MSNBC’s ReidOut host Joy Reid showed in 2021 that she was unrelenting in her use of dangerous and incendiary rhetoric, so it was no surprise when, on Tuesday night, she argued critics of Dr. Fauci were “pro-Omicron armchair physicians” and unvaccinated Americans should receive lower pay and less (or no) medical care when ill compared to the vaccinated.
Joined in the endorsement of communism was MSNBC medical contributor Dr. Lipi Roy, who donned a “Fauci” t-shirt to prove her seriousness as a doctor while the two suggested Fauci critic and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) wasn’t a true doctor because of his accreditation and “insane, atrocious vitriol.”
Reid opened the segment with soundbites of Fauci denouncing Paul and critics writ large for threatening his life and using the last two years “for...political gain” to which Reid lamented was proof of “Republican endgame: playing politics with people’s lives” with “pro-Omicron armchair physicians” supposedly harassing Fauci (when they should be bending to his will).
Going to Roy, Reid lamented that “we’re not having a rational conversation about this pandemic anymore” due to unvaccinated people and demanded “those of us who are rational about it” find a way to live on their own.
Roy first brought up the Fauci vs. Paul affair, saying she was “shocked” by it and that Paul’s not a real physician “because he does not exude any of the qualities that doctors and nurses possess, empathy, compassion, and a penchant for science and data to drive health care policies.”
Due to his “insane, atrocious vitriol directed towards a lifetime public servant...like Dr. Fauci,” Roy added it’s led “people like me and my fellow health care professionals double down on what we are doing.”
Reid replied by suggesting Paul is a fake doctor, arguing he “create[d] his own accreditation” and “didn’t get it from, like, a regular place,” so “I wouldn’t let him operate on me if I was desperate.”
The conversation then moved to rationing care and examples of how to punish the unvaccinated, such as fines and forcing the unvaccinated to pay for Covid tests in Germany, paying unvaccinated people less in their jobs like IKEA in the U.K., and charging the unvaccinated “up to 50 percent more” for health insurance like companies do for smokers.
Roy eventually said she wasn’t going to “giv[e] up on” them, but she largely agreed with Reid that they should be marginalized and placed on “a triage list” so they’re given less attention whenever they become ill (click “expand”):
[T]here are many possible interventions that we can impose on the people who choose — continue to choose to be unvaccinated, increased insurance premiums, creating a list — or a triage list, so when people come to the hospital, maybe one of the first questions we ask is, are you vaccinated, and then that will direct them towards a certain type of care because we already do that. I can guarantee you, when a patient comes in with shortness of breath, like my dad, he got hospitalized three times the past two years with shortness of breath, but related to his congestive heart failure causing pulmonary edema. The first question they asked almost every time is, are you a smoker?
I mean, he’s not and it didn’t direct the care. But these are — there are several things that we can do. But I’m not giving up on the people that remain unvaccinated, Joy. We still need to get them vaccinated. I think we need to find other measures and mandates and other measures to really get them to get vaccinated.
No word on whether Reid and Roy believe the unvaccinated should be denied care if they become ill with something other than Covid or need other medical attention, such as for broken bones or depression.
Going to break, Reid said she has “given up” and wants to go all-in on “people” who “have done the right thing for two years.”
She then capped things off with this:
At a certain point, the people who have done all the right things need to get to be able to live their lives normally and if people don’t want to get vaccinated, they need to be willing to kick in and pay for their own risk...[Y]ou want to jump out of a plane? You pay for that risk. Don’t make the rest of us have to pay for it and lose our health system.
MSNBC’s declaration that the unvaccinated be treated as second-class citizens and left to die in the streets was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as Ancestry, Discover, and E-Trade. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from January 11, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
January 11, 2022
7:36 p.m. EasternJOY REID: Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci called out Senator Rand Paul during a congressional hearing today for doing what is clearly the Republican endgame: playing politics with people’s lives. The harassment of Dr. Fauci by pro-Omicron armchair physicians illustrates what this country is up against, even as public health officials offered grim testimony about what lies ahead.
(....)
7:37 p.m. Eastern
REID: I feel like we’re at a point where we’re not having a rational conversation about this pandemic anymore, and where those of us who are rational about it and who don’t want to die from COVID, don’t want to be on a ventilator need to create a life for ourselves that accounts for the people who are refusing to participate in reality, but doesn’t put us at risk to them. Is there a way to do that, because I’m worried that our hospital systems are literally going to collapse?
DR. LIPI ROY: Yeah, happy — happy Tuesday and very cold Tuesday to you, Joy. I watched the hearing that was today, the Senate hearing and Dr. Fauci being attacked by Senator Rand Paul, it — I’m shocked that Dr. — sorry — that Rand Paul was a former physician, because he does not exude any of the qualities that doctors and nurses possess, empathy, compassion, and a penchant for science and data to drive health care policies and for him to go after — I mean, his insane, atrocious vitriol directed towards a lifetime public servant and a highly trained infectious disease doctor like Dr. Fauci, it actually makes people like me and my fellow health care professionals double down on what we are doing, provide high-quality patient care, provide education and advocacy through articles and op-eds and social media. It is just making us double down on what we are doing, because it seems like, Joy, the rational folks are becoming the minority and we are not, actually. We are the majority. We just have to be really loud about it and be advocate and activist about this. It’s the only way we’re going to get through this pandemic, Joy.
REID: Yeah. And oh, by the way, just to note, Rand Paul did create his own accreditation. He didn’t get it from, like, a regular place. He just made up his own, so that he could be accredited as a physician. I wouldn’t let him operate on me if I was desperate. Let’s talk about what other countries are doing, because, at some point, I feel like people who are willfully unvaccinated, fine, don’t get vaccinated. But they need to start to pay a little bit more of the cost of what this is doing to our system. There are fines that are — that are levied in places like Germany. Germany has stopped paying for the tests, the virus tests for people who choose to be unvaccinated. They’ve ended quarantine pay for those without vaccinations. Ikea, the company, is slashing sick pay for unvaccinated U.K. workers. If you are a smoker, insurance companies can charge you more. They can charge you a premium of up to 50 percent, and you have to put that on the form when you apply for insurance. At some point, don’t we have to make people who are just saying, “I’m willing to take the risk to be unvaccinated, take the risk for me and take the risk for everyone I come in contact with,” shouldn’t they have to pay more into the system because they are collapsing our health system? They’re the ones in the ERs. They’re taking it up. If you have a stroke or you have a heart attack, you can’t get in the ER, because they’re taking up all the beds, so shouldn’t they have to pay more?
ROY: Yeah, no, I’m, sadly, aware of what’s happening to hospitals and health care facilities all over the world. Hospitalizations in the United States increased 30 percent this past week and what’s happening is that this atrocious strain, this massive strain on — on hospitals and medical facilities is resulting in hospitals being short-staffed, doctors, nurses getting infected themselves. They’re — they are working long hours. They’re depressed. They’re demoralized and so, there — there are many possible interventions that we can impose on the people who choose — continue to choose to be unvaccinated, increased insurance premiums, creating a list — or a triage list, so when people come to the hospital, maybe one of the first questions we ask is, are you vaccinated, and then that will direct them towards a certain type of care —
REID: Yes.
ROY: — because we already do that. I can guarantee you, when a patient comes in with shortness of breath, like my dad, he got hospitalized three times the past two years with shortness of breath, but related to his congestive heart failure causing pulmonary edema. The first question they asked almost every time is, are you a smoker?
REID: Yeah.
ROY: I mean, he’s not and it didn’t direct the care. But these are — there are several things that we can do. But I’m not giving up on the people that remain unvaccinated, Joy. We still need to get them vaccinated. I think we need to find other measures and mandates and other measures to really get them to get vaccinated.
REID: Yeah.
ROY: That’s really, I think, major, Joy.
REID: Mandates. I mean, look, I have given up. I have pretty much — we — I mean, listen, I won’t say I have given up, but I think, at a certain point, we have to prioritize the people have done the right thing for two years, who are exhausted, who are sick of having to accommodate these people who are making other people sick. At a certain point, the people who have done all the right things need to get to be able to live their lives normally and if people don’t want to get vaccinated, they need to be willing to kick in and pay for their own risk. You want to take — you want to jump out of a plane? You pay for that risk. Don’t make the rest of us have to pay for it and lose our health system. That’s me, not you. I will not put that on you. That’s on me.
