It’s that wonderful time of year when families get together to enjoy turkey, football and most importantly to express gratitude for all they’ve been blessed with. Of course the liberal media want you to use that day of giving thanks to instead lecture your conservative family members about America’s atrocities.
Over the years the MRC has tracked liberal journalists’ hatred of this very American holiday and how they’ve tried to ruin it for everybody.
The following are some of the most egregious examples of lib journos attempts to wreck Thanksgiving:
1. HOW DARE YOU CELEBRATE THAT DAY OF ATROCITY!
America Was “Founded on Violence”
On November 23, 2022 NB’s Kevin Tober reported on MSNBC’s Joy Reid being a Thanksgiving kill-joy.
While normal Americans were making last-minute preparations for Thanksgiving and spending time with family and friends, MSNBC’s Joy Reid took to the airwaves on her show The ReidOut to smear America’s founding and to distort the true story of Thanksgiving.
Right off the bat, Reid began her show by lashing out at Thanksgiving and the United States:
“We begin with Thanksgiving. The day we gather with friends and family to enjoy Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. We throw on the game, catch up on our lives and discuss or quite possibly argue about religion and politics. For millions of Americans, it’s a day of cherished tradition. And as Americans, we certainly value those traditions. But it’s also important to unpack the myth of Thanksgiving. It is a holiday riddled with historical inaccuracies.”
“Built on this myth that the indigenous welcomed their colonizers with open arms and ears of corn,” Reid insisted. “A simplistic fairytale interpretation of a 1621 encounter between indigenous tribes and English settlers that erases the genocide that followed,” she huffed.
Reid then lashed out at the United States: “We are a country founded on violence. Our birth was violent.”
She also took a page from her fellow race hustlers, including Nikole Hannah Jones of the 1619 Project, by inaccurately claiming the country was founded in racist violence: “In 1619, a ship with more than 20 enslaved Africans landed in Virginia, ushering in two centuries of American slavery that left millions in chains or dead."
Reid then ended her historically inaccurate and downright delusional rant by claiming “we are a country that chooses violence over and over again. There is no facet of the mark in society untouched by it.”
Media Check Our Thanksgiving Privilege, Tout “Day of Mourning”
In 2019, NB’s Gabriel Hays wrote up the attack on the hallowed day by The New Yorker and CNN:
The New Yorker did some heavy historical lifting to remind white European-Americans just how much their hallowed “creation stories” are lies meant to distract them from what this country is: a place of racial injustice that was founded on racial injustice. During America’s civil war era, “American mythmakers discovered that the Pilgrims, and New England as a whole, were perfectly cast as national founders: white, Protestant, democratic, and blessed with an American character.”
Thus a story was born to serve white megalomania for centuries to come. The outlet claimed, “Glorifying the endurance of white Pilgrim founders diverted attention from the brutality of Jim Crow and racial violence, and downplayed the foundational role of African slavery.”
The piece clarified the savage truth behind this myth: “the Thanksgiving story buries the major cause of King Philip’s War — the relentless seizure of Indian land. It also covers up the consequence.” Oh yes, as we’ve been told time and time again, much raping and pillaging happened.
It even threw in the idea that the fabled meeting between both Wampanoags and Pilgrims happened because the cautious Indians were perturbed by the settlers having a good old time shooting guns, those rednecks. “It was a party, not a prayer, and was full of people shooting at things,” historians have claimed, affirming that Indians weren’t actually there to celebrate, but see if everything was all right.
“They came not to enjoy a multicultural feast but to aid the Pilgrims: hearing repeated gunfire, they assumed that the settlers were under attack.” Of course what followed were centuries of land seizure, small-pox, and yes, genocide.
…
Even CNN’s Victor Blackwell had to start his Thanksgiving coverage by mentioning the “Day of Mourning,” the alternative Thanksgiving where the last few Wampanoags living in Massachusetts remember they were robbed, and are still waiting for justice for the wanton destruction of their tribes.
Curry: Indians “Feel Thanksgiving Should Be Day of Mourning”
During an interview on the November 24, 2003 Today show with the author of a book urging families to learn more about the history of Thanksgiving and to appreciate being American, Curry countered: “You know there are some American Indians who feel that Thanksgiving should be a day of mourning, not a day of celebration, because of what happened to their people.”
Happy “Colonizer” Day!
MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson: “Thanksgiving has changed over time as well. I know in my family, I know several people who call it ‘Colonizer Christmas,’ because they don’t really like the idea of what Thanksgiving represents.”...
The New Yorker writer Jelani Cobbs: “That original Thanksgiving, you know, where the colony was starving….anthropological research suggests was in such dire conditions they had to resort to cannibalism to remain alive….It always has been kind of awkward to say that you commemorate that, by stuffing yourself with as much food as you can find. And maybe, perhaps, people have to actually think about a small sacrifice that would be fitting, in keeping with this day.”
— MSNBC’s AM Joy, November 21, 2020.
MSNBC: Thanksgiving Is About White Settlers Who Brought “Genocide and Violence”
On the November 20, 2021 edition of The Cross Connection, MSNBC host Tiffany Cross allowed a guest to deliver a rant against America to mark the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. After lauding liberal Native American activist Gyasi Ross as a “show favorite,” she then switched to what appeared to be a pre-recorded essay from him with his thoughts about the holiday. Ross began by claiming that it is a “pathology of white America” to see their ancestors as improving North America after they arrived, he then added: “But I’m still trying to find out what indigenous people received of value. Instead of bringing stuffing and biscuits, those settlers brought genocide and violence.”
HuffPost: Cancel Thanksgiving to Save the Planet
Back in 2019 NB’s Alexa Moutevelis discovered a Huffpost article that posited we forgo Thanksgiving to save the planet:
HuffPost recommends forgoing Thanksgiving all together to save the planet from global warming. Because traveling to gather with family and friends to offer thanks is selfish.
Author Alexandra Emanuelli began her article on Nov. 5 with a reminder that Trump is pulling out of Paris climate agreement and the surely non-political Climate Action Tracker rates America’s efforts as “insufficient.” This leads Emanuelli to write, “With that in mind, one wonders: How much damage are we doing with our epic Thanksgiving meal every year?” No, actually, normal people don’t wonder such ridiculous things. And yet she talked to researchers in an attempt to calculate “Thanksgiving’s carbon footprint.”
Thanksgiving Is “The Supremely White American holiday,” “Most Ghoulish Event on the National Calendar”
In 2007, NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham stumbled upon this anti-Thanksgiving rant featured on the Website The Black Commentator:
“Nobody celebrates Thanksgiving quite like Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. It is reserved by history and the intent of ‘the founders’ as the supremely white American holiday, the most ghoulish event on the national calendar. No Halloween of the imagination can rival the exterminationist reality that was the genesis, and remains the legacy, of the American Thanksgiving. It is the most loathsome, humanity-insulting day of the year — a pure glorification of racist barbarity.”
New York Times: Happy Thanksgiving, Trumpian Bigots and Other Ignorant Folks
In 2019 NB’s Clay Waters found a couple of cheery holiday items by New York Times columnists:
With the woke left busy repurposing Thanksgiving as a day of Western guilt and genocide against Native Americans, Times columnist Paul Krugman counterintuitively, perhaps insincerely, portrayed the Thanksgiving holiday as something worth celebrating. Why? To bash Trump and his supporters as bigots, naturally in the piece: “Why Trump Should Hate Thanksgiving”
“Do Trump and his band of bigots even understand what Thanksgiving is about? If they did, they would hate this most American of holidays. After all, the Pilgrims were refugees fleeing persecution by the English monarchy, which at the time was still an autocratic regime. They were, in other words, exactly the kind of people Trump and company want to keep out. Furthermore, the traditional portrait of the first Thanksgiving is as a moment of racial tolerance and multiculturalism: European immigrants sharing a feast with Native Americans. That moment didn’t last: Much of New England’s native population was wiped out over the next few decades. And such an outcome may well have been inevitable. But we still celebrate the tale of a benign meeting of races and cultures.”...
Columnist Charles Blow was on more familiar ground, explaining the real history of Thanksgiving to the ignorant in “The Horrible History of Thanksgiving — Before you fill your plate, please remember why we mark this day.”
At least he didn’t spare himself from condemnation:
“I thought it was such a beautiful story: People reaching across race and culture to share with one another, to commune with one another. But that is not the full story of Thanksgiving. Like so much of American history, the story has had its least attractive features winnow away — white people have been centered in the narrative and all atrocity has been politely papered over.”
The Nation Magazine: Stop the “Trauma,” Replace Thanksgiving with Decolonized “Truthsgiving”
In 2023, Graham relayed that the scolds at the leftist Nation magazine wanted to replace Thanksgiving with something called Truthsgiving:
The radical leftists at The Nation can be counted on to be the Debbie Downers of Thanksgiving. In a feature they mysteriously called "The Debate," two native American activists both argue that the holiday is grievously wrong and it should be a day for "centering the Indigenous perspective." The headline:
Should America Keep Celebrating Thanksgiving? Sean Sherman argues that we need to decolonize Thanksgiving, while Chase Iron Eyes calls for replacing Thanksgiving with a “Truthsgiving.”
Sean Sherman provided the picture-perfect leftist indictment of American mythology:
“For many Americans, the image of Thanksgiving is one of supposed unity: the gathering of 'Pilgrims and Indians' in a harmonious feast. But this version obscures the harsh truth, one steeped in colonialism, violence, and misrepresentation…The sanitized version of Thanksgiving neglects to mention the violence, land theft, and subsequent decimation of Indigenous populations. Needless to say, this causes tremendous distress to those of us who are still reeling from the trauma of these events to our communities.”
"Decolonize" Thanksgiving and break your bond with capitalism!
“This Thanksgiving, let’s break the bonds of colonization and capitalism—not just on our plates but in our perspectives, too. I want a Thanksgiving where I can be thankful that I live in a world where diversity is celebrated, and where every person’s connection to their food, land, and history is respected and cherished. I would like to be thankful not only for a more inclusive world but for a more accurate accounting of the past. This inclusivity and commitment to truth would honor Indigenous people, but also every person on the planet. Banning histories as a righteous crusade to eradicate different opinions is wrong; understanding true histories is necessary. A decolonized Thanksgiving could transform a holiday marred by historical amnesia into a celebration of genuine gratitude, unity, and recognition of our rich Indigenous heritage. It would offer a clearer lens through which to see the entire world. Let us drop food and knowledge, not bombs.”
Chase Iron Eyes claimed American should thank the "Native nations" for most of their food and even...the interstate highway system?
“Give thanks to the Native nations who created the world that we inherit today. Learn that 60 percent of all food consumed to this day was discovered, bioengineered, and/or cultivated by Indigenous cultures in the Americas, including corn, beans, squash, and tomatoes,” he said. “’American’ democracy itself was derived from observations of the Iroquois confederacy. The interstate highways and trail systems trace Indigenous trade routes. Anesthetics, rubber, sunglasses, kayaks, canoes, plant medicines, oral contraceptives, and paleo, organic, and non-GMO lifestyles derive from Indigenous practices.”
We need to "drop the lie" of Thanksgiving:
“Thanksgiving is a lie in the same way Manifest Destiny is a lie: This continent was not a pristine, empty land that had yet to be put to 'profitable' use in the ways 'civilized' extractive alien economies defined it. November is already Native American Heritage Month. Thanksgiving could be something better: a day to appreciate the truth of American history and Native Americans’ contributions to our lives. Let’s tell a different story by dropping the lie of Thanksgiving and begin a Truthsgiving.”
2. POLITICS RUINS THANKSGIVING, UNLESS YOU ARE LECTURING CONSERVATIVES
Blame Trump for Why Civility Has Disappeared from Thanksgiving Dinner
In 2019, NB's Kristine Marsh recounted how ABC’s The View crew complained that Donald Trump had ruined the holiday:
Whoopi [Goldberg] went on to wish for times where there wasn’t animosity towards family members for their political differences.
“I want the America where we're all sitting around going, ‘Well, I don't know if I agree with that?’ Not, ‘You’re a terrible, horrible person’ because remember, like, 20 years ago when people started saying, ‘Well, you're not really an American if you don’t agree with me’?’ I want to go back to those days. I want the days back where we can sit and disagree and pick our teeth and eat food. That's what I want. You know? That’s what I want.”
This was met with applause but Sunny Hostin and Joy Behar couldn’t help but blame Trump.
“I think that will come back when people believe in their government, when people believe that their president is acting for their own — for Americans,” Hostin remarked.
Behar piped up with “Instead of himself!” to Hostin’s agreement.
Whoopi asked her co-hosts, “Do you think it will come back if we believe in ourselves as well?” before adding, “Civility seems to have gone away.”
CNN: How to Talk Impeachment at Thanksgiving Dinner
In 2019, NB’s P.J. Gladnick discovered this CNN item on how to become the most annoying guest at the Thanksgiving Dinner table:
Do you have a bizarre desire to both bore and annoy your fellow Thanksgiving dinner guests? Well, good news! CNN's Zachary B. Wolf on Wednesday provided a handy dandy guide on how to easily accomplish this task with “Get smart on impeachment before Thanksgiving dinner.”
Wolf somehow assumes that hearing the mainstream media hype impeachment (which is now losing steam) 24/7 is not enough for the public. His fantasy is that the public will not only have its fill of turkey and stuffing but will have room left over for a discussion about impeachment that the media is so obsessed about.
“Happy Thanksgiving! You probably don’t want to talk politics with your Uncle Al, but it’s going to come up. A CNN poll this week found that about 4 in 10 Americans are paying very close attention to the impeachment proceedings --- but almost everyone has an opinion about it. Here’s what you need to know about impeachment to not sound like a stuffed turkey in front of your family and friends.”
Chicago Tribune Columnist: How to Mock Your Crazy Trump-Loving Family Members This Thanksgiving
In 2019, Kristine Marsh wrote up Chicago Tribune columnist Rex Huppke’s guide on how to talk to the Trump-loving, Fox News-watching members of the family:
Huppke also goes into a pompous lecture bashing Republicans as a cult without brains:
“We are living not just in a divided America but in an America made up of two wholly separate realities. One is inhabited by those of us who have managed to keep at least one foot in the world where provable facts exist and good and bad mean what we’ve always believed them to mean. The other is populated by those who have joined President Donald Trump’s cult of lack-of-personality and had the left hemisphere of their cerebral cortex replaced with a Sean Hannity bobblehead that, every five minutes, shouts, “BENGHAZI!!”
Harper’s Bazaar Writer: Become Annoyingly Political at Thanksgiving Dinner
Back in 2018, P.J. Gladnick found this thoughtful bit of dinner conversation advice by Harper’s Bazaar writer Rachel Elizabeth Cargle:
Cargle has come up with a bunch of ways to destroy the Thanksgiving mood by going annoyingly political as you can read in her November 19 article, “How to Talk to Your Family About Racism on Thanksgiving.” Cargle kicks things off by dispensing advice from a famous American Communist:
“After a year of relentless atrocities that don’t always make for easy conversation at the dinner table, it’s important to make Thanksgiving preparations beyond the tablescape and the menu. This year, I want you to prepare for something a little more nuanced than stuffing or cranberry sauce: I want you to prepare to rock the family boat, with important discussions that stretch beyond the surface of “How's the weather?” and “Who are you dating these days?” So, I'm coming to you with a guide that should push you beyond apathy, and instead, teach you how to be a part of the solution. As Angela Davis reminds us, it is not enough to not be racist. You have to be anti-racist, and if you are not actively being part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem. So here is some language to help you navigate Thanksgiving day dinner.”
3. HOW DARE (REPUBLICAN) PRESIDENTS EXPLOIT THANKSGIVING FOR PHOTO-OPS
MSNBC’s Ruhle Calls Trump’s Thanksgiving Visit to Afghanistan a “Photo-Op”
In 2019, NB’s Alex Christy wrote-up MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle ascribing cynical motives to President Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving visit to the troops:
Surprise presidential visits to war zones to spend time with the troops during Thanksgiving or other holidays have become a bipartisan tradition that everyone can support. While most view such visits as a way to honor the troops and express amazement at the amount of planning and secrecy that goes into such trips, MSNBC Live host Stephanie Ruhle took Friday to call Trump’s Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan a “photo-op” and wonder that if he will plan more foreign visits as part of a strategy to counter impeachment.
Ruhle theorized that the trip was about the imagery of the presidency, “The imagery of the president standing there with troops behind him, the President literally, maybe he’s watching, tweeted a bunch of photos from the trip. That’s a big win for him.”
She then asked Washington Post White House correspondent Anne Gearan, “Given the impeachment battle is going on, the president is under attack in all sorts of ways, are we going to see more overseas trips that give him these kind of photo-op scenarios?”
Obama “Wins Troops’ Cheers” in Iraq, But Bush's Thanksgiving Visit Greeted With Petulance
Back in April 2009, Barack Obama wowed the press with his trip to Iraq, which was a different reaction George W. Bush received from journalists when he made a Turkey Day visit to the troops in 2003:
The front page of Wednesday’s Times featured a huge Associated Press photo of President Obama greeting troops on his surprise trip to Baghdad. The caption (from the print edition, emphasis in original):
“In Unexpected Visit to Iraq, Obama Wins Troops' Cheers - Military personnel at Camp Victory in Baghdad applauded President Obama on Tuesday when he said ‘It is time for us to transition to the Iraqis.’”
That teased a favorable story about Obama’s visit on Page 11, which included another photo of Obama and the troops, with a more straightforward caption (again from the print):
“President Obama spoke to American troops at Camp Victory, Iraq, on Tuesday. The president said that it was time for Iraqis ‘to take responsibility for their country and for their sovereignty.’”
Compare the photographic enthusiasm the Times showed over Obama’s first trip as president to Iraq to the coolness with which the paper’s photo-caption writers greeted President George W. Bush's dramatic first, secret visit to Iraq on Thanksgiving Day 2003, which occurred during intense wartime hostilities.
While even Bush-hostile reporter Elisabeth Bumiller admitted in her front-page story that the president was surrounded by “stunned, whooping soldiers,” none of that enthusiasm made it into the photo captions from Bush’s visit to Baghdad.
The caption accompanying a front-page photo of Bush carrying a turkey among troops was coolly descriptive:
“President Bush with American troops yesterday at the mess hall at Baghdad International Airport.”
And a photo caption that evidently appeared on the article’s jump page was self-obsessed and petulant. According to the Times archive (the photo itself is not online), the text read:
“President Bush posed for a photograph yesterday during his surprise visit to American troops at the airport in Baghdad, Iraq. Few journalists were told of the trip or allowed to cover it.”
