The morning after a huge electoral loss by the left, be it here or abroad, conservatives enjoy tuning into liberal networks to savor the collective weeping, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments.
But in the wake of Labour/Jeremy Corbyn's absolute demolition in Thursday's UK elections, Morning Joe, rather than donning sackcloth and ashes, offered something unexpected: a dose of hard reality for Democrats.
NBC reporter Keir Simmons said:
"I’ve got to say, watching this, many Democrats should be scared to death because what you saw here was a populist leader taking those left — people who have been committed to the left for decades, and bringing them on board with him and now will be able to push through Brexit."
And Joe Scarborough then approvingly cited Andrew Sullivan, who tweeted:
"One lesson from UK: if Democrats don't stop hard-left slide, they'll suffer same fate as Labour. If they don't move off their support for mass immigration, they're toast. Ditto the wokeness. Left Twitter is not reality."
Of course, Morning Joe's reaction should not be taken by any means as joy at the news of Boris Johnson's smashing victory for Conservatives. Rather, it should be seen as the liberal media trying to learn the lessons from the UK election so that their beloved Democrats don't repeat Labour's mistakes.
Note: this isn't the first time Simmons has strayed from the liberal script. As our Bill D'Agostino noted, Simmons disappointed Trump-hating Nicolle Wallace by refusing to trash the president's North Korean summit.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
12/13/19
6:25 am ETKEIR SIMMONS: It is a completely changed landscape. What you’ve seen is working-class British people in those former industrial areas of the Midlands and the north of England turning away from the Labour party, from the left. And I heard what Katty Kay had to say earlier, all of the caveats, you have to be careful about lessons for the Democrats in the US.
But I’ve got to say, watching this, many Democrats should be scared to death because what you saw here was a populist leader taking those left — those people who have been committed to the left for decades and bringing them on board with him and now will be able to push through Brexit. And another interesting point on that. What you saw with the Labour party, Joe, was a kind of young Twittersphere, believing that they had momentum, believing that they could push Boris Johnson out of office. And one left-wing commentator this morning saying let us never forget that Twitter does not represent the country. So I think, there are lessons for Democrats from what’s happened here. And you’ve got to remember, back in 2016, Britain voted for Brexit and some months later a populist leader named Donald Trump won the presidency of the United States.
. . .
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Andrew Sullivan also saying, Democrats have to get real really quickly or else they’re going to re-elect Donald Trump. He said: "One lesson from the UK, if Democrats don’t stop their hard-left slide, they’ll suffer the same fate as Labour. If they don’t move off their support for mass immigration, they are toast. Dito the wokeness. Left Twitter is not reality.
WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, Twitter is not real life.
