Where does MSNBC find these so-called "Republicans?" A guest on Al Sharpton's show tonight was Rina Shah, whom Sharpton introduced as a "Republican strategist."
In the course of her appearance, Shah said that President Trump "tends to speak out of his rear end." She later said that Trump is "racist to his core." And this "Republican" also implied that people should vote Democrat, since "Republicans are going to continue this same playbook of feigning ignorance" on issues like voter suppression.
Sharpton himself seemed pleased by Shah's extreme case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, pointedly saying, "obviously Rina is a Republican, not a Trumpican." Imagine aspiring to become an Al Sharpton darling.
In 2016, Shah was communications director for the Never Trump third-party candidacy of Evan McMullin.
Shah went on to say "impeachment should not be forgotten. It was a history [sic], it was a civics lesson for all of us." She vaguely touted an article at the MSNBC-Republican website The Bulwark on a post-impeachment road map for Congress as Trump "continues to assault the Constitution." Sharpton even tweeted this out.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Politics Nation
2/15/20
5:45 pm ETAL SHARPTON: Now Rina, explain something to me that I just can't figure out. And that is, President Trump said he was going to have a commission on voter fraud, and he claimed there was so much voter fraud. What happened to that commission, and what did they find out?
RINA SHAH: Oh, that commission, like everything else, was lip service from the president. The president, actually --
SHARPTON: You mean he didn't do it?
SHAH: [laughs] Are we surprised? Well, you know, here's the patch[?]-and-go strategy that the White House employs. Because the president tends to speak out of his rear end on this kind of stuff.
. . .
SHAH: Republicans, frankly, there's a lot of misinformation. I'm talking to Republican voters of every, mainly above the age of 50 out in the western states. And they don't really know any of what is happening to people like us. How we are not being allowed to vote in certain states; just the suppression efforts. They almost act as if there's no problem. And so, the reality is this: we have to get smart. We have to vote for people who we know will represent our communities, who we know are going to take action on the first day they take action. And that's really all that can be done, because Republicans are going to continue the same playbook of feigning ignorance on these issues.
SHARPTON: Well, you, obviously Rina is a Republican, not a Trumpican . . . Rina, as the head of the non-Trumpicans on this show, at least, you're the head tonight --
SHAH: Never Trump forever!
SHARPTON: Did Donald Trump ever come up with this birth certificate he claimed he had on Barack Obama?
SHAH: Never. This is what he was known for, right? It was the very thing that he led with --
SHARPTON: It's what brought him into politics.
SHAH: Yeah! And now what? We've come so far away from that. But we shouldn't forget who the man is. He is a racist to the core. He has a problem with anybody whose skin color is darker than his.
