MSNBC All In host Chris Hayes traveled over to NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers on Tuesday to discuss the state of the political world including the situation surrounding House Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, and Matt Gaetz. For Hayes, one of the big takeaways was that the whole episode shows just how awesome former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was.
Meyers noted that McCarthy found himself between a rock and a hard place, “This is interesting, the sort of, I guess the calculus of this moment is a reminder that because there wasn't a red wave, like Kevin McCarthy does have this very thin line. And so, you know, ultimately, yes, the, you know, Republicans won the House. But you realize the way they won it, the math just stinks.”
Hayes conceded Meyers’s point was true, but that should not be used an excuse for McCarthy, “It does, although, that's true and obviously if they had a 20-vote majority, it would be a very different situation but Pelosi had the exact same majority last Congress.”
As he continued, Hayes claimed something he thought made Democrats look good, but in reality was just the opposite, “And partly that's because not only is Nancy Pelosi an incredibly skilled legislator just in terms of the dynamics of keeping a caucus together. There's just much more of a unified Democratic governing vision. There was stuff they wanted to do.”
Hayes elaborated, “There was really clear stuff and it got worked out through the primary, and there was the Inflation Reduction Act. There's stuff on climate they wanna do, stuff on the CARE economy that got cut, left on the cutting room floor because of Manchin. You know, there was stuff on taxes, on the minimum wage, all this stuff some they did, some they didn't. But there was stuff they wanted to do.”
Arguing that the Democratic establishment and progressive radicals are closer aligned than the moderates versus progressives narrative the media usually tries spin is not the argument Hayes seems to think it is.
Here is a transcript for the October 3-taped show:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
10/4/2023
1:11 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: This is interesting, the sort of, I guess the calculus of this moment is a reminder that because there wasn't a red wave, like Kevin McCarthy does have this very thin line.
CHRIS HAYES: Right.
MEYERS: And so, you know, ultimately, yes, the, you know, Republicans won the House. But you realize the way they won it, the math just stinks.
CHRIS HAYES: It does, although, that's true and obviously if they had a 20-vote majority, it would be a very different situation but Pelosi had the exact same majority last Congress.
MEYERS: Yeah.
HAYES: And was there any of this: no, of course not.
MEYERS: No, right.
HAYES: And partly that's because not only is Nancy Pelosi an incredibly skilled legislator just in terms of the dynamics of keeping a caucus together. There's just much more of a unified Democratic governing vision. There was stuff they wanted to do.
MEYERS: Yeah.
HAYES: There was really clear stuff and it got worked out through the primary, and there was the Inflation Reduction Act. There's stuff on climate they wanna do, stuff on the CARE economy that got cut, left on the cutting room floor because of Manchin. You know, there was stuff on taxes, on the minimum wage, all this stuff some they did, some they didn't. But there was stuff they wanted to do.
