Towards the end of Sunday’s Meet the Press, NBC moderator Chuck Todd set aside some time for the largely liberal panel to fawn over the so-called March for Our Lives gun control rally which was held in Washington, D.C. the day before. Not only did he allow the panel to heap praise on the gun control pushing kids, but he compared the march to the civil rights movement and the tea party rallies. He also bizarrely pitted their effectiveness against that of porn star Stormy Daniels.
“I noted earlier this is really a handful of marches that you remember, that our town remembers, the civil rights marches of the '60s, the abortion rights marches of the '80s and '90s, tea party, million man march. I think about those things,” Todd opined to Democratic strategist Heather McGhee. “This is right up there.”
McGhee suggested that the gun control march was one of the many “dividing lines and galvanizing points” in America while touting the kids for standing up and “saying that there is a corruption at the heart of our politics right now” via the National Rifle Association. She asserted the NRA was on the wrong side a moral issue and had a dire warning for Republicans:
The fact that money and politics and the way that the NRA is able to put their financial interests and their political interests ahead of the lives of children, for young people that is a very, very stark moral issue. And so what you're seeing here is the moral high ground that I think people in Washington are not used to having debates at that level and that's where the energy is and that's why when they chant "Vote them out," if I were a Republican, I'd be very scared.
The gun control pontifications began after Todd strangely kicked off the segment by comparing the march to porn star Stormy Daniels’ interview in CBS’s 60 Minutes about an alleged affair with President Trump set to air later that night.
“Here's a question, in six months what will have more of an impact on Washington, the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 Minutes or the gun March,” Todd wondered. “I know that seems, on one hand, an absurd notion but on the other hand, it's about what has more impact on this town in the next six months.”
NBC political correspondent Kasie Hunt seemed deeply confused by the question as she sided with the gun control march. “I think that the gun march and the degree of engagement from so many people, such a young age and the emotion that we saw on display yesterday, I do think that that is a sea change that is going to catch up with this Congress in the longer term,” she explained, saying that the Daniels effect wasn’t known yet. Todd agreed.
Todd possed a question to Washington Post reporter Robert Costa about Trump’s ineffectiveness in combatting Daniels. Costa responded with what seemed like a canned line about Trump changing up his tactics and then began praising the gun control marchers by absurdly claiming “it was not really a partisan event.”
“What we're seeing though with this gun march, and I walked around with my notepad yesterday. It was regardless of your politics as a reporter, you're there, it was powerful. And when I saw all these parents with strollers, young children, teenage students,” Costa gushed.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click expand to read:
NBC
Meet the Press
March 25, 2018
11:12:33 PM EasternCHUCK TODD: Back again with the panel. Here's a question, in six months what will have more of an impact on Washington, the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 Minutes or the gun March? I know that seems, on one hand, an absurd notion but on the other hand, it's about what has more impact on this town in the next six months. I grant you the gun march I think is a long-term movement. In the next six months, Kasie.
KASIE HUNT: That's what I would say. I think that the gun march and the degree of engagement from so many people, such a young age and the emotion that we saw on display yesterday, I do think that that is a sea change that is going to catch up with this Congress in the longer term.
TODD: I do agree.
HUNT: On the Stormy Daniels' front, I'm not sure we can answer the question yet on that, but clearly this is something that has gotten to the President. He is responding to what she is doing in a way that is completely different than how he was responding to everything else, in a way that suggests that there is something very serious and significant there. I think we'll learn a lot tonight when we hear from her publicly for the first time. But on the flip side, there's a question about does any of it matter anymore?
TODD: I don't know either but Jonah Goldberg had an interesting thesis about this and this is what he wrote, Bob. “No one” during the Republican primaries, “no one wanted to attack Trump because they knew he'd counterattack viciously an, again, shamelessly. It's about the old adage about not wrestling with pigs, you'll get dirty and the pig likes it. Trump uses the decency of others against them” think Marco Rubio, “That's what's so fascinating about Stormy Daniels. What on Earth can Trump say about the star of Breast Friends 2 and Finally Legal 7? How can he embarrass her?” That this is what she has, kryptonite against Trump.
ROBERT COSTA: I don’t know how he engages here. What's been interesting as a reporter is that he has not engaged in any kind of back and forth with Ms. Daniels in recent weeks. He has been relatively quiet for a president for whom relative quiet is not usually a tactic.
What we're seeing though with this gun march, and I walked around with my notepad yesterday. It was regardless of your politics as a reporter, you're there, it was powerful. And when I saw all these parents with strollers, young children, teenage students, and I asked them, “who are you going to vote for.” It was not really a partisan event. But they were out there marching. I said, “are you going to vote this fall?” They said, “Certainly we will.” You felt that something is in the air. Yes, the President is moving on gun regulations right now with bump stocks, but if the Democrats take over the House or it's a narrow majority for the Republicans, there's this mood out there in the country and you saw it on the mall for gun reform.
TODD: I want to play a little bit actually of some of these speeches were unbelievable and we're not going to do them justice, but here's a quick montage of some of the better ones.
(…)
TODD: You know, Heather, I noted earlier this is really a handful of marches that you remember, that our town remembers, the civil rights marches of the '60s, the abortion rights marches of the '80s and '90s, tea party, million man march. I think about those things. This is right up there.
HEATHER MCGHEE: Absolutely, and I think it's shocked many people how significant they were.
TODD: Count me as one.
MCGHEE: Count you as one. How worldwide they were in places like, you know, South Carolina and North Dakota. Again, something like the women's march, you realize that there are these sort of moral questions that feel like they're dividing lines and galvanizing points for particularly women, people of color and young people who are saying that there is a corruption at the heart of our politics right now.
The fact that money and politics and the way that the NRA is able to put their financial interests and their political interests ahead of the lives of children, for young people that is a very, very stark moral issue. And so what you're seeing here is the moral high ground that I think people in Washington are not used to having debates at that level and that's where the energy is and that's why when they chant "Vote them out," if I were a Republican, I'd be very scared.
TODD: Hugh, it’s the first time where I feel like the gun control movement is prioritizing the issue for voters in ways that the NRA for years has prioritized gun rights.
HUGH HEWITT: Activism is addictive and they undersold their achievements. The Florida law is a significant win. I agree with Bob, it's a purple issue. Chris Coons and Pat Toomey have put forward a very important law on closing some gaps in NICS. So, I think the activism is addictive and keep going.
(…)
