On Tuesday’s MTP Daily, MSNBC host and NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd seemed to have either attempted a joke or made an elitist, Acela Corridor swipe at flyover country when he stated that, at a minimum, the crippling and deadly battering Texas will lead “people to wear a mask” since it’ll help keep them warm.
Todd’s mind was already on the weather as he pivoted to Texas following a segment with correspondent Shaquille Brewster from Wisconsin by taking note of the snowy and “extraordinarily cold Milwaukee” ahead of a visit from President Joe Biden.
After taking note of how over two dozen have died in Texas and nearby states with millions stranded in the cold without electricity and heat, he decided to shoot his shot: “Morgan, about the only — the only upside here is I assume the cold weather motivates people to wear a mask, because it's one extra layer on your face. But how bad is it, Morgan?”
Sure, Chuck. If someone made a quip like this while Chuck and his family were suffering with home temperatures below freezing and without both power and water, one has to think his reaction would have been different.
Chesky wasn’t amused, immediately replying that “[i]t’s bad, Chuck” and the number about four million without power wasn’t four million people, but “four million households across the state of Texas that are without power and that's upwards of about 10 million people in this state that are now going on two plus days now in sub-freezing temperatures.”
Reporting from south Dallas, Chesky went onto explain what one family has been dealing with and, sure enough, Todd replied with even more insensitivity by ruling this was a serious matter because the storm has affected people in major Texas cities and not those who live in “rural areas” (click “expand”):
CHESKY: We're in a neighborhood here in south Dallas, I had a chance to speak with a gentleman here, Steve Rivera, he moved his wife from this house across the street to a neighbor's home, because they have a fireplace. Steve doesn't. You can see that firewood piled up in the front yard there. The reason he had to do that is because his wife is in a wheelchair, and diabetic and she's unable to stay warm in their house. They have had three hours of power in the last three days and right now, that thermostat is reading in the high 30s and I can bet that almost every house along this street would read the same. The big concern is, they don't know when the power is going to come back on and if it does in these rolling outages, they don't know how long they have to deal with to boil that water, to put in that thermos to hopefully stay warm or to start any sort of steps going forward to be prepared to handle what's to come. We have another winter storm coming through here later today, dropping a couple more inches of snow. Meanwhile, the energy providers are saying hang tight as long as you can, but for the many Texans I've spoken to, Chuck, they don't know how much longer they can do that.
TODD: And this is Dallas, this is Houston, we're not talking — they can't say it's rural areas. This is not a good sign, and not a good sign for this power grid, which the state controls. Anyway, Morgan Chesky on the ground for us in Texas, Morgan, thank you.
Oh, so it’s serious because it’s affected people in urban areas and not those proles out in the country?
Just take the L, Chuck.
Todd’s nasty quip about Texans and mask-wearing was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Fidelity, Gold Bond, and Liberty Mutual. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from February 16, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s MTP Daily
February 16, 2021
1:13 p.m. EasternCHUCK TODD: Anyway, Shaquille Brewster on the ground for us, in what looks like an extraordinarily cold Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Shaq, thanks very much. Let's get a check now, speaking of weather, on all of this breaking weather news, extreme winter weather slamming more than half the country. It's killed at least 28 people across the southeast and Texas. The state power grid is overloaded. It's left at least four million people to face historically low temperatures without electricity and often without heat. My colleague Morgan Chesky joins us now from Dallas and Morgan, about the only — the only upside here is I assume the cold weather motivates people to wear a mask, because it's one extra layer on your face. But how bad is it, Morgan?
MORGAN CHESKY: It's bad, Chuck. Right now, those numbers coming from the state aren't just four million people, that's four million households across the state of Texas that are without power and that's upwards of about 10 million people in this state that are now going on two plus days now in sub-freezing temperatures and that's simply a situation that not only the state is not prepared to deal with but a lot of these folks aren't prepared to deal with. We're in a neighborhood here in south Dallas, I had a chance to speak with a gentleman here, Steve Rivera, he moved his wife from this house across the street to a neighbor's home, because they have a fireplace. Steve doesn't. You can see that firewood piled up in the front yard there. The reason he had to do that is because his wife is in a wheelchair, and diabetic and she's unable to stay warm in their house. They have had three hours of power in the last three days and right now, that thermostat is reading in the high 30s and I can bet that almost every house along this street would read the same. The big concern is, they don't know when the power is going to come back on and if it does in these rolling outages, they don't know how long they have to deal with to boil that water, to put in that thermos to hopefully stay warm or to start any sort of steps going forward to be prepared to handle what's to come. We have another winter storm coming through here later today, dropping a couple more inches of snow. Meanwhile, the energy providers are saying hang tight as long as you can, but for the many Texans I've spoken to, Chuck, they don't know how much longer they can do that.
TODD: And this is Dallas, this is Houston, we're not talking — they can't say it's rural areas. This is not a good sign, and not a good sign for this power grid, which the state controls. Anyway, Morgan Chesky on the ground for us in Texas, Morgan, thank you.
