In the closing minutes of Sunday’s Meet the Press, NBC political director Chuck Todd led a panel of mostly liberal media types in a discussion accusing the Republican Party of a nationwide effort to strip Biden voters, more specifically minorities, of their right to vote. Luckily, Danielle Pletka, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute stood in the breach and called out the lies, gave examples of liberal states enacting the same election policies, and made heads rhetorically explode while doing it.
After Todd played a clip of Attorney General Merrick Garland announcing that the Department of Justice was looking to take states to court over their election integrity laws, PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor led the way in praising the politically motivated move and peddled smears against Republicans.
“When you talk to people who are really familiar with the thinking about this, it's that Democrats realize that they might- that it’s not going to only be solved in a legislative way. There has to be a judicial and a court battle ahead,” she said.
Alcindor went on to accuse the GOP of creating an “existential crisis in America,” and falsely suggested they were not just out to “suppress people's vote but nullify people's votes.” “That that can't be the way America works,” she declared. “Republicans in state legislatures are saying if you- essentially, and critics would say, that if you, if we don't like the way that you voted, we will take away your vote.”
Pletka was up next and wasted little time in debunking Alcindor’s falsehoods. After noting that Republicans didn’t have an interest in being the party of voter suppression, she pointed out the fact that Republican states like Georgia and Texas were enacting laws just like those in liberal states:
You know, there are going to be problems if, at the federal level, they decide that they only need to go after Republican states, that they need to go after Republican-run states for laws that mirror, for example, things that exist in Delaware or New York or Connecticut or New Hampshire.
“Georgia never had drop boxes before. Now drop boxes are in law. This is the law that Merrick Garland was just talking about,” she said. And taking on Alcindor directly, she scoffed: “I think it's hard to argue that we are in an existential crisis. How many people voted in the last election? More than ever before. We have unbelievable voter engagement.”
That assertion of nullification was back again when Todd looked for input from Democratic Party fangirl and NBC chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell, who was in hysterics.
“No, I'm sorry, it is specifically aimed at people of color, at people who have voted in this last election, people who had access because of the changes, because of COVID. They had more access. It's taking away, in Texas, taking away Sunday voting, you know, Souls to the Polls. It's exactly aimed at minority voters,” she screeched.
The final member of the mostly-liberal panel was NBC The Week host Joshua Johnson, who used to be much more sober before joining the network. And according to him, Republican election bills were a “Hail Mary” and “last gasp to try to take votes away from people because you didn't like the way the election is going.”
Adding: “When I talk to younger people, younger voters who are getting more and more politically engaged, this feels very much like a desperate last gasp, especially among people who know what happened to the Voting Rights Act.”
As they were nearing the end of the program, Pletka stepped back into the fray to untangle the concerns around election integrity from former President Trump, which the panel was using as an anchor to sink the conversation. She expertly informed viewers of the fact that Republican states like Georgia had actually expanded voting access responsibly:
PLETKA: On the other hand, I think there, I think that part of the argument that we're making about places like Georgia is unjust, you know? They, they're allowing Sunday voting. They've expanded access. So, and the very hero against Trump, Brad Raffensperger, who was Secretary of State, is now a villain. I don't get--
ALCINDOR: To Republicans.
PLETKA: No, nope. He's a villain also in this Georgia voting rights question.
Of course, Todd gave the last word to Mitchell who used it to complain about how Democrats fumbled with the so-called “For the People Act” (the federal power grab over our elections). Todd agreed.
NBC’s lies about election integrity laws were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Fidelity and Verizon. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC’s Meet the Press
June 27, 2021
11:21:55 a.m. EasternCHUCK TODD: Welcome back. That was the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, announcing that they are going to challenge Georgia's laws. And Yamiche, this feels like this is the first of what could be many Justice Department attempts to challenge some of these state laws around the country. Where’s this going?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: When you talk to people who are really familiar with the thinking about this, it's that Democrats realize that they might- that it’s not going to only be solved in a legislative way. There has to be a judicial and a court battle ahead.
And when I'm talking to Civil Rights activists, they say they want to see two specific things. One the DOJ really going after state legislatures to say you cannot just not – not only voters- suppress people's vote but nullify people's votes. That that can't be the way America works. The second thing that they want to see is more judges on the court. They want to see President Biden accelerate his nominees to the courts. So, I think that's also where this is going.
This is an existential crisis in America. Who can actually get the access to vote? Republicans in state legislatures are saying if you- essentially, and critics would say, that if you, if we don't like the way that you voted, we will take away your vote. And that, I think, is a real problem. If you look at Philadelphia state legislatures and if they- whether or not they can even nullify a million votes in Philly. That could be a problem and a big problem.
TODD: Well, look, and I think this is where, sort of, the multiple conversations here, Dani. There's the fight about access to the polls, and then there's the fight about who decides what vote counts. And I want to put up a map here. We have about a dozen states that have attempted to either change or already have changed laws or restricted local officials from what they can do to change election laws.
This seems to be, first of all, the harder to defend position for the right. And the question I have is whether the courts can effectively stop this.
DANIELLE PLETKA: I mean, there are a whole bunch of issues at play here. I don't think that the Republican Party, whether at the state level or at the federal level, wants to be known as the party of voter suppression any more than I think the Democratic party wants to be known as the party of voter fraud.
But the challenge here is that, because of COVID, there were a lot of changes on a state-by-state level. It is confusing to me, and I think to a lot of people, that when states seek to adjust based on some of those changes, for example, drop boxes. Okay? Georgia never had drop boxes before. Now drop boxes are in law. This is the law that Merrick Garland was just talking about.
You know, there are going to be problems if, at the federal level, they decide that they only need to go after Republican states, that they need to go after Republican-run states for laws that mirror, for example, things that exist in Delaware or New York or Connecticut or New Hampshire.
And I think the other challenge is that, I think it's hard to argue that we are in an existential crisis. How many people voted in the last election? More than ever before. We have unbelievable voter engagement. So, again, there are reasonable arguments to be had here, but I'm not sure that those are the ones that are going on.
TODD: I do want to get to the point though of whether the bigger mistake here is that there hasn't been a bigger push to renew the Voting Rights Act.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Absolutely.
TODD: And because I don't know if Merrick Garland has the tools, and has the, to push back on these.
MITCHELL: This is an attempt to deal with the preclearance issue. And it is no accident that it, these changes are taking place in particular states. And it is the nullification. It's Arizona taking away from the state, Secretary of the State Katie Hobbs, her right. And in Georgia--
TODD: By the way, they write it so that the law, the change would expire--
MITCHELL: It's specific, exactly.
TODD: --when her election term expires.
MITCHELL: There’s this new question
TODD: It's the most bizarre attempt of all.
MITCHELL: It's taking 100,000 people off the --
PLETKA: Andrea, can I ask a question?
MITCHELL: No, I'm sorry, it is specifically aimed at people of color, at people who have voted in this last election, people who had access because of the changes, because of COVID. They had more access. It's taking away, in Texas, taking away Sunday voting, you know, Souls to the Polls. It's exactly aimed at minority voters.
PLETKA: But Georgia added Sunday voting. Not, didn't take it away.
ALCINDOR: But Dani, they --
MITCHELL: But they took away other aspects. They are purging the rolls. And it's just, it’s so explicit that, in each of these cases, if you talk to lawyers on both sides of the case, there's no question that, in Georgia, they have a very, very good case.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And we have to remember that this is based on a lie, right. We have to remember that when you push Republicans, I've talked to state Republicans, "Why are you doing this?" "Well, there were, there was voter fraud. There were voter issues." You have William Barr, just out today, with an interview with The Atlantic saying, "It's BS.” All of the Trump stuff about--
TODD: He didn't say BS. He said the whole word.
JOSHUA JOHNSON: He said the word, right.
ALCINDOR: I’m on network TV. But it was BS, that President Trump didn't like that he lost and then he said the election was stolen. And he said that he won when he didn't. And then Republicans, who are keeping – who are letting him continue to have power, understanding that he has a lot of influence with the base, that, that they are following suit in this conspiracy theory. And we have to really base all the conversation in the fact that there was no widespread voter fraud, and that black people and people of color, who fought and died for the right to vote, that their access to the ballot box is now in jeopardy.
JOHNSON: And I think, in a way, that's what makes me have a little bit of hope about all of this in the long term. Like, this whole voter suppression big lie thing is such a mood. Like it feels very much like a Hail Mary. I think both parties know demographically where the country is going. The nation knows this was a lie. I think there's a very strong core of people who buy into this, but this whole last gasp to try to take votes away from people because you didn't like the way the election is going.
When I talk to younger people, younger voters who are getting more and more politically engaged, this feels very much like a desperate last gasp, especially among people who know what happened to the Voting Rights Act
MITCHELL: But you know --
JOHNSON: -- and who are serious about seeing everyone just being able to cast their ballot.
TODD: Dani, finish here.
PLETKA: I understand. I think it's important we separate out the big lie part of this, because for Donald--
MITCHELL: You can't.
PLETKA: Hang on a second. Hang on a second. First of all, I can. There may be people who can't. There may be legislatures that don't want to. I agree with you about Arizona and I think that this, this transparent attempt to replace someone they don't like is wrong.
On the other hand, I think there, I think that part of the argument that we're making about places like Georgia is unjust, you know? They, they're allowing Sunday voting. They've expanded access. So, and the very hero against Trump, Brad Raffensperger, who was Secretary of State, is now a villain. I don't get--
ALCINDOR: To Republicans.
PLETKA: No, nope. He's a villain also in this Georgia voting rights question.
MITCHELL: One of the --
TODD: Quickly, last word.
MITCHELL: I think one of the problems here is that, that you've got two bills, the John Lewis bill and the For the People Act. And the first was a messaging bill with everything voted in. It's the John Lewis bill that's important.
TODD: That, to me, was a mistake.
MITCHELL: Exactly.
TODD: I think Congressional Democratic leadership made a mistake not focusing on H.R.4 first.
