With the first polls just a few hours away from closing we at NewsBusters decided to take a look at the last ditch efforts of liberal journos and celebrities to motivate their voters by terrifying them and spreading lies about the GOP.
On MSNBC, presidential historian Michael Beschloss disgustingly told viewers “our children will be arrested and conceivably killed,” if the GOP takes power. His colleague Joy Reid laughably gaslighted her viewers as she insisted people weren’t even aware of the word “inflation” until Republicans threw it around this election cycle.
Over on ABC’s The View, Sunny Hostin was shocked that suburban women could vote GOP as she snidely asserted: “It’s almost like roaches voting for Raid.”
Filmmaker Rob Reiner went full-on crazy as blurted: “Republicans are willing to kill, literally kill, to get the power….this might be the last election we have in a democracy.”
The following are just a few of the media’s most frantic takes in the closing weeks and days before Election Day:
At Stake on Election Day: “Whether Our Children Will be Arrested and Conceivably Killed”
“We could be six days away from losing our rule of law. A historian 50 years from now, if historians are allowed to write in this country and if there are still free publishing houses and a free press, which I’m not certain of. But if that is true, a historian will say, what was at stake tonight and this week was the fact whether we will be a democracy in the future, whether our children will be arrested and conceivably killed.”
— MSNBC presidential historian Michael Beschloss on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, November 2.
What?! Republicans “Taught” People the Word “Inflation”
“What they’ve [Republicans] done is they’ve taught people the word ‘inflation.’ Right? Most people who would have never used that word ever in their lives are using it now because they’ve been taught it, including on TV, including in newspapers. They’ve been taught this word. And they sort of wrap this word around... the reasons they really want to vote.”
— MSNBC host Joy Reid on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House, November 3.
“Democracy Is In Danger All Over the World, Here in the U.S.”
“If you look at what's happening in Iran, if you look at what’s happening in, you know, all over the world, [President of Brazil Jair] Bolsonaro, whatever, democracy is in danger all over the world, here in the United States as well, but it’s all over the world, Secretary Clinton.…What do we do? Speak to us about that, please.”
— Co-host Don Lemon to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on CNN This Morning, November 3.
Dems Need to Win, “Democracy Is On the Line”
“There is a serious chance that if this doesn’t go well, we don’t have democracy any more. And 15 minutes from now, the World Series is gonna be on. By the way, go Phillies. You know what’s more American than baseball? Democracy. And that’s what’s on the line here.”
— Matthew Dowd on MSNBC's The ReidOut, November 2.
Can Democracy Survive Those Violent, Fascist Republicans?
“Throughout the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump would use ‘Lock her up!’ as a call and response to his audience about you. Michael Flynn would repeat it. I can remember being in the convention in Cleveland and it was guttural, the amount of rage directed at you personally….It felt very personal…..Are you concerned that our democracy is not going to be able to hold past what you can only describe as fascism, violent politics, and demand for power without elections?”
— Host Joy Reid to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on MSNBC’s The ReidOut, November 1.
12 Year-Old GOP Campaign Slogans to Blame for Attack on Nancy Pelosi’s Husband
“Think back to 2010, that year of a Republican wave, the Tea Party movement. The Republicans ran on a ‘Fire Nancy Pelosi!’ campaign. She was then a target politically of scorn and ridicule. Her Republican critics cast her as a San Francisco elitist and really for more than a decade now, that approach to Pelosi has continued. And even at this traumatic moment for her and her family, the laughter at that event is not that surprising, and the fact that’s not that surprising is revealing of our deeply partisan, deeply divided political moment, which continues across the country ahead of the midterms.”
— Correspondent Robert Costa on CBS Mornings, November 2.
Joy’s Polling Conspiracy Theory
“Here in the United States, we’re a little over a week away from our own midterm elections. And if you believe the recent headlines, you would think that MAGA fascism is ascendant. If you get past those headlines and dig a little deeper, you uncover an insidious and seemingly intentional campaign by Republican-backed polling firms to flood the zone and tip the balance of polling averages in favor of their candidates. To create a narrative that Republicans are surging and that a red wave is imminent and inevitable.”
— MSNBC’s The ReidOut, October 31.
Midterms the “Gravest Test” Since the Civil War
Host Andrea Mitchell: “How confident can we be that democracy does survive?”
Former Newsweek editor, presidential historian and current MSNBC contributor Jon Meacham: “We can’t, we can’t be confident. We have to work really, really hard. This is the gravest test of citizenship since the Civil War and it’s, this is, as President Biden might say, it’s not hyperbole and it's not a joke.”
— MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, October 28.
Women Voting for GOP Are Like “Roaches Voting for Raid”
Co-host Sunny Hostin: “What’s also surprising to me is the abortion issue. I read a poll just yesterday that white Republican suburban women are now going to vote Republican. It's almost like roaches voting for Raid….They’re voting against their own self-interest! Do they want to leave it in Gilead? Do they want to be in The Handmaid’s Tale?”
Co-host Joy Behar: “You’re not voting for Republicans. You’re voting for a cult. Remember that. It’s a cult. It’s not Republicans anymore.”
— ABC’s The View, November 3.
Republicans Are Willing to Kill to Get the Power
“Republicans are only interested in power….and they will do anything to get the power. And they are willing to kill, literally kill, to get the power….this might be the last election we have in a democracy.”
— Filmmaker Rob Reiner on MSNBC’s The ReidOut, November 4.
