to die and democracy had to endure. And so, in our own time, we have to do -- to use a popular term, we have to do an inventory.
We have to decide what do we really believe? Do--are we so wedded to a partisan agenda in real time that we are -- we want our way right now, or are just enough of us able to say, you know, I may not agree with the Democrats there this case on policy, but you know what, democracy is more important than a marginal tax rate.
ANDREA MITCHELL: We’ve got, right now, 345 election deniers—
MEACHAM: Yeah.
MITCHELL: -- on the ballot across the country in key positions, secretary of state, governors, people who control election outcomes, according to Brookings. So, how confident can we be -- let's say all of those people win their races and it, you know, collapses.
MEACHAM: Yeah.
MITCHELL: How confident can we be that democracy does survive?
MEACHAM: We can't, we can’t be confident. We have to work really, really hard. This is the gravest test of citizenship since the Civil War and it’s, this is, as President Biden might say, it’s not hyperbole and it's not a joke. I thought for a long time -- you and I talked about it a lot, that this was either 1932, 33 or 1968 where the institutions ultimately held.
The difference is, Herbert Hoover didn't say FDR stole the election and put election deniers on the ballot in 1934. Hubert Humphrey didn't do that in 1968. President Trump, former President Trump has done that and to a large extent, he is both a mirror and a maker of this paranoia, which is what it is. It's fact free.
And I think one of the groups that has a moral reckoning to do are people who disagree with President Biden and Speaker Pelosi, whom we are thinking about at this hour, and the Democratic Party on policy who say they don't appreciate Trump but who nevertheless vote Republican because of judges and taxes and that sort of thing. All important, of course. But as our friend Doris Goodwin pointed out, quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, this is not an ordinary time.
