In recent days, race-obsessed MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson has again been going off the rails with hyperbolic accusations of racism. Not only did he oddly accuse Toys R Us of promoting "white supremacy," but he even made a crack about Republicans and the KKK as he described the Alabama GOP Senate primary contest as "the Ku Klux versus the Klan."
It all began on Tuesday when Johnson -- politics editor for The Root -- posted an article titled, "The Toys R Us Bankruptcy Filing is Probably Good News for Black Kids," in which he rejoiced over the financial problems of Toys R Us and claimed that the toy chain had promoted "white supremacy" by only offering white dolls in its stores. Johnson opines:
The news that Toys R Us will likely be closing some stories and may go out of business is actually a good thing for black America and black kids in general. Toys R Us, for all its nostalgic glitter, has been a horrific bombardment of white supremacy and exclusion for black children, and the sooner folks take their shopping online and to other outlets, the better off and healthier we'll all be.
After recalling having difficulty finding non-white dolls or action figures in toy stores, he further complains: "Those toy aisles are a painful walk through the first stages of cultural white supremacy, and Toys R Us has been a big part of that problem."
But a Google search not only finds a list of black dolls sold by the company, but a few years ago CNBC.com even ran an article fretting over pricing discrepancies between black dolls and white dolls offered by Toys R Us. So it is unclear why public stores would not stock products that the chain clearly offers.
Then, on Saturday's AM Joy show on MSNBC, during a discussion of the Alabama Republican Senate primary between incumbent Luther Strange and challenger Roy Moore, Johnson snarked that the competition "is like deciding between the Ku Klux and the Klan." He then added: "They're both vastly conservative people who have been in favor of the Muslim ban. And that's why Donald Trump is playing both sides because he's perfectly comfortable with those sorts of people."
As frequent MSNBC Republican guest Kurt Bardella got to respond to Johnson, the alleged Republican was true to form in voicing no complaints about Johnson's far-left bashing of the GOP.
A bit earlier, during a discussion of Trump criticizing black athletes and public figures like Colin Kaepernick and Jemele Hill who have publicly let loose some of their over the top political views, Johnson charged that President Trump "sympathizes with white supremacists." Presumably referring to the KKK rather than Toys R Us, Johnson declared:
And Jemele Hill is just being excellent as she usually is in telling the country what we already know, which is that our President sympathizes with white supremacists. He's going to have a problem with that. And at the end of the day, this is a President who is incapable of functioning under criticism.
The segment also featured frequent guest Karine Jean-Pierre of MoveOn.org. A week after falsely claiming that Miss Texas had called President Trump a "white supremacist," Jean-Pierre was again spreading misinformation as she claimed that Trump had asserted that "all" of the demonstrators at the Charlottesville white nationalist rally were "fine people" even though the President denounced white supremacists as he spoke out on the event.
The far-left analyst also through around terms like "neo-Nazi" and "white supremacist" as she applied them to former White House advisors Sebastian Gorka and Steve Bannon. Referring to Trump's appearance in Alabama to endorse Strange against Moore, Jean-Pierre cracked:
He went through this conundrum that played out right on stage. He has Luther Strange -- who he's supporting -- but in his mind, "If this guy loses, I don't want to be connected to a loser," because it's all about him. And then he's probably thinking, "Why didn't I support the bigot?" you know, because he's like, Gorka, the neo-Nazi supports the other guy. Roy Moore. And you have --the white supremacist Bannon who supports Roy Moore..."
She soon added:
And then the continuing kind of drama that he continues to push which is he continues to support white supremacy clearly because he sees all of those folks who were at Charlottesville as fine people. But if you take a knee and take a peaceful protest, you need to get fired and get thrown off the field. And, lastly, one of the things that I thought was, "Gosh, can you imagine all the parents across the country that have to ban their kids from watching the President of the United States speak because he says misogynistic, bigoted things.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Saturday, September 23, AM Joy on MSNBC:
10:03 a.m. ET
JASON JOHNSON, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: All these people are black, and all these black people are rich, and all these are black people who are rich who have become successful and they don't owe Donald Trump anything. And those three things alone will usually make you the subject of his ire. But when they also step up and they talk about the problems that he is creating for this country, Colin Kaepernick was taking a knee before Donald Trump got elected. Stephen Curry recognizes that going into the White House validates and normalizes this President. And Jemele Hill is just being excellent as she usually is in telling the country what we already know, which is that our President sympathizes with white supremacists. He's going to have a problem with that. And at the end of the day, this is a President who is incapable of functioning under criticism.
(...)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, MOVEON.ORG: He went through this conundrum that played out right on stage. He has Luther Strange -- who he's supporting -- but in his mind, "If this guy loses, I don't want to be connected to a loser," because it's all about him. And then he's probably thinking, "Why didn't I support the bigot?" you know, because he's like, Gorka, the neo-Nazi supports the other guy.
JOY REID: Yeah.
JEAN-PIERRE: Roy Moore. And so -- and you have --
REID: Bannon.
JEAN-PIERRE: -- the white supremacist Bannon who supports Roy Moore, so I think there was like this little thing that you saw play out right on stage. And then the continuing kind of drama that he continues to push which is he continues to support white supremacy clearly because he sees all of those folks who were at Charlottesville as fine people. But if you take a knee and take a peaceful protest, you need to get fired and get thrown off the field. And, lastly, one of the things that I thought was, "Gosh, can you imagine all the parents across the country that have to ban their kids from watching the President of the United States speak because he says misogynistic, bigoted things."
REID: Yeah.
JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, it's just, this is what we're dealing with.
(...)
10:14 a.m. ET
JOHNSON: I'll say this, look, the choice between Strange and Moore is like deciding between the Ku Klux and the Klan, like, it's -- they're both vastly conservative people who have been in favor of the Muslim ban. And that's why Donald Trump is playing both sides because he's perfectly comfortable with those sorts of people.
