On Tuesday's Amanpour & Co. on PBS and CNN International, MSNBC contributor and disaffected ex-Republican Steve Schmidt bragged about restraining 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain's losing campaign from exposing Democrat Barack Obama's ties to the radical pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, after NPR's Michel Martin cued him up to fault Republicans over race issues.
After Schmidt played up the influence of disaffected former Republicans in forming a coalition that he described as "not a progressive coalition" to elect Joe Biden as President, Martin suggested that Republicans have ignored racism in their party as she followed up:
I still want to understand your analysis of what happened in your party ... that allowed Donald Trump to take over the party ... there have been a number of people ... I'm thinking about somebody like ... the conservative Wisconsin talk radio host ... Charlie Sykes, who was one of the first after the 2016 election to come out and say, you know, "Part of this is my fault because I ignored the fringe elements -- I ignored the racism -- I thought it was not important -- I didn't think it was a big deal -- and I'm part of the problem here." What part of this do you own? And how do you understand the fact that a Donald Trump has gotten to where he has?
Schmidt suggested that it would be racist to tell voters the truth about a Democratic candidate's ties to radicals, boasting that he restrained McCain's campaign, as he added: "No one's going to find examples of racial demagoguery in my career. I'm the guy who wouldn't allow the McCain campaign to run Jeremiah Wright ads because they were racially -- they were racially toxic."
Martin didn't point out to Schmidt that, under his leadership, the McCain ticket got just 173 electoral votes and lost the popular vote by 10 million votes.
He then alleged that Fox News has damaged the Republican Party:
The Republican Party became the party of Fox News. It became an entertainment party. It became a reality show, right? Year by year, the freaks rose. The number of people who were out there as entertainers -- not policy leaders -- policy was stripped away from the party until it became a husk.
Schmidt went on to claim that the GOP has become "America's first autocratic party."
This episode of Amanpour & Co. was sponsored by the Anderson Family Fund and the Straus Family Foundation. You can fight back by letting advertisers know how you feel about them sponsoring such content.
Transcript follows. Click "expand" to read more.
PBS & CNN International
Amanpour & Co.
December 8, 2020
STEVE SCHMIDT, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: If the coalition -- and this is not the Obama coalition -- this is not a progressive coalition that elected Joe Biden. It's a different coalition. If it falls apart and you look at the structural advantages that the Republicans have in presidential elections through the Electoral College, it means that you could wind up with President Tucker Carlson in 2024. Nobody should want to see that.
MICHEL MARTIN: I still want to understand your analysis of what happened in your party -- your former party, in your view, that allowed Donald Trump to take over the party -- to make it his party. I mean, there have been a number of people not as well known as yourself -- I'm thinking about somebody like, you know, the conservative Wisconsin talk radio host, you know, Charlie Sykes, who was one of the first after the 2016 election to come out and say, you know, "Part of this is my fault because I ignored the fringe elements -- I ignored the racism -- I thought it was not important -- I didn't think it was a big deal -- and I'm part of the problem here." What part of this do you own? And how do you understand the fact that a Donald Trump has gotten to where he has?
SCHMIDT: Look, I always considered myself a Jack Kemp Republican. I fought in the party to outreach to gay Americans, to black Americans, to Hispanic Americans. No one's going to find examples of racial demagoguery in my career. I'm the guy who wouldn't allow the McCain campaign to run Jeremiah Wright ads because they were racially -- they were racially toxic.
The Republican party became the party of Fox News. It became an entertainment party. It became a reality show, right? Year by year, the freaks rose. The number of people who were out there as entertainers -- not policy leaders -- policy was stripped away from the party until it became a husk.
Really what it is, is an organized conspiracy to maintain power for political self interest, and that's evidenced by the platform. The platform became its final form in 2020 was essentially an oath of obedience and loyalty to Donald Trump, and shattered any ideas, any notion, that the party stood for actual issues, ideas, public policies for the public good. And that's a tragedy in a country that has a two-party system -- what we have now, right. This is the -- through omission or commission, and there's more than enough commission and a hell of a lot omission. It has become America's first autocratic party.
