When guest hosting The Last Word on Friday, MSNBC's Ali Velshi declared that given the protests and reaction to the death of George Floyd, Joe Biden has been prophetic in his calls for the country to move past President Trump's racial divisiveness. Similarly, Jonathan Alter was amazed at Biden's "perfect message for 2020."
Velshi began by saying that Biden's type of campaign messaging was perhaps not working, "But, in fact, George Floyd and the movement about police brutality and the movement about institutionalized racism that seems to be picking up steam amongst Americans who are not black and not people of color goes right back to where Joe Biden said we want to go."
According to Velshi that means, "the alternative message to Make America Great Again is 'this is not who we are. This is who we are. Let's be that.'" Is Velshi trying to insinuate that Trump does not care about abusive police conduct? Because he has previously stated that he believes Floyd would be proud of the protest movements that have occurred over the past several weeks.
Not to be outdone, Alter claimed that Joe Biden, of all people, is well positioned to be the healer the nation needs: "Well, it turns out, Ali, that Joe Biden has, who knew, the perfect message for 2020 of reconciliation, rights, restoring the soul of America. He's been saying that since the start."
He also praised Biden's "perfectly tuned" message:
And it seemed like kind of a dated message when he started with this last year. But it turns out to be perfectly in tune with where the country is...he realized we have one candidate who is a leader who wants to bring reconciliation, and we have a president who wants to Make America Hate Again.
The pandemic has allowed Biden to avoid the spotlight presidential candidates usually attract. As the campaign heats up we'll see if Biden really is the unifier and healer Velshi and Alter claim he is, but his track record suggests otherwise.
Here is a transcript for the June 12 show:
MSNBC
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
10:08 PM ET
ALI VELSHI: But, in fact, George Floyd and the movement about police brutality and the movement about institutionalized racism that seems to be picking up steam amongst Americans who are not black and not people of color goes right back to where Joe Biden said we want to go. So the alternative message to Make America Great Again is “this is not who we are. This is who we are. Let's be that.”
JONATHAN ALTER: Well, it turns out, Ali, that Joe Biden has, who knew, the perfect message for 2020 of reconciliation, rights, restoring the soul of America. He's been saying that since the start. And it seemed like kind of a dated message when he started with this last year. But it turns out to be perfectly in tune with where the country is. And then when you have him stepping up and showing leadership as he did yesterday in introducing a very sophisticated and potentially very effective plan for confronting the COVID-19 crisis and for opening up the economy, he realized we have one candidate who is a leader who wants to bring reconciliation, and we have a president who wants to Make America Hate Again. That's all that he really has to offer. You know, he has not been able to make America great. Everything that he promised he would do starting with Mexico to pay for the wall he has not accomplished. We are the laughing stock of the world. We have completely failed to lead both abroad and at home and so the only play he has, the only move he has is to go hard right. His problem, and he's in deep political trouble, Donald Trump is, his basic problem is he has nowhere to go to make up the room, to make up the gap. Where does he get the new votes that he needs to win? It's not clear at all today.
