In an exchange between radical left-wing Hollywood director Rob Reiner and MSNBC anchor Katy Tur on Wednesday afternoon, Reiner came across as the more reasonable one. While he voiced his support for Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic race, Tur worried that the liberal former Vice President would not be “extreme” enough to the liking of far-left voters.
Referencing a just-concluded Bernie Sanders press conference in the 2:00 p.m. ET hour, Tur touted the socialist senator “saying that Joe Biden is controlled, essentially, by the corporate world – not controlled – backed by the corporate world. That he won’t help people, that he won’t change things.”
While Reiner predictably wailed about “whether or not democracy will survive” under four more years of President Trump, he also called for pragmatic consideration of “who is the best positioned to beat Donald Trump.”
Tur was only interested in pushing an “extreme” leftist ideology:
If you listen to U.N. scientists, if you listen to the reports, we don’t have a lot of time to turn things around on the climate. We have a matter of years. Action needs to be taken now. And Bernie Sanders supporters would argue that Joe Biden’s plan doesn’t go far enough and what you’re doing is you’re only making a dent in something that needs to be completely razed. This is an issue that is not something that can be done in a moderate way, it needs to be done in an extreme way, and it needs to be done now.
Reiner actually tried to temper the discussion: “Well, it needs to be done in an aggressive way. And it’s not all-or-nothing. I mean, if you can move in an aggressive way, and that requires – ” However, Tur was having none of it: “Climate scientists say it’s all, it’s all.”
Moments later, she pleaded: “But the question is whether Joe Biden goes far enough to address those issues. And progressives and Bernie Sanders supporters, Warren supporters, would say that he does not go far enough...they’d like to see him go bigger and bolder.” Tur then pressed Reiner: “How does he convince progressive voters or voters that are into someone like Bernie Sanders or even Elizabeth Warren that he can enact the structural change that they are hungry for?”
It doesn’t take a mind-reader to guess who Tur is supporting in the Democratic primary.
Here is a transcript of the March 4 interview:
2:25 PM ET
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KATY TUR: Alright, so you are a big supporter of Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders right there making it a two-man race. He is saying that Joe Biden is controlled, essentially, by the corporate world – not controlled – backed by the corporate world. That he won’t help people, that he won’t change things.
ROB REINER: Yeah, well, you know, here’s the thing, I just listened to, you know, what you all listened to. Bernie laid out a lot of, you know, critical important issues that will have to be debated and will be discussed. But there are two bigger issues that, to me, override all of it, and that is, we are facing two existential crises. One is democracy and whether or not democracy will survive. And two is our planet and whether or not our planet will be sustainable.
At this point, we have to make a decision as to who is the best positioned to beat Donald Trump. Because until we do that, until we get him out of the Oval Office, all these issues are going to be academic. And it means not just winning the White House, but having enough power and enough strength behind you to hold the House, possibly take the Senate back, and then start implementing the issues that we all care about, health care, the environment, gun – gun safety, those issues are not going to move forward unless we have a new president.
TUR: This is an argument that individuals are having with each other right now. I hear it all over the country between couples, between friends, talking about what the best way is to move forward, especially on those all-important issues, those life-saving issues or life-endangering issues, like the climate. If you listen to U.N. scientists, if you listen to the reports, we don’t have a lot of time to turn things around on the climate. We have a matter of years. Action needs to be taken now. And Bernie Sanders supporters would argue that Joe Biden’s plan doesn’t go far enough and what you’re doing is you’re only making a dent in something that needs to be completely razed. This is an issue that is not something that can be done in a moderate way, it needs to be done in an extreme way, and it needs to be done now.
REINER: Well, it needs to be done in an aggressive way. And it’s not all-or-nothing. I mean, if you can move in an aggressive way, and that requires –
TUR: Climate scientists say it’s all, it’s all.
REINER: Yeah, it needs to move in a very, very significant, aggressive way. But you need to hold the House and take the Senate in order to make those things happen. And if you can’t, then you wind up with nothing. And so the question is, you know, with respect to the environment, you know, I had a great conversation with Anthony Delgado, who’s a congressman in upstate New York, and if you talk about an infrastructure – we talk about infrastructure bills forever. But if you talk about an infrastructure bill, you know, that gets you jobs, that does create green energy jobs, factories that create, you know, you know, electric batteries and solar panels, you can do both. You can strengthen our economy, you can get more jobs, and you can start pushing towards where – first thing you need to do is get back in the climate –
TUR: But the question is whether Joe Biden goes far enough to address those issues. And progressives and Bernie Sanders supporters, Warren supporters, would say that he does not go far enough. Yes, he has a record on it, but they’d like to see him go bigger and bolder. How does he convince progressive voters or voters that are into someone like Bernie Sanders or even Elizabeth Warren that he can enact the structural change that they are hungry for?
We’re here in Los Angeles, where there is a massive inequality problem, I’ve been saying this like a broken record on television. People living in tents outside of million-dollar houses. Coming back for me, a native Angeleno, seeing it is heartbreaking and it is appalling and it makes me angry that the city has come to that. How is Joe Biden going to address the systemic problems that we have in this country?
REINER: Well, in order to address any problem, whether it’s homelessness or gun safety or the environment, is you have to get somebody in office. And nothing happens if you don’t get somebody in office. And I’ve been saying this for a year now, that the hardest thing for Joe Biden is going to be to get through the primary. If he can get through the primary, and it seems now he’s positioned, the way the states lay out in the next month or so, he can. And if he can, we’re going to see dramatic changes, because he will carry down-ballot races, he will hold onto the house. We know how difficult it was to flip a lot of the red seats in the House, to turn them blue, that was a hard thing to do.
We also know how hard he fought with Barack Obama to even get a public option in the health care bill, which many Democrats voted against. So you have to be pragmatic, realistic, you’ve got to be bold, but there’s – you know, it’s that old thing that perfection is the enemy of the good. And to me it’s more than just good. We can be great. But we have to get the White House first. And the way to do it, in my opinion, is Joe Biden.
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