After ABC began their Sunday morning programming by ignoring the Iranian regime’s brutal murder of two anti-government protesters overnight, the network’s make-believe Republican Matthew Dowd took to This Week and declared that the United States had no moral authority to call them out on their human rights abuses.
During the “powerhouse” roundtable discussion, Dowd was asked by fill-in host Martha Raddatz what he thought the most under-reported story was from 2017. According to the man who thinks of himself as the arbiter of all proper Christian dogma, it was the decay in the moral authority of the religious right and America as a whole.
“Our moral authority in the world has been drastically diminished. And even our ability with the protests in Iran that have gone on in the last 24-48 hours in Iran,” he proclaimed. It’s interesting how the man who acts as though he’s the-most-moral-Christian-ever never actually mentioned the brutal murder of Iranian civilians and didn’t seem to realize that Sunday was the fourth day of protests, not the first or second like he suggested.
Raddatz interrupted Dowd to claim that he and Admiral Mike Mullen, who she interviewed earlier in the show, were on the same page. But that was a lie. Mullen never said anything of the sort. In their interview, he explained to her that “we should be on guard for human rights violations and I think we should be supportive of more freedoms in that country (…) So, I think support of them and their people is absolutely the right thing to do.”
Admiral Mullen was asked by Raddatz about the situation in Iran, but she never brought up the people who were killed and only wondered if President Trump was getting in the way by tweeting his support for freedom in the oppressed country: “Is that the right response from President Trump? As far as you're concerned?”
But Dowd wasn’t finished tearing the U.S. down to Iran’s level. “Our ability to engage in the conversation with how we have acted as a country and as the President has acted has diminished our ability to communicate on any of this,” he argued. “How can we talk about what goes on in Iran when we don’t talk about what goes on in Russia, we don’t talk about what goes on in Turkey, we don’t talk about what goes on in Saudi Arabia.”
Dowd’s exclamations were nothing more than dead wrong lies. In the United Nations, Ambassador Nikki Haley has gone after and called out Russia time and time again for their human rights abuses. The White House had even put out a statement of condemnation when they were arresting peaceful anti-Putin protestors. And President Trump had also tweeted out support for a recent crackdown on corrupt officials inside Saudi Arabia.
“And the way we act within the United States,” Dowd continued, targeting average Americans. “And, I think, that moral authority tied to the President's actions, but I think enabled by the religious right that it always felt like it had a moral authority no longer has a moral authority in the United States.”
What’s actually morally repugnant was his network’s complete blackout of the brutal murders and the shooting of at least five others at the hands of the brutal Iranian regime. To lump America in with that evilness was despicable and exposed his hatred for this country. His statements seemed to have the approval of the rest of ABC’s panel.
Relevant portions of the transcript below:
ABC
This Week
December 31, 2017
9:09:55 AM EasternMARTHA RADDATZ [To Admiral Mike Mullen]: And let me talk about Iran because that’s in the news this morning. There are protesters out on the street. President Trump is tweeting this morning about the protests in Iran: “Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations.” Is that the right response from President Trump? As far as you're concerned?
(…)
RADDATZ: That didn't work in 2009. Might it work this time? What would be different?
(…)
9:38:19 AM Eastern
RADDATZ: And when we look, it was such an incredible year of trying to cover the news. Just every day it was snapping to someone else. What do you think was undercovered this year?
MATTHEW DOWD: To me, I broadly categorize it as the moral authority of the United States. And then specifically defined in the religious right. Which, I think, has lost much of the moral authority. But our moral authority in the world has been drastically diminished. And even our ability with the protests in Iran that have gone on in the last 24-48 hours in Iran—
RADDATZ: Also what Admiral Mullen was trying to say. You guys are right in tune.
DOWD: We're right in tune. Our ability to engage in the conversation with how we have acted as a country and as the President has acted has diminished our ability to communicate on any of this. How can we talk about what goes on in Iran when we don’t talk about what goes on in Russia, we don’t talk about what goes on in Turkey, we don’t talk about what goes on in Saudi Arabia. Turkey, and all the places where human rights violations. And the way we act within the United States. And, I think, that moral authority tied to the President's actions, but I think enabled by the religious right that it always felt like it had a moral authority no longer has a moral authority in the United States.
(…)
