Is there anything less shocking than MSNBC analyst Michael Steele endorsing Biden for president? In August, the former Republican Party chairman joined the so-called Lincoln Project.
But on Tuesday's Morning Joe, they came out of a commercial break and aired a kooky Lincoln Project commercial (gratis?) that explicitly compared Biden to Abraham Lincoln, and compared Trump's supposed refusal to concede power to.... a Lincoln assassination plot?
STEELE: Imagine that night. Tensions high. A nation torn apart. A plot here in Baltimore City to assassinate a newly-elected president on his way to inauguration. And to plunge the country into chaos. Abraham Lincoln disembarked at this train station, and under pre-dawn skies made his way unscathed and on to greatness. In the days ahead, we may face a crisis of similar proportion: an outlaw president defying the will of the people."
The ad closes with Steele insisting America should vote for Biden-Harris. We can either "ensure an orderly transfer of power, or plunge our country into chaos. America, or Trump? I choose America."
Beyond being defamatory in trying to Trump's rhetoric to a Lincoln assassination plot, Steele's argument is intellectually incoherent. He claims that the way to ensure "an orderly transition of power" is to elect Biden. But it would seem the way to "ensure an orderly transition of power" would be not to have one—by re-electing Trump!
As usual, MSNBC types imply America/Democracy dies in Trumpness.
After this Trump-trashing commercial ended, Steele insisted he and Joe Scarborough were "small C conservatives" who now back Biden. Small C conservatives on the same team as Bernie Sanders? When asked how he would sell Biden to lifelong Republicans, Steele implied Trump's only real accomplishment has been getting people good 401[k]s, but even then suggests that the money would have to be spent on burying relatives who died of COVID.
In another incoherent argument, Steele seemed to disparage Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, saying "you've got Republicans now ticked off at the Chief Justice, because he's doing jurisprudence instead of politics." Roberts upholding Obamacare with incredibly fractured legal reasoning is "jurisprudence instead of politics"?
Joe Scarborough ended the segment by suggesting that conservatives including William F. Buckley, Jr. and Ronald Reagan wouldn't consider Trump a conservative, the implication being that they wouldn't support him. Even if Trump wouldn't be their idea of a true conservative, that hardly means they'd be supporting the likes of Biden-Harris!
To the contrary, remember the Buckley Rule: support the most conservative candidate who is electable. When it comes to who is more conservative between President Trump, and a Joe Biden who has bragged that he'd be the most "progressive" president ever. And don't even get us started on president-in-waiting Kamala Harris, the most liberal member of the Senate!
Michael Steele's somehow comparing Trump to Lincoln assassination plotters was sponsored by Liberty Mutual, Priceline, and Acura. Contact them at the Conservatives Fight Back links and let them know what you think of Steele and Morning Joe promoting this kind of garbage.
Here's the transcript
MSNBC
Morning Joe
10/20/20
6:00 am EDTLINCOLN PROJECT AD [Michael Steele standing on a Baltimore street]: Imagine that night. Tensions high. A nation torn apart. A plot here in Baltimore City to assassinate a newly-elected president on his way to inauguration. And to plunge the country into chaos. Abraham Lincoln disembarked at this train station, and under pre-dawn skies made his way unscathed and on to greatness.
In the days ahead, we may face a crisis of similar proportion: an outlaw president defying the will of the people.
For four years, many have said there will come a moment. Well, this is the moment. Because this ballot is like none ever cast. Now, I’m a life-long Republican, and I’m still a Republican. But this ballot is how we restore the soul of our nation. Electing a good man, Joe Biden, and a trailblazer, Kamala Harris, and ensure an orderly transfer of power, or plunge our country into chaos. America, or Trump? I choose America.
The Lincoln Project is responsible for the content of this advertising.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Wow! That was former RNC chair Michael Steele endorsing Democrat Joe Biden for president and the senior adviser to The Lincoln Project joins us now.
. . .
WILLIE GEIST: So what would you say to a Republican who is sitting here saying, I voted Republican my entire life. I just don’t know, I don’t love Trump. We know these people. I don’t love the rhetoric. I don’t love the tweets, but I can’t find my way to voting for a Democrat. I've been a Republican my whole life. What do you say to those people?
MICHAEL STEELE: Look, it’s a hard river to cross. It’s tough for sure, I know particularly if you've been in that environment where that that’s what you have done. But just stop and ask yourself, well, what is it that matters? How do you explain to your children, yeah, we got a great 401(k), but, you know, just ignore all of the behavior.
. . .
What are you coming back home to? What are you resting your laurels on? What are you patting him on the back for? You’ve got a great 401(k). But that’s been hit, and if you’re lucky enough to have it recover, okay, now you’re spending your money to pay for your health care because you got COVID-19, or you're paying for the funeral expenses of a family member who died from COVID-19.
So what are you coming back home to? I mean, a Supreme Court nomination? Look, you’ve got Republicans right now ticked off at the Chief Justice because he’s doing jurisprudence, he’s not doing politics. So what are you coming back home to?
. . .JOE SCARBOROUGH: What are you coming home? You’re coming home to a strongman who wants his opponent arrested two weeks out? Yeah, you know, I don’t think Edmund Burke, William F. Buckley, Russell Kirk, Ronald Reagan, would call that conservative. You know why? Because it’s not.
