If the Southern Poverty Law Center says so, it must be true or at least that’s what MSNBC’s Alex Wagner tried to argue on her Wednesday show as she attacked the group Moms for Liberty and various Republican presidential candidates for seeking to win their support.
Despite the group having no plans to endorse a candidate, Wagner declared that “When the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the Moms group a hate and anti-government extremist group in June, Vivek Ramaswamy pledged his allegiance.”
The SPLC is a partisan, left-wing organization living off its reputation from previous generations, so naturally Republicans don’t take it seriously.
After a clip of Ramasawmy condemning the move, Wagner recalled, “A few weeks later, an Indiana chapter of Moms for Liberty quoted Hitler on the front page of its inaugural newsletter. They wrote, ‘he alone who owns the youth gains the future.’”
While quoting Hitler is never a good idea, Wagner deliberately left out the context that the quote was selected as a warning, not an endorsement.
Moving on to the GOP field more broadly, Wagner declared, “The chapter later apologized, but even after public outrage over the Hitler quote, and winning the designation of a hate group, nearly every single presidential candidate travel to Philadelphia for the Moms for Liberty annual summit this July. They cut through protesters and they joined the main stage and fashion themselves presidential candidates for liberty.”
After a series of clips from Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, and Ramaswamy, Wagner lamented, “Now all the ring kissing here can be explained by the fact that Moms for Liberty has repeatedly demonstrated its political power among a key Republican voting bloc: conservative mothers.”
Wagner described “Those mothers” as having “been electrified by the groups takeovers and censorship of books in school libraries, and they're more broad anti-woke education agenda.”
Moms don’t want their kids reading age-inappropriate material or their sons being thought that if they think about it, they can become a daughter. MSNBC thinks that makes the mothers the villain.
Wagner was not done, however. Next, she added Nikki Haley to the list of Republicans who refuse to heed the word of the SPLC, “And man, the competition to harness that political power is fierce. This morning, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Moms for Liberty cofounder Tina Descovich to Florida's Commission on Ethics. An hour later former Governor Nikki Haley, her campaign sent out a mass e-mail promoting her interview with the other co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice.”
This segment was sponsored by ADT.
Here is a transcript for the September 6 show:
MSNBC Alex Wagner Tonight
9/6/2023
9:45 PM ET
ALEX WAGNER: The group says it has no plans to endorse a candidate right now. But that has not stopped presidential candidates from endorsing Moms for Liberty. When the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the Moms group a hate and anti-government extremist group in June, Vivek Ramaswamy pledged his allegiance.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: It's a sad state of affairs when a respectable organization like Moms for Liberty, and by the way, I’m proud to be the first presidential candidate that signed their pledge, is now designated a hate group... If they're hate group, then so be it, count me in.
WAGNER: Count into the hate group. A few weeks later, an Indiana chapter of Moms for Liberty quoted Hitler on the front page of its inaugural newsletter. They wrote, “he alone who owns the youth gains the future.”
The chapter later apologized, but even after public outrage over the Hitler quote, and winning the designation of a hate group, nearly every single presidential candidate travel to Philadelphia for the Moms for Liberty annual summit this July. They cut through protesters and they joined the main stage and fashion themselves presidential candidates for liberty.
RON DESANTIS: I see that moms for liberties is coming under attack by the left, attack by the corporate media, protest out here in the streets, and now you know how I feel everywhere I go.
DONALD TRUMP: Parental rights, you think you'd have parental rights. It's unbelievable what they do to your children.
RAMASWAMY: What we need to do, what you all are already doing, which is why I love you, which is why they will protest you, which is why they will vandalize our events, is that we are speaking the truth without apology.
WAGNER: Now all the ring kissing here can be explained by the fact that Moms for Liberty has repeatedly demonstrated its political power among a key Republican voting bloc: conservative mothers. Those mothers have been electrified by the groups takeovers and censorship of books in school libraries, and they're more broad anti-woke education agenda. And man, the competition to harness that political power is fierce. This morning, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Moms for Liberty cofounder Tina Descovich to Florida's Commission on Ethics. An hour later former Governor Nikki Haley, her campaign sent out a mass e-mail promoting her interview with the other co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice.
