On Thursday's The 11th Hour, MSNBC host Brian Williams welcomed disgruntled ex-Republican Rick Wilson -- who's finally admitted that he's no longer a Republican -- as the MSNBC host marked the one-year anniversary of Wilson and other disaffected and former Republicans forming the Lincoln Project to attack the GOP during the presidential election.
Williams set things up by swooning over how "a group of anti-Trump Republicans wrote this op-ed in the New York Times announcing something new called the Lincoln Project" and, despite Joe Biden's likely entrance into the White House "the group is now focused on defeating Trumpism, and supporters of the President in Congress."
The former NBC Nightly News host -- who rarely ever has typical conservatives on his MSNBC show -- then brought aboard Wilson and Democratic strategist James Carville to discuss what the group may do in the future with President Donald Trump out of office. As Williams began with Wilson, his first question preemptively called out pro-Trump Republicans who might choose to distance themselves from him in the future:
What do you do about the Republicans -- you know their names -- who are going to say starting January 21st, "Hey, we're still Republicans. We were Never Trumpers. We were never all in with that guy." All evidence to the contrary. And what does your mission become, Rick, say for the next year?
The MSNBC host's question seemed to assume that the real Republicans voted for Joe Biden while those who actually voted Republican were not. Wilson -- a frequent guest on the show -- went directly to the Nazi comparisons: "You know, I'm going to get in trouble for this analogy, but nobody was in the SS after World War II. They were all Weimar. So the irony here is these people cannot run themselves to the car wash and pretend that the last five years didn't happen -- that they didn't empower and enable this."
Although Williams had in a previous segment identified him as a "longtime Republican strategist" and the chyron read "Republican strategist" beside Wilson's name, the Florida operatie finally admitted he is no longer a Republican:
But, you know, look, I'm no longer a registered Republican. I'm an independent now. I could not be a part of a party that was --- that --- that spent five years pretending that this was normal and five years pretending that every ideological predicate, every prior belief could be thrown out the window just because Donald Trump felt a certain way on a certain day.
The words "Republican strategist" immediately disappeared from the screen the moment Wilson admitted he is not a Republican. He soon injected more anti-GOP hyperbole and rhetoric meant to draw chuckles from the far-left audience:
This is like the bad weekend in Tijuana where you wake up with a tattoo and a dead girl in the trunk. That's a terrible way to lead as a political party going forward because they have surrounded themselves with the aura, image and brand of Trump, and it's going to be hard to wash it off. And I don't want to have any part of that.
Earlier in the week, another disgruntled ex-Republican frequent guest on the show, MSNBC contributor Steve Schmidt, announced he was changing his voter registration from independent to Democrat, leading Williams to highlight the party change on Tuesday's show.
And, a few weeks ago, another such former Republican, MSNBC contributor Elise Jordan, was mistaken for a Republican by weekend anchor Alex Witt, leading Jordan to admit that she is an independent and no longer a member of the GOP.
This episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams was sponsored in part by Prilosec. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
December 17, 2020
11:43 p.m. EasternBRIAN WILLIAMS: It was one year ago today, a group of anti-Trump Republicans wrote this op-ed in the New York Times announcing something new called the Lincoln Project. After the President's loss, the group is now focused on defeating Trumpism, and supporters of the President in Congress. But a new report in Politico today says the Never Trump movement has splintered as the President leaves office. Back with us, James Carville and Rick Wilson. And, Rick, this one's for you. Your partner Stuart Stevens is quoted as saying: "The reality is, is there a market for an anti-Trump Republican Party now? I would say no." So that's Stuart Stevens. Rick, my question to you is: What do you do about the Republicans -- you know their names -- who are going to say starting January 21st, "Hey, we're still Republicans. We were Never Trumpers. We were never all in with that guy." All evidence to the contrary. And what does your mission become, Rick, say for the next year?
RICK WILSON, THE LINCOLN PROJECT: You know, I'm going to get in trouble for this analogy, but nobody was in the SS after World War II. They were all Weimar. So the irony here is these people cannot run themselves to the car wash and pretend that the last five years didn't happen -- that they didn't empower and enable this. But, you know, look, I'm no longer a registered Republican. I'm an independent now. I could not be a part of a party that was --- that --- that spent five years pretending that this was normal and five years pretending that every ideological predicate, every prior belief could be thrown out the window just because Donald Trump felt a certain way on a certain day. And that they --- they became enamored with both the fear he engendered in them and with trying to hold onto the power that his cult around him could give them in a Republican primary. So, you know, like many people, we walked away from that. The party has entangled itself so profoundly with him that he is going to ride it like a banshee for the next four years while he pretends to run for President, holds off all of them until the last minute. The long-term knock on damage of Trump's version of this from COVID to corruption to international affairs to the economy, it's all going to have a long knock on effect. They're going to own this. This is like the --- the bad weekend in Tijuana where you wake up with a tattoo and a dead girl in the trunk. That's a terrible way to --- to lead as a political party going forward because they --- they have surrounded themselves with the aura, image, and --- and brand of Trump, and it's going to be hard to wash it off and I don't want to have any part of that. You know, I think we need two viable parties in this country. I think we need a center right party in this country. But the Republican Party today is personality cult dedicated to Donald Trump full stop.
WILLIAMS: James, it must be really weird. Between you and Rick and all the people you know in politics, all you guys did was try to beat the snot out of each other for decades. And now you have to admit that the Rick Wilsons of the world, the so-called Never Trumpers, played a huge role especially in public awareness, creating, for starters, the best ads that were on the air in the defeat of Donald Trump. Politico has a story saying some of the Never Trumpers would like very much to move Joe Biden more toward the center. Despite the problems Joe Biden is going to have on the AOC left do you think Joe Biden owes them that?
(...)
