On Friday's MSNBC coverage of the 2020 presidential election, MSNBC contributor and disaffected ex-Republican Steve Schmidt fretted that almost half the country voted for President Donald Trump, declaring that they "voted for a statist, authoritarian movement with fascistic markers that's hostile to American democracy."
Lamenting that "Trumpism" will likely continue, he predicted that Tucker Carlson will be the GOP presidential frontrunner in 2024 and griped about the role Fox News and other right-leaning media would play in making voters believe the 2020 election was "illegitimate."
Even though almost half the country voted for Trump, MSNBC had one of its typical exclusionary segments in which both the Democrat and the Republican supported the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden. At 4:32 p.m. MSNBC host Brian Williams cued up Schmidt's commentary by falsely characterizing the Texas incident between Trump supporters and a Biden campaign bus:
When I heard Marco Rubio, I guess, the day before Election Day kind of saluting the folks, the Trump caravan that almost ran the Biden bus off the road, you know, you hear something like that from someone who's supposed to be a mainstream Republican Senator -- you realize that Trumpism -- and that's part of what the Lincoln Project was formed to defeat -- Trumpism is a powerful thing. It may be a loser politically, but do you anticipate it to survive Donald Trump?
Schmidt began his latest loud-mouthed rant by fretting about the future of the party he supposedly wants to recapture before moving onto denouncing conservative media and Sinclair-owned local news stations. He also invoked the Chernobyl nuclear disaster as he called for Trumpism to be buried (click "expand"):
Oh, absolutely. Look, we have almost 48 percent of this country that's voted for a statist authoritarian movement with fascistic markers that's hostile to American democracy, to the rule of law that venerates an individual, that's a cult of personality. I think that Tucker Carlson is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024. What --- what you are going to see is every Republican candidate will kowtow to the conspiracy that Trump was stabbed in the back by unseen malicious forces of the deep state, that the election was stolen, that it's illegitimate, I mean, forever. Forever.
More than a majority of the Republican Party will believe this was an illegitimate election because they have been poisoned by the Murdoch operation, by OAN, by Sinclair, by the toxic sludge of sewage and crap and disinformation and lies that flows on Facebook into the screens of the American people. And so this is a long-term fight. You know, we have an emboldened white supremacist, white nationalist movement in this country now because of Trump. We see a militia movement that has become part and parcel of the Republican Party where it's now standard operating procedure at a --- at a political rally to see the guys with their AR-15s. So all of this needs to be sealed back under a sarcophagus of the type that lays over the Chernobyl reactor. But it's going to take a long, long time to do it.
To continue to keep his grift alive, Schmidt made clear that, even if Trump is defeated, Republicans must continue to be defeated and Democrats remain victorious until seemingly every last Republican who even voted for a Trump agenda item or said a nice thing about a Trump cabinet member is defeated (click "expand"):
The good news is this. The majority of the country has rejected this. They have rejected it by more than four million votes. The states of Georgia will flip. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. This is a very substantial victory by Vice President Biden. It is a historic victory. It is hard to turn a Prresident out of office. Donald Trump has been repudiated by the righteous anger of the American people significantly. Now, the Trump enablers like Lindsey Graham, they paid no price. They were rewarded for it. And now we see Lindsey Graham standing up with Donald Trump in what is tantamount, at least rhetorically, to a coup. In the end, from Lexington and Concord forward, the idea of the country was that we, and by we I mean the people, govern ourselves. We pick the leaders. Our politicians don't tell us how long they wish to serve. We tell them. And Trump has been fired because of his recklessness, his insanity, his malfeasance, his incompetence, and because he is the worst president in the history of the country who has presided over one of the greatest calamities had the history of the country, it's time to pack up. Every single Republican elected official in this country from dog catcher to U.S. Senator to governor has an absolute moral and an American obligation to support the integrity of the election and the result of the winner, and the winner is Joe Biden. The 46th president of the United States come January 20th, 2021, at the noon hour.
As Williams followed up by turning to former Maryland Democratic Congresswoman Donna Edwards, the MSNBC host seemed surprised House Democrats could lose seats under Speaker Nancy Pelosi's leadership as he posed: "A final question about your old caucus. I don't think anyone expected the Democrats under Nancy Pelosi to lose seats in the House, but that is what happened. Any lessons that are obvious to you?"
Despite those losses, Edwards insisted Democrats have a "mandate" to do as they see fit: "They have the majority. They will have the presidency. And they will have a governing mandate, I think, with a record number of millions of people who did, as Steve said, repudiated Donald Trump and they will begin to really rebuild this country in all of its institutions."
This heavily slanted commentary was sponsored in part by Humira. Their contact information is linked.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from November 6, click "expand."
MSNBC election coverage
November 6, 2020
4:32 p.m. EasternBRIAN WILLIAMS: Steve Schmidt, when I heard Marco Rubio, I guess, the day before Election Day kind of saluting the folks, the Trump caravan that almost ran the Biden bus off the road, you know, you hear something like that from someone who's supposed to be a mainstream Republican Senator -- you realize that Trumpism -- and that's part of what the Lincoln Project was formed to defeat -- Trumpism is a powerful thing. It may be a loser politically, but do you anticipate it to survive Donald Trump?
STEVE SCHMIDT: Oh, absolutely. Look, we have almost 48 percent of this country that's voted for a statist authoritarian movement with fascistic markers that's hostile to American democracy, to the rule of law that venerates an individual, that's a cult of personality. I think that Tucker Carlson is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024. What --- what you are going to see is every Republican candidate will kowtow to the conspiracy that Trump was stabbed in the back by unseen malicious forces of the deep state, that the election was stolen, that it's illegitimate, I mean, forever. Forever. More than a majority of the Republican Party will believe this was an illegitimate election because they have been poisoned by the Murdoch operation, by OAN, by Sinclair, by the toxic sludge of sewage and crap and disinformation and lies that flows on Facebook into the screens of the American people. And so this is a long-term fight. You know, we have an emboldened white supremacist, white nationalist movement in this country now because of Trump. We see a militia movement that has become part and parcel of the Republican Party where it's now standard operating procedure at a --- at a political rally to see the guys with their AR-15s. So all of this needs to be sealed back under a sarcophagus of the type that lays over the Chernobyl reactor. But it's going to take a long, long time to do it. The good news is this. The majority of the country has rejected this. They have rejected it by more than four million votes. The states of Georgia will flip. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. This is a very substantial victory by Vice President Biden. It is a historic victory. It is hard to turn a Prresident out of office. Donald Trump has been repudiated by the righteous anger of the American people significantly. Now, the Trump enablers like Lindsey Graham, they paid no price. They were rewarded for it. And now we see Lindsey Graham standing up with Donald Trump in what is tantamount, at least rhetorically, to a coup. In the end, from Lexington and Concord forward, the idea of the country was that we, and by we I mean the people, govern ourselves. We pick the leaders. Our politicians don't tell us how long they wish to serve. We tell them. And Trump has been fired because of his recklessness, his insanity, his malfeasance, his incompetence, and because he is the worst president in the history of the country who has presided over one of the greatest calamities had the history of the country, it's time to pack up. Every single Republican elected official in this country from dog catcher to U.S. Senator to governor has an absolute moral and an American obligation to support the integrity of the election and the result of the winner, and the winner is Joe Biden. The 46th president of the United States come January 20th, 2021, at the noon hour.
WILLIAMS: Donna Edwards, a final question about your old caucus. I don't think anyone expected the Democrats under Nancy Pelosi to lose seats in the House, but that is what happened. Any lessons that are obvious to you?
DONNA EDWARDS: Well, I think it's disappointing, but I think Democrats have also displayed a lot of unity over this last year, and I think that they are going to have to hash whatever the differences are inside of the caucus and then get down to the business of governing. I think part of the reason that you saw these losses are in places where, you know, Democrats won in places where Donald Trump, you know, had major victories. It's tough to survive under that. But Democrats have the majority. They have the majority. They will have the presidency. And they will have a governing mandate, I think, with a record number of millions of people who did, as Steve said, repudiated Donald Trump and they will begin to really rebuild this country in all of its institutions. You know, Brian, I have been very concerned about the way the world sees us, and this week they have to see us as a surviving democracy and the way that we do that is for Democrats and Republicans to begin to govern.
