On Monday night, Joy Reid, host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut fully acknowledged her "petty" hackery. Reid implored that Democrats abandon their post-Trump calls for unification and bipartisanship. She also insisted that her guest, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), forgo any further attempts at garnering Republican support for the Biden administration’s proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Reid wants Democrats to "just pass it and let the Republicans cry about it later."
The Democrat propagandist disguised as a cable news host suggested that the left should utilize a process known as reconciliation in order to get their massive COVID package passed. Through this process, all fifty Democratic senators would have to support it and Vice President Kamala Harris would need to cast the tie-breaking vote.
“Isn’t it better politics to just pass that [$1.9 trillion package] and not try to beg Republicans to get on board?” she asked Booker rhetorically. “Just pass it,” she exclaimed.
Better politics? The Founding Fathers are likely rolling over in their graves. The legislative branch of the American government was cleverly and meticulously designed to promote and foster compromise. The Congress is charged with drafting and passing legislation to benefit and protect all members of American society—not just those on the left or right; this is best achieved through bipartisanship, compromise, and basic empathy.
Reid doesn’t want any of those things, nor does she want unity. She unabashedly admitted that she is “petty” and lacks the patience required for political compromise:
“You know, I will stipulate that I am far more petty than you or Joe Biden, right? And so, that’s why I'm not in politics. But when you read me that whole long list of things that Donald Trump came in and did unilaterally, his base has like a negative obsession with Muslims. They have a negative obsession with non-white immigrants. They have negative obsessions with all sorts of things, and he said, I promised you I’d hurt those people. Watch me hurt them. The cruelty was the point. He didn't care about asking you, Senator Booker, is it okay with you if I hurt those people? I’m just going to go and do it. You have Joe Biden coming in, the people, the 80 million people who voted for him voted for help. They voted for help, immediately. They didn't vote for Susan Collins to not be concerned about it.”
Not only is Reid’s assertion grammatically incorrect, it’s also factually incorrect. Some people did, in fact, vote for Susan Collins to “be concerned about it.” Clearly, enough of her constituents in Maine voted for her to secure her seat in the United States Senate; those individuals certainly want and trust that Collins will be “concerned” about them.
Booker then bashed the Trump administration for moving “unilaterally” on various campaign promises. Booker failed to mention, of course that former President Obama, too, moved unilaterally early on in his first term to meet some of his promises made on the campaign trail. Nor did Booker mention any of the nearly four dozen executive orders Biden signed since assuming office.
Those truths are too inconvenient for Booker and don’t fit his narrative.
Reid concluded the awkward segment by emphatically stating that her “goal would be just pass it and let the Republicans cry about it later,” and wished Booker and his fellow Democratic colleagues success in their attempt at passing the bill with only Democratic support.
Reid’s inexorable advocacy for the increasing of the national debt was sponsored, in part, by Liberty Mutual. You can contact this advertiser, and others, via the Conservatives Fight Back page conveniently linked here.
Click “Expand,” to read the full February 1 transcript:
The ReidOut
02/01/21
7:22 PM
JOY REID: Two weeks ago, Biden unveiled his $1.9 trillion proposal, which includes a new round of checks, an increase and extension of the emergency unemployment benefits that are set to expire in March, a bump in the minimum wage to $15 an hour and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments, schools, vaccine production and distribution. Republicans—under the cloak of unity and bipartisanship have said no dice to that proposal. Instead, they presented a much, much smaller, $618 billion stimulus package. Notably, their proposal does not include a $15 minimum wage or money for states and cities. Theirs offers less in stimulus and less in unemployment insurance. While the president is entertaining Republican senators, Democrats on the Hill are prepared to go at it alone. Earlier this afternoon, speaker Nancy Pelosi and majority leader Chuck Schumer instructed their respective budget committees to begin the process of reconciliation—that means they’ve started the clock on passing Biden’s rescue plan with a simple Democratic majority. Joining me now is Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. Senator, thank you so much for being here. I’m going to put up this list of those who met with the president. And it’s a round robin of, you know, your sort of usual suspect Republicans, the Mitt Romneys of the world, the Susan Collins, the Lisa Murkowskis, Rob Portman. There’s no Democrats in there, so it was not bipartisan. It was a meeting in which Republicans essentially said throw your plan out, and do ours. Is that bipartisanship?
CORY BOOKER [SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY]: I have no problem, in fact, I celebrate the President of the United States meeting with people across the aisle to have constructive dialogue. I just want to remind folks that four years ago, that at this moment, Donald Trump wasn't doing that. He was pushing for a fifty-threshold to throw out Americans’ healthcare and the Affordable Care Act. He was moving unilaterally to do a Muslim ban. He was moving to give the largest tax break—literally blow a trillion-dollar hole in our annual deficit to give a tax break to the, majority wise, the wealthiest of people and corporations. And so, I, again, I wish we saw this kind of bipartisanship. I’m happy to have that conversation, but in the worst economic crisis since the World War II, where our economy is underperforming, where it's the most unequal recession in the modern era. We cannot afford to scrap things that are especially targeted to the most vulnerable amongst us. We have over 30 million Americans going to bed food insecure. We have people who are struggling with minimum wage jobs who are slipping deeper and deeper into the trap of poverty and debt. And we have challenges facing states who are laying off literally thousands and thousands of critical workers, firefighters and police and more. So, this is the time to act big and I am hoping that our Republican colleagues understand that and will come to the table to work with us on a very large plan.
REID: You know, I will stipulate that I am far more petty than you or Joe Biden, right? And so, that’s why I'm not in politics. But when you read me that whole long list of things that Donald Trump came in and did unilaterally, his base has like a negative obsession with Muslims. They have a negative obsession with nonwhite immigrants. They have negative obsessions with all sorts of things, and he said, I promised you I’d hurt those people. Watch me hurt them. The cruelty was the point. He didn't care about asking you, Senator Booker, is it okay with you if I hurt those people? I’m just going to go and do it. You have Joe Biden coming in, the people, the 80 million people who voted for him voted for help. They voted for help, immediately. They didn't vote for Susan Collins to not be concerned about it. And so, isn’t there an argument, that the more effective politics is to—let me just play for you, real quick, I’m going to play it for you. This is Joe Biden, Senator Jon Tester, and majority leader Chuck Schumer saying what they were going to do. Take a listen.
[CUTS TO CLIP OF JOE BIDEN]: I support passing COVID relief with support from Republicans, if we can get it. But the COVID relief has to pass, there’s no ifs, ands or buts.
[CUTS TO CLIP OF SENATOR JON TESTER]: So, I don't think 1.9 trillion, even though it's a boatload of money, is too much money. Now is not the time to starve the economy.
[CUTS TO CLIP OF SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER]: It makes no sense to pinch pennies when so many Americans are struggling. The risk of doing too little is far greater than the risk of doing too much.
REID: Senator, the 1.9 trillion would include a snap benefit increase, it would include more money to get close to that $2,000. You have a child tax credit you want to see put in. Isn't it better politics to just pass that and not try to beg Republicans to get on board? Just pass it!
BOOKER: Again, we have to pass that. You say the tax credit. Let me be clear: He has a cutting of black child poverty in the country, Latino poverty, for Native Americans, and for nearly all American children by half. That is dramatic. And so, I agree, we made commitments to these things. We need to do it. But I do not want to tell you that I do not want to become a party that uses just Trump’s tactics. In other words, let's pass and do what we have to do, but I don't want to shame anybody for sitting at the table and trying to find common ground. And we need to do more of that. Right now, I'm telling you, we have reconciliation if we have to go to that to save the American economy to help the third of Americans who in the worst economy—some Americans have done really well in this economy—but to save a third of the brothers and sisters in this country who are struggling, these are the things we must do. So, I'm just telling you, I do not want Biden to be like Trump. But I want him to pass this legislation with us, but yet at the same time, try to reach out to the Republicans we can, and find the common ground where we can. And, by the way, there is a lot of common ground. I think we are going to get a lot done on criminal justice reform under a Biden presidency. I think we are going to get a lot done on infrastructure. There is common ground. But I agree with you, right now, the pain in this country, the unemployment, the people who are – don't know where their next meal is going to come from, the people who are facing layoffs. We just lost another 100,000 jobs. These are things we cannot ignore. The big challenge demands a big response.
REID: I will stipulate that this is why you're in politics, sir, and I am not. My goal would be just pass it and let the Republicans cry about it later. Senator Cory Booker, I hope you guys’ strategy works. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here.
BOOKER: Thank you.
