"This message paid for by the Democratic National Committee." You might have expected to hear that at the end of Mika Brzezinski's rant on today's Morning Joe. Because it was nothing short of an explicit pitch for people, including non-Democrats, to vote a straight-line Dem ticket.
Watch the clip and see if you don't agree that Mika was reading a prepared monologue. This was bald-faced electioneering with malice aforethought. At what point does this kind of "commentary" become a contribution in kind to the DNC?
Here's Mika:
"The rhetoric of this racist, heartless, soulless man will lead to more violence. Yes, I said that. And a lot of Americans believe it, too. They see what is happening to our country. This is a so-called leader with no shame. He doesn't care. He's got no sense of decency, no sense of duty, and no limits.
And this is important for everyone to understand. No limits of what he's capable of doing to stave off any humiliation for himself. The humiliation that his desperate actions suggest is that he knows what's coming next Tuesday. It could be bad for him. There could be subpoena power. There could be impeachment. He knows he is on the line and he will do anything to save himself.
The question is what are we going to do? What are Democrats and Republicans going to do? Because if they want a check on this man, if you want a slight check on this man and his unrelenting race to the finish here to make sure he can continue destroying this country, you might want to vote all 'D,' even if it's not your party this time around. It might be worth it."
Mika claims that Trump's rhetoric "will lead to more violence." Question: what kind of violence might be triggered by Mika's description of the President of the United States as "racist, heartless, soulless?"
Note: Here's another tell that this was a canned political pitch by Mika. Normally, the closed-caption transcript that we obtain from the video provider is badly garbled, requiring careful editing to sort out what the speaker actually said. Here, with only a couple of minor ad libs, the transcript was a perfect, verbatim read-out of Mika's words. Looks like it was already "in the can."
