Michael Beschloss appears to be in a competition with Jon Meacham to see which MSNBC historian can say the most outrageous things in reaction to President Trump losing his bid for re-election. On Saturday night, Beschloss agreed with Joy Reid that Trump's defeat saved the country from fascism and was a win for democracy itself. On Monday, he warned Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC Live that Trump is still president and therefore "a tragedy" could unfold between now and January 20, because he still holds great powers.
Talking with Reid about a hypothetical where Trump won, Beschloss declared, "I think you and I would be talking about the fact that our democracy is in dire danger."
Ever the impartial historian, Beschloss claimed, "the news of this week is our lives, our society, our democratic system were rescued by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We have to first be thankful to them and also grateful that you've got two leaders of great decency and compassion and experience who can attack these problems like the pandemic and the economy and problems of racial justice and all of our divisions, try to unify this society."
Yet, Reid was not so relieved. After being asked what it says about the country that Trump still received over 70 million votes, Beschloss got a head start claiming the next Republican to be even worse when he declared, "But we're in a situation where you may have someone with a lot of Donald Trump's contempt for democracy and his political views but who was a lot smoother and less sloppy than he is and maybe much more successful than he in holding on to power."
According to Reid, the moral of the story is that "we are still subject to have fascistic deterioration of democracy as any other country." By other countries, she meant Hungary and Poland.
Beschloss agreed, "We are and had Donald Trump won, I think you and I would be saying exactly that, so this was a very close call and none of us should take from this that we can rest and say 'the system work and we’re completely protected and this will never again' this may happen again, eternal vigilance is always the price of liberty. This week proved it."
On Monday, Beschloss was at it again, concluding a segment on MSNBC Live:
This is a president who abuses power. He's got over 70 days left where he still is in control of the Defense Department. He's still got FBI files, IRS, Department of justice. The presidency has an enormous amount of power. If you've got a president who is barricaded in the White House and in a vengeful mood against his enemies or to show that he's still relevant, this could be a tragedy unless we've got a process to make sure that the president is in place and operating a little bit more like a normal outgoing president.
What exactly is Beschloss insinuating here? That he might float the possibility of ensnaring Biden's incoming national security advisor with Logan Act allegations?
MSNBC's weekend election coverage was sponsored by Dell and Monday's MSNBC Live was sponsored by Humana.
Here are transcripts for the November 7 and 9 shows:
MSNBC
MSNBC 2020 Election COVERAGE
11/7/2020
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: What it really means, Joy, is, you know, our democracy, we had a close call this week. Can you imagine if we were talking tonight as we would have been if Donald Trump had won and you had Donald Trump in office for more than four more years with a Republican Senate, without the constraint of having to run for re-election, with a very conservative Supreme Court and a lot of conservative judges? I think you and I would be talking about the fact that our democracy is in dire danger and the news of this week is our lives, our society, our democratic system were rescued by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We have to first be thankful to them and also grateful that you've got two leaders of great decency and compassion and experience who can attack these problems like the pandemic and the economy and problems of racial justice and all of our divisions, try to unify this society. So, you know, this is a week that should make a lot of people very relieved and happy.
…6.54
BESCHLOSS: Tells us a lot about America and a lot of it is not good and those people are not going away. And I think the thing to worry about is that you may have -- I hate to talk already about 2024. I promised my wife I wouldn't. But we're in a situation where you may have someone with a lot of Donald Trump's contempt for democracy and his political views but who was a lot smoother and less sloppy than he is and maybe much more successful than he in holding on to power. So when you have that many people having seen what Donald Trump has done to endanger democracy, cause hundreds of thousands of people to die unnecessarily of COVID, the number of people now suffering economically, to be contemptuous of the crisis over racial justice in this country, which has only gone on for 400 years or more, to see someone like that and for them to vote for him in large numbers, there is a potential for that to return and we have to keep that very much in mind.JOY REID: Yup, Brazil, you have Viktor Orban in Hungary, you have all over the world. Poland is slipping backwards towards fascism and is that the moral of the story that American exceptionalism isn't quite true, we are still subject to have fascistic deterioration of democracy as any other country.
BESCHLOSS: We are and had Donald Trump won, I think you and I would be saying exactly that, so this was a very close call and none of us should take from this that we can rest and say “the system work and we’re completely protected and this will never again” this may happen again, eternal vigilance is always the price of liberty. This week proved it.
…
11/9/20
MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle
9:25
BESCHLOSS: I was just going to say, agree with Chris, even a greater danger. This is a president who abuses power. He's got over 70 days left where he still is in control of the Defense Department. He's still got FBI files, IRS, Department of justice. The presidency has an enormous amount of power. If you've got a president who is barricaded in the White House and in a vengeful mood against his enemies or to show that he's still relevant, this could be a tragedy unless we've got a process to make sure that the president is in place and operating a little bit more like a normal outgoing president.
