Joy Reid on election night, appalled that Donald Trump had won states like Florida and Ohio, wondered if this means that maybe America is simply as bad as Donald Trump himself. Even a narrow Biden lead, in her eyes, would damage the standing of the country beyond repair: “If Biden emerges, even if narrowly as the winner, he then faces a country that is substantially Trumpist, that has a bare majority of people who reject everything that comes with, including caging children and stealing them from their parents and the sexual harassment, et cetera.”
Reid continued her sputtering hatred for fellow citizens: “But then a substantial minority that is okay with it or embraces it. So I just wonder what all of this says about us. I think as the rest of the world watches this happen all night tonight, I think it raises real questions about what America is at the end of the day, and whether what Trump is more like what the American character than people ever, ever wanted to admit.”
Later, she hatefully slimed Clarence Thomas with a racist blast as “Uncle Clarence”
And it’s not exactly clear we can trust Amy Coney Barrett and Kavanaugh and others not to be just like Bill Barr. And I think what scares people is that if he decides to do something that legally makes no sense, you're right, Mr. Bower is ready for him. But if somehow they manage to stumble into the Supreme Court, do any of you trust Uncle Clarence and Amy Coney Barrett and those guys to actually follow the letter of the law? No. It is a completely politicized Supreme court that you can't just trust they'll do the right thing.
A partial transcript is below.
MSNBC Live coverage
11/4/2020
2:14 AM ETRACHEL MADDOW: I will say, one of the things that's been interesting tonight, how many incumbents of all kinds have been reelected. Not been a night where incumbent senators have been turfed out and incumbent members of the House, still the most likely way to lose the House seat is primary rather than general election in our gerrymandered United States of America. It's been remarkable to see the stability, not only between the 2016 and 2020 presidential map, but also in congressional and Senate races up and down. I mean, on either side you're not seeing -- not only is no wave, it's like a pond you drop in a rock, there's no ripples.
JOY REID: And I wonder what you think, Nicolle, is the message for Republicans? Because it does appear they were rewarded for slavish devotion to Donald Trump. Lindsey Graham, who has been the most slavishly devoted was quite well rewarded for it. So it's a message about the durability of Trumpism because of who the Republican base is. White, rural, you know, working-class, non-college voters. Because of that, even if Donald Trump does not prevail in the end, Trumpism ain't going nowhere. Based on this? Because each of the senators that was reelected to continue to serve dutifully Donald Trump and his agenda and what he believes in.
...
REID: And the question becomes if Biden emerges, even if narrowly as the winner, he then faces a country that is substantially Trumpist, that has a bare majority of people who reject everything that comes with, including caging children and stealing them from their parents and the sexual harassment, et cetera. All of that. But then a substantial minority that is okay with it or embraces it. So I just wonder what all of this says about us. I think as the rest of the world watches this happen all night tonight, I think it raises real questions about what America is at the end of the day, and whether what Trump is more like what the American character than people ever, ever wanted to admit.
NICOLLE WALLACE: I think that's a right line of questioning. Other line of questioning is really examine the despair that people feel at a time of a pandemic when their lives have been taken from them, when they're home teaching their children, hanging on to jobs, out of work, when they are driving cars they thought they could afford months ago to food banks because they can't afford cereal. I think there's a despair that makes insane things that come out of Trump's mouth sound better than the despair they're living with. One conversation is one you're talking about, we may not be the country we think we are. And another may be we are underreporting and misunderstanding the despair people feel in isolation with economic insecurity and fear about their health and their families health.
