Easter weekend is always a meaningful time of the year and it may mean even more for people this year as the COVID-19 pandemic forces us to confront our physical mortality. If you are MSNBC's Ali Velshi, however, this holy week means more than previous years' because it helps serve as a reminder that President Trump is bad at his job.
Towards the end of his Saturday show, Velshi reminded viewers, "You may recall, that a few weeks back Donald Trump declared himself a wartime president," quoting a Susan Rice op-ed in the New York Times he continued, "Unfortunately, few of his actions display the leadership we need from a wartime commander-in-chief who is confronting a viral version of World War III."
According to Velshi, Rice's column echoed, "a shared sentiment of the country’s lack of leadership at a national level during these unprecedented times."
After introducing historian Jon Meacham and his latest book about Easter, Velshi politicized by suggesting that this holy week could see a resurgence of religious feelings among the irreligious not because they have been confronted high amounts of death due to a disease that can not yet be cured my modern science or modern medicine, but because they realize Trump is an ineffective president, "this is a holy week, this a holy weekend for Christians and for Jews and I think for people maybe don’t even consider it that holy or maybe they’re lapsed in their religion, it's taken on a new meaning because people need guidance and they need leadership and we have certainly found it lacking at our national level."
Easter may have a greater emotional impact on people this year as compared to previous years, but opinions about Trump are not the reason why.
Here is a transcript of Velshi's April 11 remarks:
MSNBC
Velshi
9:51 AM ET
ALI VELSHI: You may recall, that a few weeks back Donald Trump declared himself a wartime president. Well, this week in the New York Times editorial headlined “Trump is the wartime president we have (not the one we need.” Former national security advisor Susan Rice wrote, “Unfortunately, few of his actions display the leadership we need from a wartime commander-in-chief who is confronting a viral version of World War III.” She’s just one of many Americans echoing a shared sentiment of the country’s lack of leadership at a national level during these unprecedented times. Joining me now is Jon Meacham, Rogers Distinguished Professor at Vanderbilt University, MSNBC contributor, and author of The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross and Jon, let’s just start with this, I know you study a lot of things from music to presidential history to religion and this is a holy week, this a holy weekend for Christians and for Jews and I think for people maybe don’t even consider it that holy or maybe they’re lapsed in their religion, it's taken on a new meaning because people need guidance and they need leadership and we have certainly found it lacking at our national level.
