MSNBC’s ReidOut host Joy Reid continued to build her portfolio of race-baiting drivel on Thursday night, tag-teaming with MSNBC contributor and Black Lives Matter activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham to declare that Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is a reincarnation of former George Wallace (D-AL) for having brought Jim Crow back to life with the state’s new anti-rioting law.
And to go even further, Cunningham warned that DeSantis is and should be scared of black people stripping him of power as he works to...steal elections?
Reid was incensed, telling viewers at the top of the B-block that “Republican state legislatures across the country are responding to the demonstrations over George Floyd’s murder with punitive new measures intended to discourage protests altogether” with “80 anti-protest bills” introduced in 34 states.
After she argued DeSantis had all but legalized murdering protesters, Reid said “the fierce guardians of the Second Amendment are taking aim at the First” with proposals to “legislate away your First Amendment right to protest” while the right tries to illegitimately win elections.
Because if we’ve learned anything in the 21st century, Republican victories are rarely deemed free and fair election in some pockets of the press.
Following State Representative Anna Eskamani (D-FL), Reid chose not to mention the billions of dollars in riot damage and instead told Cunningham that the law was directly targeting Black Lives Matter. Therefore, she said “[i]t feels so George Wallace that I’m shocked that George Wallace didn’t actually think of it back when he was governor of Alabama.”
Cunningham went even further, calling the law “straight out of the Jim Crow textbook” and an example of how “[w]hen black people got more free, there were new laws created to make us less free.”
Always one to offer incendiary rhetoric, Cunningham boasted that this proved DeSantis and his fellow believers of “white supremacy” are “scared to death of us, and it absolutely should be.”
While it used to be seen as dangerous to question election results, leftists have long had free reign to do just so that, so Cunningham was able to casually assert that Republicans resort to “suppress[ing] voters” and “voice[s]” and “gerrymander states” seeing as how they “cannot win fair and square.”
Cunningham still had more gaslighting to do: “It’s our job to keep them on the ropes, because this is what desperation looks like and I want them to stay desperate. They know how powerful we are. That’s why we’re seeing this.”
Reid was energized by Cunningham’s divisive and poisonous rant and stated directly that “Ron DeSantis appears to really want to reenact the entire George Wallace history” and since “he wants to be the modern-day George Wallace,” he needs to continue “enacting a slew of laws that essentially try to make it illegal to protest in the state of Florida, illegal to touch their precious Confederate statues from the losing side of the Civil War.”
A few minutes later, Reid claimed the Kentucky’s version would “criminalize what those witnesses did in the George Floyd trial” while also celebrating the fact that a police officer in Virginia was fired for having donated to Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund as if to argue that police officers writ large support shooting BLM rioters to death.
Cunningham closed out the segment by doubling down on Reid’s ugly insinuation on Thursday that it’s a disgrace that white criminals are kept alive while black ones are sometimes shot dead (click “expand”):
[L]et’s be clear and he was taken alive. He and his AR-15 are doing just fine right now, while Ma’Khia Bryant is dead. Look, the broad network of individuals and organizations that are a part of this racial justice movement are disciplined, organized and thoughtful. We know that white supremacy, to paraphrase Rick James, is a hell of a drug and once you get high on it once, you keep wanting to attach yourself to it. So, we understand what we’re working against here. That is part of the reason why, if you look across the country, people are not just pressuring the federal government to do things like pass the For the People Act. People are also working as organizers with those elected officials who have our back, people like Park Cannon in Georgia, people like the new mayor of my hometown, St. Louis, Tishaura Jones, who has been on our team since day one. We want to make sure that we are in every single place, so that we are setting the policy and that we are holding people accountable. I guarantee you that, all over this country, organizers from the top to the bottom are ready for this fight.
This MSNBC segment’s claim that DeSantis is George Wallace and that he and his supporters should be scared of African-Americans was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as Fidelity, Liberty Mutual, and Sandals. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the full segment transcript from April 23, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
April 22, 2021
7:20 p.m. EasternJOY REID: Republican state legislatures across the country are responding to the demonstrations over George Floyd’s murder with punitive new measures intended to discourage protests altogether. In the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers in 34 states have introduced more than 80 anti-protest bills, the vast majority of them drafted by Republicans. And so far, four Republican governors have signed the measures into law, including in the state of Florida and if it wasn’t already clear that this is a direct response to the Black Lives Matter protests, Governor Ron DeSantis actually cited the Derek Chauvin trial when he enacted what he’s calling an anti-rioting law. As NPR reports, the law “creates a new crime called ‘mob intimidation.’ And it requires that anyone arrested at a protest be denied bail until their first court appearance, likely making for overnight jail stays.” In other words, it would punish anyone at a peaceful protest who might be swept up alongside a minority of bad actors. Unbelievably, that law also grants civil immunity to drivers who run their cars through protesters if those protesters are blocking roads. Worse yet, a new law signed just yesterday in Oklahoma grants criminal immunity to motorists if they “unintentionally injure or kill” protesters on roadways. It comes after the driver of a pickup truck did exactly that on a highway in Tulsa last May, leaving one protester paralyzed after he fell from an overpass. These are the kinds of wacky provisions that some critics say might have protected the neo-Nazi who was convicted of murdering Heather Heyer with his vehicle in Charlottesville. Likewise, in Kentucky, the fierce guardians of the Second Amendment are taking aim at the First. The Republican state Senate there wanted to make it a crime to insult or taunt a police officer with offensive or derisive words or gestures and the bill’s sponsor may reintroduce that legislation this session. These — these are stunning examples of how Republicans think that they can legislate away your First Amendment right to protest. It’s the same strategy that they have used on voting rights. When they lose elections, they vote to make it hard — they want to make it harder to vote and joining me now is Florida state Representative Anna Eskamani and Brittany Packnett Cunningham, MSNBC contributor and host of The Undistracted podcast and Representative Eskamani, in Florida, you had a sheriff that — DeSantis did this signing ceremony with a Polk County sheriff named Grady Judd and this was the warning that he issued. This is cut three for my producers.
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF GRADY JUDD [on 04/19/21]: This is riot and this will get you locked up before quick in the state of Florida. Pay attention. We have got new law and we’re going to use it if you make us.
REID: And I doubt he was showing a picture of the January 6 MAGA insurrection, which was the siege of the Capitol. I’m sure he doesn’t think that was a riot. The Washington Post points out that now in Florida, taking down a monument — if you take down a Confederate monument — will get you 15 years in prison, which is the same sanction as rape. Your thoughts?
STATE REPRESENTATIVE ANNA ESKAMANI (D-FL): It’s disgusting how we’re protecting Confederate monuments more than we’re protecting everyday people here in Florida and the fact that these sheriffs were given such a platform to continue to instill fear in people across the state on a law designed to suppress our First Amendment rights is incredibly offensive and I was proud to vote no on this bill.
REID: You know, Brittany this feels like it’s directed at y’all. This is directed at Black Lives Matter. It feels so George Wallace that I’m shocked that George Wallace didn’t actually think of it back when he was governor of Alabama.
BRITTANY PACKNETT CUNNINGHAM: Oh, this is straight out of the Jim Crow textbook and let’s contextualize Jim Crow, shall we? When black people got more free, there were new laws created to make us less free. This is exactly what is happening right now. What this actually shows me, Joy, is that white supremacy is scared to death of us, and it absolutely should be. This is what you do when you cannot win fair and square. You suppress votes and you suppress voice. So, we have to pay attention here, because the GOP plays the long game, and they play the expansive game. They plan far in advance. They gerrymander states, so that they can control statehouses and then they use all of that power to maintain their power and suppress us from multiple angles. So, then they make it illegal to engage in the two most democratic practices you have got in this country and they make sure to target black folks when they do it. That way that, among other things, you can leverage the police that you have militarized to protect your systems and to continue to terrorize us. So, it’s our job to keep them on the ropes, because this is what desperation looks like and I want them to stay desperate. They know how powerful we are. That’s why we’re seeing this.
REID: You know — and Representative Eskamani, the racist Miami sheriff who coined the term when the looting starts, the shooting starts, was from South Florida. Donald Trump then turns around and quotes him. Ron DeSantis appears to really want to reenact the entire George Wallace history. I guess he wants to be the modern-day George Wallace, because he is enacting a slew of laws that essentially try to make it illegal to protest in the state of Florida, illegal to touch their precious Confederate statues from the losing side of the Civil War, right?
ESKAMANI: Correct.
REID: But then also — but you also can’t vote.
ESKAMANI: Right.
REID: This is Jim Crow in your state. What can Democrats do about it?
ESKAMANI: Well, I think both you and Brittany have made some excellent points, because it’s not just the right to protest and we have called House Bill 1 Hate Bill 1 because it’s absolutely designed to continue to divide our state and to pit people against each other, when, really, we have so much in common that we can work towards and not only do we see this anti-protest legislation, but, as Brittany said, we also have a voter suppression bill on deck here in Florida. We see efforts to make ballot amendment initiatives, which is how we got medical cannabis and a $15 minimum wage, more difficult in the Sunshine State. We’re preempting local governments from doing their own policies on areas like clean energy and gun safety. All of this is part of a collective effort to stifle democracy, so that the -- those in power can maintain in power and what Democrats need to do is, first of all, call out the B.S. on these bills. Don’t be shy about saying it is what it is. This is white supremacy in policy and, at the same time, we have got to organize. We have got to win elections, because I will tell you, Joy, we fought hard on the House floor with Hate Bill 1. We don’t have the numbers to win.
REID: Yep. Yeah.
ESKAMANI: So, we have to organize, win elections.
REID: You know, and the Kentucky bill, Brittany, it literally tries to criminalize what those witnesses did in the George Floyd trial, that they stood there, and they — they — they tried to face down that officer and berated him. They will make that illegal in Kentucky. Is Black Lives Matter, you know, prepared? And how are you all preparing to deal with this, particularly when you have police officers donating to Kyle Rittenhouse, showing support to him, and making him a cause celebre among law enforcement? There was just a guy fired in Virginia for this. A bunch of other officers have been doing it too. Do you feel — how under siege does Black Lives Matter feel, knowing you’re facing these kinds of politicians, but also some folks in law enforcement that are supporting people like Rittenhouse —
PACKNETT CUNNINGHAM: Well, the broad network —
REID: — who shot Black Lives Matter protesters?
PACKNETT CUNNINGHAM: — absolutely, let’s be clear and he was taken alive. He and his AR-15 are doing just fine right now, while Ma’Khia Bryant is dead. Look, the broad network of individuals and organizations that are a part of this racial justice movement are disciplined, organized and thoughtful. We know that white supremacy, to paraphrase Rick James, is a hell of a drug and once you get high on it once, you keep wanting to attach yourself to it. So, we understand what we’re working against here. That is part of the reason why, if you look across the country, people are not just pressuring the federal government to do things like pass the For the People Act. People are also working as organizers with those elected officials who have our back, people like Park Cannon in Georgia, people like the new mayor of my hometown, St. Louis, Tishaura Jones, who has been on our team since day one. We want to make sure that we are in every single place, so that we are setting the policy and that we are holding people accountable. I guarantee you that, all over this country, organizers from the top to the bottom are ready for this fight.
REID: Yeah, amen. Well, they’re not only getting high on it. They are getting high on their own supply, which you’re not supposed to do. Florida state Representative Anna Eskamani, thank you very much. Brittany Packnett Cunningham, thank you very much.
