MSNBC host Chris Hayes is no stranger to lobbing vile partisan attacks and straw man arguments in an attempt to score cheap partisan points and Wednesday night was no different. During the opening monologue of his primetime show All In, Hayes falsely attacked Mississippi Republicans for the Jackson water crisis. This is despite the fact that Jackson hasn't elected a Republican mayor in over 70 years, and the current mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba is a socialist who ran promising to make Jackson “the most radical city on the planet.”
After going through a laundry list of grievances Hayes has with the state of Mississippi which included poverty, and the high death toll from COVID-19, Hayes wanted to make clear that this wasn't "an indictment of the great people who live in that state. Rather the abject negligence of the Republicans who've been running it for so long."
"Case in point, much of Jackson, Mississippi, the state's capital does not currently have drinkable water," Hayes stated in an attempt to blame statewide elected Republicans for the city's problems with drinking water.
"Jackson residents have been told they have to boil their water, this is in the United States of America in the year 2022. They have to boil their water before it is potable since July," Hayes whined.
According to Hayes, the water crisis in heavily Democratic Jackson is "not due to some kind of unforeseen national disaster." But "rather systematic negligence of a problem that officials, particularly federal officials warned about years ago."
The leftist MSNBC host regurgitated the Democrats' failure to take responsibility for how they've run Jackson by claiming the "Environmental Protection Agency warned that the Jackson water system, quote, ‘presented,’ listen to this, ‘an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons served by the system.’"
So the real question is: why didn’t the city’s Democratic leadership do something about this earlier?
It wouldn't be an MSNBC segment if racial attacks weren't made and Chris Hayes left that for last by wailing how "while Jackson residents and local leaders many of whom are Democrats have been sounding the alarm of this threat for years, Republicans at the state level have not made the capital, whose population is about 83 percent black much of a priority."
So not only are Republicans responsible for how a city with a 70+ year history of Democrat rule was run, but they're also racist because the city is majority black.
By Hayes' logic wouldn't Mayor Lumumba and all the Democrats who served before him be racist for allowing the water infrastructure to deteriorate in the first place? It sure seems like it!
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To read the relevant transcript click "expand":
MSNBC’s All In
9/14/2022
8:04:18 p.m. EasternCHRIS HAYES: To be perfectly clear here, none of this is an indictment of the great people who live in that state. Rather the abject negligence of the Republicans who've been running it for so long. Case in point, much of Jackson, Mississippi, the state's capital does not currently have drinkable water. You may have seen this story. Jackson residents have been told they have to boil their water, this is in the United States of America in the year 2022. They have to boil their water before it is potable since July.
The problem was exasperated last month when heavy flooding caused a water treatment plant to fail. Due to widespread issues with the water pressure, meaning the water wasn't just not drinkable, you couldn't actually get it through the pipes. The state was forced to install fancy porta-potties at the state capitol building in Jackson so members of the legislature, dominated by Republicans could use the bathroom there.
Thankfully, water pressure has been restored but the city still lacks clean water, with residents being told to shower with their mouths closed. That's not due to some kind of unforeseen national disaster. No, rather systematic negligence of a problem that officials, particularly federal officials warned about years ago.
You see, back in 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency warned that the Jackson water system quote presented, listen to this, an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons served by the system. And while Jackson residents and local leaders many of whom are Democrats have been sounding the alarm of this threat for years, Republicans at the state level have not made the capital, whose population is about 83 percent black much of a priority. Get this, last year the city of Jackson asked the state for $47 million to shore up its water and sewage system. The Republican legislature approved just three million.
