On Sunday, ABC’s This Week panel marked Independence Day by hyping how politically “divided” the nation was, hysterically warning of “anti-LGBTQ bills,” homelessness, and income inequality. Even when one of the pundits adopted a slightly more optimistic tone, she fretted that it might be “insane” and “naive” to speak positively about America.
“And we wanted to get a few final thoughts on this Independence Day from our roundtable....A quick assessment, though, of where you see us as a nation today, a divided nation still,” host Martha Raddatz remarked at the top of the segment that quickly devolved into trashing the U.S. Left-wing Los Angeles Times columnist LZ Granderson ranted:
I think about the more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills that are being introduced this year alone, many of them targeting transgender youth, children. So I feel as long as we have elected officials who are willing to use children as political pawns to gain points, who are willing to use the country’s most vulnerable to gain points, we’ll always have this division. That’s where we need to start, addressing that.
Raddatz then turned to Washington Post national correspondent Mary Jordan, who offered a similar rosy picture on the state of country:
I think that people need to remember that what’s throwing gasoline on the fire for those who are angry at each other and angry at the government, is income inequality. The rich are getting richer and there’s more homeless. And when you have 50 of the richest people have as much wealth as 165 million Americans, people think it’s unfair.
While slamming the successful, Jordan oddly urged “restoring what America was” as a “magnet for the ambitious.” Apparently unless those “ambitious” citizens make too much money for her liking.
Time magazine national political correspondent Molly Ball at least attempted to voice the smallest degree of optimism: “We are a very divided country and people are real mad at each other still....But we are still standing....this is a moment to look back on the year we’ve had, the year and a half that we’ve had, and say we can come together physically and maybe we can also come together politically.”
However, just moments later, she worried: “Maybe that’s an insane, naive, pie-in-the-sky, optimistic thing to think.”
The most optimism ABC News deputy political director Averi Harper could muster about America was to say: “I think the work of striving for a more perfect union, that work remains unfinished. And because of that, despite the divisions, I think that anything is possible.”
This largely dour discussion came just minutes after the panel trashed the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding voter integrity laws in Arizona. That one-sided whining featured Granderson slamming the “privileged” justices not caring whether poor people could vote and Jordan conspiratorially claiming electoral “dirty tricks” were being employed by Republicans nationwide.
While many Americans see the Fourth of July as a day to celebrate America, the leftist media exploit the holiday talk down the nation instead.
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Here is a transcript of the July 4 segment:
9:54 AM ET
MARTHA RADDATZ: And we wanted to get a few final thoughts on this Independence Day from our roundtable. And LZ, I want to start with you, this is a day of celebrating our nation’s independence, we’ve come so far since a little more than a year ago. A quick assessment, though, of where you see us as a nation today, a divided nation still.
LZ GRANDERSON [LOS ANGELES TIMES COLUMNIST]: I think about the more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills that are being introduced this year alone, many of them targeting transgender youth, children. So I feel as long as we have elected officials who are willing to use children as political pawns to gain points, who are willing to use the country’s most vulnerable to gain points, we’ll always have this division. That’s where we need to start, addressing that.
RADDATZ: And Mary?
MARY JORDAN [WASHINGTON POST NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT]: That people need to remember that what’s throwing gasoline on the fire for those who are angry at each other and angry at the government, is income inequality. The rich are getting richer and there’s more homeless. And when you have 50 of the richest people have as much wealth as 165 million Americans, people think it’s unfair. And I think that restoring what America was, that it was a magnet for the ambitious, I think that would go a long way to mitigating some of the divisions.
RADDATZ: Molly?
MOLLY BALL [TIME NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT]: Well, you know, I think divided we stand, right? We are a very divided country and people are real mad at each other still. You see that, you can’t hardly walk down the street without seeing that. But we are still standing. We have come through –
RADDATZ: We’ve been divided before.
BALL: We have been divided before. Hopefully it doesn’t result in an actual civil war this time, although unfortunately some people talk about that. But I think, you know, this is a moment to look back on the year we’ve had, the year and a half that we’ve had, and say we can come together physically and maybe we can also come together politically. Maybe that’s an insane, naive, pie-in-the-sky, optimistic thing to think. But maybe it is possible now that things seem to be getting better.
RADDATZ: I’m all for optimism today as well. And Averi, I just want some final thoughts from you. You cover the Hill, you cover politics every single day of your life. You’ve seen this division up close. Are you optimistic?
AVERI HARPER [ABC NEWS DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR]: Well, Look, I think the work of striving for a more perfect union, that work remains unfinished. And because of that, despite the divisions, I think that anything is possible.
RADDATZ: And Mary, just very quick thoughts, because you have traveled the world. You have lived around the world. I just did a very whirlwind trip myself. You look at the world, you look at us.
JORDAN: What made us different was that we made everyone feel equal, whether it was vote, whether it was your ability to make money and move up and social mobility, and I just think we need to go back to the basics. You know, 1776, this was it. We were going to be different than everybody else. Everybody was going to be equal. And when we do that, we’ll be fine.
RADDATZ: Okay, thanks so much, Mary. Thanks to all of you for joining us here at the roundtable.
