MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace proved just how unhinged she was on Wednesday's Deadline: White House when she whined about Republicans supposedly using the “tactic of war” known as “dehumanization” in pursuing parental rights legislation. And to get the point across, she viciously declared that Republican Governors Ron DeSantis (FL) and Glenn Youngkin (VA) are just like the Russian invaders of Ukraine who “rape children.”
In a segment decrying Republican efforts to defend students from gender ideology and Critical Race Theory in the classroom, Wallace lashed out and actually dehumanized DeSantis and Youngkin by comparing them to the marauding Russian hoards raping and pillaging their way through Ukraine:
The truth is dehumanization as a tactic for politics is from war. Dehumanization is a tactic that’s being used right now. Russians get their soldiers to rape children by dehumanizing them. Dehumanization as a practice is a tactic of war. It’s being deployed in politics and people like you and I sometimes lose the plot and admire its effectiveness.
Wallace was upset that “all the focus was on how well” Youngkin’s appeal to parental rights worked in getting him elected, even to the point of using air quotes around “parental rights.” “And even in our conversations about DeSantis; it’s about how well they're serving him,” she griped.
She went on to proclaim that “kids will die” “right now” if DeSantis and Youngkin’s deployment of “dehumanization” weren’t stopped:
It’s not acceptance but even the analysis of these tactics loses sight of what this speech brings us back to which is that dehumanization has a cost right now! Right now! As it's deployed, there are children – And Chasten Buttigieg made this point when don’t ask don’t tell was introduced: kids will die.
Having listened to and refused to pushback on this, Tim Miller of the faux conservative outlet The Bulwark took a hair-on-fire approach instead of talking lucidly about the topic. “Their cruelty, their inhuman behavior is inexcusable,” he sneered as he dehumanized them.
Failing to reflect on what he was saying and what network he was saying it on, Miller opined about the “hateful people” “in this country” who enjoy “that harm is done to their enemies”:
And while there are hateful people in this world and in this country – and no doubt there are people who are going to like that harm is done to their enemies, there are a lot of people to be reached by this in Florida who are going along with what DeSantis is doing because they’re hearing about the wrong things and they need to hear about the harm caused.
Aside from this segment here, Wallace herself has a history of using dehumanizing language to stoke hate of Republicans. In 2019, she claimed then-President Trump was “talking about exterminating Latinos.” And in 2020, she called Justice Amy Coney Barrett a “real right-wing lunatic.”
And speaking of dehumanizing, this is also the same network that employs Joy Reid as a host. On her show last year, she described Republicans as “Nazi-curious” who want to end democracy and “torture” black voters.
This vile display was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from ClearChoice and Progressive. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s Deadline: White House
April 20, 2022
4:11:31 p.m. Eastern(…)
NICOLLE WALLACE: Well Tim, let me just follow up with you. Because you and even I fall into a tradition of or profession of focusing on what works. And I think we recently had a conversation about Mitch McConnell. And why does he do what he does? Because it works. It's the political reality.
And I worry that in covering Glenn Youngkin and his politics of “parental choice” [uses air quotes], all the focus was on how well it worked. And even in our conversations about DeSantis; it’s about how well they’re serving him.
The truth is dehumanization as a tactic for politics is from war. Dehumanization is a tactic that’s being used right now. Russians get their soldiers to rape children by dehumanizing them. Dehumanization as a practice is a tactic of war. It’s being deployed in politics and people like you and I sometimes lose the plot and admire its effectiveness.
It’s not acceptance but even the analysis of these tactics loses sight of what this speech brings us back to which is that dehumanization has a cost right now! Right now! As it's deployed, there are children – And Chasten Buttigieg made this point when don’t ask don’t tell was introduced: kids will die.
How do we bring it back to the substance of the harm that is done by any strategy in war and politics of dehumanizing people?
TIM MILLER (The Bulwark): Yeah. I think that's right. And I bring up their strategy because it’s important come up with, what is a counter-strategy that works? Right?
WALLACE: Yeah.
MILLER: Their cruelty, their inhuman behavior is inexcusable. Right?
(…)
4:14 p.m. Eastern
MILLER: We have to humanize the cases of where this happening. And while there are hateful people in this world and in this country – and no doubt there are people who are going to like that harm is done to their enemies, there are a lot of people to be reached by this in Florida who are going along with what DeSantis is doing because they’re hearing about the wrong things and they need to hear about the harm caused.
(…)
