You might say this blew up in his face . . .
A member of the liberal media timidly tries to oh-so-cautiously suggest to an activist that the nightly images of violence in the streets could be hurting Joe Biden's election chances.
But MSNBC contributor Errin Haines would have none of it. Yes, there's a problem of "unchecked, rampant violence in the streets of America." But not what the MSM member was referring to: that by rioters and looters. She implied the problem was the police: "Listen, the president is right about one thing. There is unchecked, rampant violence in the streets of America. But it is not what he is depicting it as. It is the unrelenting shooting and killing of black people in this country even as we are in the midst of a global, public health, and economic crisis."
The liberal media member so badly rebuffed was Willie Geist, who on today's Morning Joe carefully couched his questions in political correctness. Geist suggested that the concerns of suburbanites that violence could be coming to their neighborhoods were "irrational," and dismissed as "nonsense" the Trump campaign's comments on the subject. But he worried:
Biden, by most accounts from Democrats, they believe he needs to punch back hard on this. And he has come out almost every day saying I don’t want to defund the police, and I condemn the violence in the streets, while supporting the movement that brought it about. What’s your sense of how they’re doing in pushing back?
Haines is editor-at-large of "The 19th." She's also a contributor to MSNBC and scored the first interview with Kamala Harris as a vice presidential nominee back on August 14. MSNBC on that day aired 31 minutes of softballs. No discussion of COVID. No mention of the sexual assault allegations against Tara Reade.
Activist Haines' accusation that police are engaged in "unchecked, rampant violence in the streets of America" was sponsored by Choice Hotels, Allstate, and Applebee's
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
8/28/20
8:01 am EDT
WILLIE GEIST: Errin Haines, to Jonathan [Lemire's] point, I've talked to Democrats who support Joe Biden who say they do worry that this may work, that the president is talking to whatever number of people it is in this country, potentially in the suburbs, who watch what’s happening in the streets, they turn on their TVs or their phone, or they look at Facebook, and they go: you know what? I actually don’t want that stuff coming to my city. No matter how irrational that may be, they may feel that.
So what is your sense of how the Biden campaign is counterpunching on this case about destroying the suburbs, and all the other nonsense that the Trump campaign is putting out there? He, by most accounts from Democrats, they believe he needs to punch back hard on this. And he has come out almost every day saying I don’t want to defund the police, and I condemn the violence in the streets, while supporting the movement that brought it about. What’s your sense of how they’re doing in pushing back?
ERRIN HAINES: Well, I think that voters I’m hearing from are definitely wanting to hear from Vice-president Biden and Senator Harris on what their plan is to address, you know, the racial disparities in policing that have had these protesters in the streets for most of the summer, and with no signs of stopping their protest to continue to raise awareness around this issue.
Listen, the president is right about one thing. There is unchecked, rampant violence in the streets of America. But it is not what he is depicting it as. It is the unrelenting shooting and killing of black people in this country even as we are in the midst of a global, public health, and economic crisis. That is the point that should be focused on every day, and that is what should be asked of either of the people that are seeking to become the next president of this United States. What is the plan to address that? If you want the rioting and looting to stop, the killing of unarmed black people in the streets would go a long way to address that issue.
