NewsBusters has found a superfluity of insane content from MSNBC’s The ReidOut, but Wednesday’s show was perhaps the evilest and vile of them all as host Joy Reid and two of her loony pals insisted that red states don’t care if black people and other racial minorities starve and die so long as they, in Reid’s words, “get their behinds into the factory and make me my steaks, make me my stuff, get there and do my nails.”
With help from MSNBC contributors Jason Johnson and Dr. Kavita Patel, Reid was discussing the refusal of red states like Mississippi and Texas to refrain from (indefinite) coronavirus lockdown measures and mask mandates when the vicious and vile discussion got even worse.
Patel had stated that parts of Mississippi didn’t have a vaccination site within 90 minutes of them, then said it was an example of not only systemic racism, but a situation where “it feels like nobody cares” with Republicans harming minorities and “slapp[ing] down” “health professionals.”
Reid concurred and leveled the horrendous charge, stating these red states represented “necropolitics, which is essentially the politics of who gets to live and who gets to die and these states — what they have in common is that they have structures which say that black and brown lives matter less.”
She then added that the only way those in power (i.e. white Republicans) care was if black people and minorities toil away under their thumbs:
And so, all that matters is that the black and brown people get their behinds into the factory and make me my steaks, make me my stuff. Get there and do my nails. Work. Get back to work now and do things that I, the comfortable, affluent person need. Isn't that what we're saying? I mean, that's what it feels like to me, necropolitics in states like Texas.
A similarly hateful person, Johnson agreed and piled on, claiming “The Hunger Games would be more humane” for minorities like themselves because they “at least...would have a chance” to “fight for vaccines.”
Johnson kept going, suggesting the right side of the aisle was pleasured by the sight of black and brown people starving and dying so long as they themselves (and their families) were taken care of (click “expand”):
JOHNSON: And it’s always seemed ironic, to me, that the party of supposedly family values is basically saying, “you kids starve. Auntie starves, uncle starves.” And my wife and my smart son get to eat, live and get the vaccine. That is essentially what’s happening here. And here’s what's the problem. It used to be just an issue of harming black and brown people but this is harming what's left of the Republican base. Mississippi is a red state. They're killing a lot of their own supporters.
REID: Yeah.
JOHNSON: Texas is a red state, even though it’s through suppression. They're killing a lot of their own supporters. So, it’s not even political. It's just nihilism and an absolutely lack of empathy for the human impact and the catastrophe that so many Americans are living through right now.
REID: Yeah, and let's not forget that, in a lot of these states —
PATEL: States, by the way, Joy, Texas —
REID: Yeah? Go on.
PATEL: — they didn't expand the medicaid program on purpose. They turned down money —
REID: Yes.
JOHNSON: Right.
PATEL: — to expand a program that could give people health care.
REID: Yeah.
PATEL: That's the state we're talking about.
REID: Yeah. No, absolutely. You’re — there's a reason we call it necropolitics. It's vicious.
To the surprise of what should be no one, Reid and friends built up to that screed. Reid led off by attacking the Lone Star and Magnolia States as having engaged in “nonsensical and dangerous anti-scientific” behavior by continuing to reopen their states and drop mask mandates.
Reid took particular aim at Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), insisting that Abbott purposefully “left millions of Texans literally in the cold” during their devastating winter storm because, according to Reid’s mind-reading, he believed “Texans apparently also don't need light and heat.”
So, when it came to COVID, Reid surmised Abbott would love nothing more than seeing Texans become sick with the virus:
Abbott's latest gift to his constituents is, ‘congratulations, go get COVID!’ Health experts across Texas are blasting the move, saying they're mortified and disgusted, and warning the rollbacks are like PTSD for doctors. The Republicans aren't so much interested in listening to those doctors, the real ones. Their favorite news source spent all of yesterday having a full-blown meltdown over Dr. Seuss being, “canceled” over old-timey racist cartoons[.]
Patel and Johnson said Abbott and other governors looking to further reopen were doing so without a care in the world for their citizens and science itself. Instead, both opined that certain governors were hell-bent on “distract[ing]” attention from their ineptitude on other issues (click “expand”):
PATEL: [T]his is a state that has gone not just through its ups and downs but coming off a humanitarian crisis, still unfolding, by the way. There are still family members I have who are boiling their water in parts of Houston. So, it's not like it's all honky dory now....The very things that are working, the reason cases are coming down and just cutting that off is exactly the wrong thing to do. But Joy, let's be — let’s be honest. It's not like Abbott is alone. He has about 12 other governors who have said no mask mandate. What's wrong with reopening? Right when we're going into spring break, right when we're going into Easter break, right when we know Houston, Texas, the first United States city to have all five of the most concerning more infectious, possibly more deadly variants. Joy, why not — why not open up the state and put, by the way, not Governor Abbott, not Ken Paxton, not any of the people in the state legislature at risk. Who? The people who are cleaning up the table after Governor Abbott put his little faux press conference at Mexican restaurant in Lubbock, Texas. That's are the people he put at risk, and he doesn't care.
REID: Yeah. Clearly not.
(....)
JOHNSON: It is absolutely insane and irresponsible. And I think in many instances, these politicians are doing is they're trying to distract from the issue. “Hey, let's open up the state, so you don't look at my incompetence on the issues of handling the weather and the grid.” “Hey, let's talk about Dr. Seuss so you don't look at the fact that we're trying to destroy a COVID care bill.” That’s what these Republican politicians are doing. They don’t want you to see what’s in front of you, which is other people being sick. They want to distract you with bobbles and going back into the movie theater.
Seeing as how so-called media reporters spent most of their waking hours scheming to send every last Fox News employee to the unemployment rolls, they should dedicate a few minutes to looking at what’s going on with their own team.
With help from like-minded panelists, Reid’s disgusting insistence that red states and white people only care about minorities if they’re toiling under the thumb of Republican masters was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as ClearChoice, Discover, Ensure, Fidelity, LegalZoom, Sandals, and Sketchers.
Follow the links to find their contact information so you can let them know that they supported such vile, venomous hatred against 74-million-plus Republican voters.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from March 3, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
March 3, 2021
7:18 p.m. EasternJOY REID: President Biden did not hold back on the latest nonsensical and dangerous anti-scientific mood by the Republican governors of Texas and Mississippi, who decided to throw caution to the wind and scream, “YOLO,” lifting their state's mask mandates and rolling back restrictions against CDC warnings. Today, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky reiterated that it is a very bad idea especially as the administration works to ramp up vaccinations.
[WALENSKY QUOTE]
REID: Yesterday, President Biden vowed enough vaccine supply for every American adult by the end of May. But while the finish line is in sight, Texas Governor Greg Abbott? Well, he just said, ‘ahh, who cares,’ in making Texas the largest state to lift its mask mandate he said it's time to open up, ‘all everything, 100 percent,’ flouting health experts, because Texans don't need the state telling them how to operate after he left millions of Texans literally in the cold with his derelict handling of Texas’s power grid and infrastructure because Texans apparently also don't need light and heat during a record winter storm. Abbott's latest gift to his constituents is, ‘congratulations, go get COVID!’ Health experts across Texas are blasting the move, saying they're mortified and disgusted, and warning the rollbacks are like PTSD for doctors. The Republicans aren't so much interested in listening to those doctors, the real ones. Their favorite news source spent all of yesterday having a full-blown meltdown over Dr. Seuss being, “canceled” over old-timey racist cartoons and today, Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz, you know, old Cancun Cruz, and Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, both of whom notably bailed on their state during last month’s devastating deep freeze, said millions of Texans can just avoid COVID without the government's help.
[CRUZ AND PAXTON CLIPS]
REID: Wow. That's a stand down if you ever heard one. [INTRODUCES PANEL] We just realized Dr. Patel, you are a Texan. When you hear that, ‘you can't protect everybody all the time. Eh, we'll be fine.’ The last time Texas did this and played this game last May, they reopened bars at 25 percent capacity, the curve went up. They then closed bars. The curve continued to go up for about a month. They reopened bars at 50 percent, goes up, up, up, up, every time they've done it. What do you think when you hear Ken Paxton say, ‘oh, you can't protect everybody?’
KAVITA PATEL: Oh, Joy, it just burns in my heart. As you point out, this is a state that has gone not just through its ups and downs but coming off a humanitarian crisis, still unfolding, by the way. There are still family members I have who are boiling their water in parts of Houston. So, it's not like it's all honky dory now. But, you know, this is — the mayor of San Antonio where I grew up said it best. You can't cut your parachute off just as you're slowing on the descent. And that's exactly what they're trying to do. The very things that are working, the reason cases are coming down and just cutting that off is exactly the wrong thing to do. But Joy, let's be — let’s be honest. It's not like Abbott is alone. He has about 12 other governors who have said no mask mandate. What's wrong with reopening? Right when we're going into spring break, right when we're going into Easter break, right when we know Houston, Texas, the first United States city to have all five of the most concerning more infectious, possibly more deadly variants. Joy, why not — why not open up the state and put, by the way, not Governor Abbott, not Ken Paxton, not any of the people in the state legislature at risk. Who? The people who are cleaning up the table after Governor Abbott put his little faux press conference at Mexican restaurant in Lubbock, Texas. That's are the people he put at risk, and he doesn't care.
REID: Yeah. Clearly not. I'm glad you mentioned spring break. I teach a class at Howard, Jason, and their spring break starts this Friday. As of next week, they’ll be on spring break. And you have kids in college that are going to be — you know, some of them are already at home but some are going to be heading to different states or leaving Texas and going to other states. And, you know, Dr. Patel did mention all these other states. Let’s put them up there. Mississippi and Texas go the furthest in terms of on March 10th, free for all — complete free for all. You've got other states, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, the notorious spring break and also gangster playground. Georgia, Iowa, Georgia — you’ve talked about, you know, it’s all opened wide in Atlanta. Statewide orders have been dropped all over the country. Look at that map. We're getting so close, Jason. What do you make of the politics of deciding to basically reintroduce COVID, full steam in places like Texas and Mississippi?
JASON JOHNSON: Well, Joy, let's hope that neither your Howard students or any of my Morgan students are at, say, like, a Bow Wow concert in Dallas, Texas. I think — I think most of my students are going to be
REID: For real.
JOHNSON: — reasonably smart over spring break. This — this is — this is what makes this so obscenely irresponsible. You have, as Dr. Kavita Patel just said, you still have people in Texas, you know, seven days ago who were using melted snow to shower, to drink, to flush their own toilets. You still have people who were burning furniture to keep their houses warm at night. This is a state that is still in a state of emergency and you're deciding you’re going to add to that emergency by saying, hey, come get some tattoos and go to the beach. The same is happening in Mississippi. And if you look at a place like Georgia, Georgia has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country next to Texas. It is absolutely insane and irresponsible. And I think in many instances, these politicians are doing is they're trying to distract from the issue. “Hey, let's open up the state, so you don't look at my incompetence on the issues of handling the weather and the grid.” “Hey, let's talk about Dr. Seuss so you don't look at the fact that we're trying to destroy a COVID care bill.” That’s what these Republican politicians are doing. They don’t want you to see what’s in front of you, which is other people being sick. They want to distract you with bobbles and going back into the movie theater.
REID: It's completely performative. I’m so glad you said it. It’s completely performative. This isn't even politics. But Dr. Patel for real people, as you said, I mean, Jackson, Mississippi, is still suffering. All — the black parts of Jackson don't have any water, you know, just like places in Texas. This is going to hit poor people, black people, brown people the hardest, right?
PATEL: Oh, no question whatsoever. We've already seen — we talked about the national disparities, Joy. In parts of Mississippi, there is literally no place to go get a vaccine where you can't drive — you have to drive basically at least an hour and a half one way. That's unacceptable and that, by the way, when people ask about systemic racism, and, look., Jason taught me, you've taught me. This is what we're living. This is day-to-day. This is 2021 and, unfortunately, I hate to say it this way. When these things unfold, Joy, it feels like nobody cares. When you see all those health professionals just feeling slapped down, it feels like nobody cares and that's — that’s how Texans, Mississippians, they’re all feeling that way tonight.
REID: No, absolutely. I'm sure the doctors are exhausted. And you know, Jason, there is a term called necropolitics, which is essentially the politics of who gets to live and who gets to die. And these states — what they have in common is that they have structures which say that black and brown lives matter less. And so, all that matters is that the black and brown people get their behinds into the factory and make me my steaks, make me my stuff. Get there and do my nails. Work. Get back to work now and do things that I, the comfortable, affluent person need. Isn't that what we're saying? I mean, that's what it feels like to me, necropolitics in states like Texas.
JOHNSON: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, The Hunger Games would be more humane, right? If they made people line up and fight for vaccines, at least then you would have a chance. No, they're just going to starve people. And it’s always seemed ironic, to me, that the party of supposedly family values is basically saying, “you kids starve. Auntie starves, uncle starves.” And my wife and my smart son get to eat, live and get the vaccine. That is essentially what’s happening here. And here’s what's the problem. It used to be just an issue of harming black and brown people but this is harming what's left of the Republican base. Mississippi is a red state. They're killing a lot of their own supporters.
REID: Yeah.
JOHNSON: Texas is a red state, even though it’s through suppression. They're killing a lot of their own supporters. So, it’s not even political. It's just nihilism and an absolutely lack of empathy for the human impact and the catastrophe that so many Americans are living through right now.
REID: Yeah, and let's not forget that, in a lot of these states —
PATEL: States, by the way, Joy, Texas —
REID: Yeah? Go on.
PATEL: — they didn't expand the medicaid program on purpose. They turned down money —
REID: Yes.
JOHNSON: Right.
PATEL: — to expand a program that could give people health care.
REID: Yeah.
PATEL: That's the state we're talking about.
REID: Yeah. No, absolutely. You’re — there's a reason we call it necropolitics. It's vicious.
