Infamous race-baiter and MSNBC weekend host Al Sharpton lashed out at Republicans and Congressman James Comer (R-KY) during Monday’s Morning Joe, because the latter expressed concern that Democratic vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz (MN) was elected by and promoted anti-capitalist special interests, including China. According to Sharpton, the GOP ideals Comer was promoting were somehow racist and “as outdated as bell bottom pants.”
What triggered Sharpton’s outburst was this soundbite of Comer speaking on Fox Business Network:
Minnesota is not your normal state where Tim Walz is governor. Who the –great people in Minnesota. But you also have, you know, a huge population of residents in Minnesota that have come from other countries and have various different ideologies that don't really respect capitalism.
And we're concerned about that because we have the strongest economy in the world, but we cannot have more government. We cannot operate like China does where the government plays the major role in every business. The government has to have ownership in every business, and the government dictates every facet of our lives. That won't work in the United States.
“And this is what Tim Walz appears to believe, and we know he's taken students to China and tried to teach them that China is doing things the right way,” Comer recalled.
Morning Joe fill-in co-host Katty Kay, who’s a staunch liberal from the U.K., scoffed, “It's ‘not a normal state.’ They have people from other countries, god forbid, who don't believe in capitalism.”
Sharpton began by going off on Comer and Republicans with his usual evidence-free cries of racism and suggested the American ideas championed by Republicans were “outdated”:
I think that what he is really showing is that the whole appeal that the Republican Party is trying to play on is an all-male, all-white kind of, you know, we must preserve what we consider to be American. Which is as outdated as bell bottom pants.
He went on to ridiculously claim “Walz is considered a conservative Democrat, at best. I mean, and a bulldog Democrat at that.”
Seemingly ignorant of the naturalization test, Sharpton mocked the idea of testing would be Americans on their way in. “And how do you -- Do they give you a test on capitalism coming in? Many home-born Americans have questions about capitalism, especially if you get to the extremes of it,” he proclaimed.
“So, I think this is how they're trying to play to that base of, it's us against them. They're not one of us,” he said.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
August 26, 2024
7:30:55 a.m. Eastern(…)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Minnesota is not your normal state where Tim Walz is governor. Who the –great people in Minnesota. But you also have, you know, a huge population of residents in Minnesota that have come from other countries and have various different ideologies that don't really respect capitalism.
And we're concerned about that because we have the strongest economy in the world, but we cannot have more government. We cannot operate like China does where the government plays the major role in every business. The government has to have ownership in every business, and the government dictates every facet of our lives. That won't work in the United States.
And this is what Tim Walz appears to believe, and we know he's taken students to China and tried to teach them that China is doing things the right way.
[Cuts back to live]
KATTY KAY: Hmm. Okay.
JONATHAN LEMIRE (mumbling): I don’t know.
KAY: Rev.
AL SHARPTON: I mean.
KAY: It's ‘not a normal state.’ They have people from other countries, god forbid, who don't believe in capitalism.
SHARPTON: And what does that mean? I think that what he is really showing is that the whole appeal that the Republican Party is trying to play on is an all-male, all-white kind of, you know, we must preserve what we consider to be American. Which is as outdated as bell bottom pants.
I mean, you can't deal with a country -- first of all, many people in New York, many people in L.A., many people everywhere came from other countries. What does that really mean?
KAY: Every state has people from other countries.
SHARPTON: Right. So, what Comer is playing to is what Trump is really saying. This whole male, white dominance, and they're other than us. Walz is considered a conservative Democrat, at best. I mean, and a bulldog Democrat at that. So, to try to make him other than that. And how do you -- Do they give you a test on capitalism coming in? Many home-born Americans have questions about capitalism, especially if you get to the extremes of it.
So, I think this is how they're trying to play to that base of, it's us against them. They're not one of us.
(…)
