On Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's All In, former Republican turned Lincoln Project activist Stuart Stevens was the latest on MSNBC to reveal how much Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis was feared by the left and that every statement he made would be overblown and distorted to take him down. The latest example came when DeSantis dared to respond to a questionnaire issued by Fox News host Tucker Carlson asking current and potential Republican presidential candidates where they stand on America's involvement in Ukraine.
Since DeSantis didn’t have the approved opinion of the Ukraine conflict, Stevens lost it and smeared the Florida governor as being a supporter of Putin’s Russia.
Stevens didn’t beat around the bush, he went there and straight-up accused DeSantis of liking Russia because it’s apparently a place where “there are no gay people, where there are no women in power. Where they're all Christians.”
“That's why they love Putin, and they love autocrats,” he added.
Later on in the segment, when asked by host Chris Hayes about DeSantis’s book titled The Courage to Be Free, Stevens retorted that “his definition of freedom is the right to die from COVID. That’s what that’s all about.”
Continuing to distort history, Stevens went further back in time to claim that in the 1960 presidential election, “Kennedy beat Nixon because of a missile gap” when in reality there wasn't a missile gap and Kennedy knowingly lied.
That’s not to mention the shady way the election was conducted by Democrats in Chicago, Illinois, and the state of Texas.
His purpose in bringing this up was to convey his belief that “there was a time when the Democratic Party was a strong on foreign policy party.”
“The Democratic Party could reclaim the party of strength on foreign policy,” Stevens insisted. His comments were ironic considering Russia invaded Ukraine and China had recently flown spy balloons over the United States.
If the Democrat Party was strong on foreign policy, those two events wouldn’t have happened.
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The transcript is below. Click “expand” to read:
MSNBC’s All In
3/14/2023
8:35:6 p.m. EasternSTUART STEVENS: We shouldn’t overlook that the anti-woke guy, Ron DeSantis, his ideal is Putin's Russia. Where there are no gay people, where there are no women in power. Where they're all Christians. That's how he wants to see the world. That’s the world—that's why they love Putin, and they love autocrats.
[...]
8:38:26 p.m. Eastern
STEVENS: Well, his definition of freedom is the right to die from COVID. That’s what that’s all about. You know, I think there is one upside to this that the Senator, I think, could speak to and appreciate. That there was a time when the Democratic Party was a strong on foreign policy party.
Kennedy beat Nixon because of a missile cap. And Nixon accused Kennedy of having a secret plan to invade Cuba. It turned out to be true. If in this moment, the Democratic Party could reclaim the party of strength on foreign policy, and it's not just Ukraine, you have Pelosi going to Taiwan.
The ramifications of that would be a generational change in our American politics. And it would be incredibly healthy for the country if the Democratic Party could be the pro-democracy party and back it up with what it takes, which is the arsenal of democracy. That would be great.
