Filling in for Stephanie Ruhle during Thursday’s 9:00 a.m. ET hour, MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing related how people from other countries “don’t understand what they call America’s obsession with guns” and joined her guests in claiming that the push for gun restrictions was “not a progressive/conservative issue.”
Reporting on the Florida legislature passing new gun control measures, Jansing recalled how Olympic attendees reacted to the Parkland school shooting in February: “You know what was interesting? All this happened while I was in South Korea, at the Olympics. I could not believe the number of people from other countries – and we should say, obviously a lot of other countries don’t understand what they call America’s obsession with guns – they knew about these students.”
The host proclaimed: “They listened to these students. They were impressed by these students. And they said to me, ‘How can people not listen to them?’”
Political analyst Michael Steele gushed over the teenage activists: “I think this push-back on the NRA is the fascinating thing. Look at what those students were able to do by raising the voice the way they did. They got major corporations to begin to pull back their associations.” The MSNBC Republican excitedly declared: “That is a new ground game here. And watch it spread. Watch it spread. Because there are some good opportunities and optics coming out of Florida for the movement nationwide.”
Turning to former Hillary Clinton campaign aide Zerlina Maxwell, Jasing began to ask: “Obviously you’re very plugged in to the progressive movement, but you don’t have to be a progressive anymore to have seen what – ” Steele interjected: “No, this is not a progressive/conservative issue.” Jansing agreed: “This is not that anymore.”
The anchor wondered: “But is there hope? Is there a feeling for those who have been working on this issue for a long time that this is an opening, this is the start of something, not the end?”
Maxwell cheered:
Now we see that it does work to put pressure on corporations to remove their support of the NRA. It does work to go into the streets. It does work to go to the capital of the city – the capital city in the state that you live in and show up and fill space with thousands of people’s bodies who are all saying the same message, you know, lying-in, dying-in, sitting-in. All of these things have precedent in American history and these kids have learned from previous generations and now they’re implementing that to get the policy that they want. And I think that this is a great moment.
“And I think that all of that momentum is gonna push us in a direction that’s more compassionate and less obsessed, as you said, with guns – or at least the assault rifle,” she added.
Jansing promoted upcoming anti-gun protests: “And they’re not letting it go. March 24th. March 24th, they’re going to have the marches all around the country.”
It’s always amazing how the media can take divisive liberal agenda items and re-frame them as non-partisan issues that everyone agrees on.
Here is a full transcript of the March 8 segment:
9:36 AM ET
CHRIS JANSING: Zerlina Maxwell, Michael Steele are still here. Michael, are you surprised something like this passed in Florida?
MICHAEL STEELE: A little bit, a little bit. But actually, very heartened by it. Because it really speaks to what can happen when people really put the push back on the legislators.
JANSING: You know what was interesting? All this happened while I was in South Korea, at the Olympics. I could not believe the number of people from other countries – and we should say, obviously a lot of other countries don’t understand what they call America’s obsession with guns – they knew about these students. They listened to these students. They were impressed by these students. And they said to me, “How can people not listen to them?”
STEELE: Yeah, and clearly the legislators did. And the reason why, I think, more so than anything else, is that this involved a bunch of 17 and 18-year-olds who will be voting this fall. And have been able to galvanize the vote in the state in a way that shocked, quite honestly, a lot of the folks on the ground there, particularly those in the party.
JANSING: Did it shock Rick Scott enough to sign it?
STEELE: Oh, I think he will. I think he’ll eventually sign it, yeah. But I think this push-back on the NRA is the fascinating thing. Look at what those students were able to do by raising the voice the way they did. They got major corporations to begin to pull back their associations, “Yeah, we’re not going to have the perks or we’re not gonna do this, we’re not going to have the same kind of alignment with the NRA.” That is a new ground game here. And watch it spread. Watch it spread. Because there are some good opportunities and optics coming out of Florida for the movement nationwide.
JANSING: Well, that’s my question, Zerlina. Obviously you’re very plugged in to the progressive movement, but you don’t have to be a progressive anymore to have seen what –
ZERLINA MAXWELL [FMR. DIRECTOR OF PROGRESSIVE MEDIA, CLINTON CAMPAIGN]: Right.
STEELE: No, this is not a progressive/conservative issue.
JANSING: This is not that anymore. But is there hope? Is there a feeling for those who have been working on this issue for a long time that this is an opening, this is the start of something, not the end?
MAXWELL: Well, we have legislation now. And so, they’ve been successful –
JANSING: But only in Florida.
STEELE: It’s a model.
MAXWELL: But it sets a precedent, right? Because now we see that it does work to put pressure on corporations to remove their support of the NRA. It does work to go into the streets. It does work to go to the capital of the city – the capital city in the state that you live in and show up and fill space with thousands of people’s bodies who are all saying the same message, you know, lying-in, dying-in, sitting-in. All of these things have precedent in American history and these kids have learned from previous generations and now they’re implementing that to get the policy that they want. And I think that this is a great moment.
After Newtown, we didn’t have the same movement. We did have a President who was saying it at the State of the Union address. And many of those family members are now aligned with these students to join this push. And I think that all of that momentum is gonna push us in a direction that’s more compassionate and less obsessed, as you said, with guns – or at least the assault rifle.
JANSING: And they’re not letting it go.
STEELE: No.
JANSING: March 24th. March 24th, they’re going to have the marches all around the country.
STEELE: That’s in D.C.
JANSING: Yup. Thank you both, Zerlina and Michael.
