Continuing its theme of smearing police as conniving savages who allowed Wednesday’s U.S. Capitol attack, MSNBC decided on Thursday’s ReidOut to take it up a notch with two Black Lives Matter activists declaring police made “an active choice” “by design” to welcome violence from “vanilla ISIS” and all but gave them “milk and cookies.”
For her part, host Joy Reid giddily touted these conspiracy theories, falsely claiming police removed barricades to welcome insurrectionists to the Capitol and lamenting there was “underpolicing” as there was only “one person who did get shot.”
Reid went first to Brittany Packnett Cunningham, who said “the lack of preparation” by police “was a choice” and an “active choice” at that in much the same way that “it was an active choice to vote for Donald J. Trump in 2016 and again in 2020” and to even dare to “humanize” the 75 million Trump supporters.
Cunningham added a number of other decisions to her list before falsely claiming that police “[sat] on their hands and pretend[ed] like this wasn't domestic terrorism and the rioters knew they would make this choice” as the police made “intentional, deliberate choices” from positions of “power and privilege.”
Since the show aired, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died of his injuries from the siege and his death is being investigated. But go on about how police welcomed what took place, Brittany.
Reid refused to condemn this vile rhetoric and instead went to Garza by lamenting the lack of force from police:
[W]hat I saw was under policing. They weren’t shooting at anyone. It was one person who did get shot who was trying to breach the Speaker's — the area where the Speaker of the House is. I — what do you make of it?
An avowed Marxist, Garza replied with more gasoline for the fire by saying the police response “was clearly designed” to allow the siege seeing as how, for “300-plus years,” America has existed to “demonize Black Lives Matter” and anyone “fighting for dignity and justice and freedom.”
And on top of that, Garza used a insurrectionist’s quotes in The Nation to rule that, for those on the right, they view non-whites as “criminal, animalistic, and savage and out to take something from white people in this country.” So much unity!
To a giggling Reid, Garza concluded with the “vanilla ISIS” analogy (click “expand”):
GARZA: [T]here are false equivalencies even being made between, you know, the insurrection and attempted coup that happened yesterday with vanilla ISIS at the — at the behest of Donald Trump. And, you know, people who are taking to the streets because we are tired of being killed by the people who are supposed to protect and serve us because we are tired of having our communities be devastated by a lack of resources while our military budgets and police budgets are in the trillions and yet, as you saw at the Capitol building yesterday, vanilla ISIS was literally almost given milk and cookies. I can tell you 100 percent that a black woman who was having a mental health crisis dared to do a U-turn in front of the building and she was shot and killed. So, that is whiteness on display.
REID: Wow.
GARZA: And I'm actually glad that quote came out because it is really reflective, I think, of how a lot of people see what America is.
REID: Yeah. Well, amazing. You win for vanilla ISIS — vanilla ISIS. You got that in there. There’s nothing funny about it, but I have to smile at that one.
Earlier in the show, Reid furthered the lie that “officers mov[ed] the barricades to allow the rioters onto the premises,” which was debunked by the person who took the video (Marcus Dipaola) in an interview with New York magazine’s Justin Miller.
But as we know with Reid, facts aren’t a concern of hers.
This venom for police and anyone against Black Lives Matter was enabled by advertisers such as Crest, Discover, and Sling TV. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from January 7, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
January 7, 2021
7:03 p.m. EasternJOY REID: He unleashed that hoard of MAGA fans on the U.S. Capitol where they faced little resistance from the Capitol Police. There's even video that show officers moving the barricades to allow the rioters onto the premises. And moments ago, a spokesperson for the department said the chief of the capitol Police would resign, effective January 16. And frankly, not a moment too soon as we are just two weeks away from an inauguration that will pose an even more complex security challenge. And someone up to the task needs to be on the job.
(....)
7:34 p.m. Eastern
REID: Donald Trump spent his presidency claiming he was the President of law and order until it was his supporters breaking the law.
[TRUMP CLIPS]
REID: And that last “we love you” was for the people rioting in the capitol. And the police appeared to change their tune as well, treating mostly white MAGA protesters entirely differently compared to the way they’ve black protesters from Ferguson to Baltimore to Washington D.C. where, by the way, 300 Black lives matter protesters were arrested in one day, compared to the paltry dozens who were arrested in yesterday’s chaos. [INTRODUCES PANEL] And Britney, I’m going to start with you first because, you know, Ferguson is sort seared into a lot of our minds. Baltimore is seared into definitely mine because I was there. The way that police failed to prepare. We spoke with a police chief earlier. For this to happen, Malcolm Nance described it as a school group was coming, rather than a group that they need to prepare for. What do you make of the lack of preparation and do you think it was right for the police chief to resign as a result?
BRITTANY PACKNETT CUNNINHAM: The lack of preparation was a choice. This is why I think it's important as you’ve been so careful to do, Joy, to choose the right language. We’ve been hearing all day, all across television and social media that the police just let it happen. But that applies passivity and, Joy, as you well know, these are active choices. Just like it was an active choice to vote for Donald J. Trump in 2016 and again in 2020, it was a choice for certain journalistic outlets to humanize followers. It was a choice to call him presidential on airwaves simply for being able to string together a sentence. It was a choice for social media platforms not to deplatform him. Just — just like all of those choices, it's a choice to not prepare for a promised insurrection and mob. It is a choice to ignore the repeated requests of black lawmakers to secure the Capitol ahead of time. It is a choice to take selfies with insurrectionists and to open up barricades to invite them in. Joy, there are at least 35 federal and district law enforcement institutions in a 68-square-mile city called Washington D.C. with only 684,000 residents in it. It was a choice for one of those departments to take the $460 million they get every single year and sit on their hands and pretend like this wasn't domestic terrorism. And the rioters knew they would make this choice. And that’s why they're online happily taking credit for everything they caused yesterday. We are not here by accident. We are here because of intentional, deliberate choices that were made by people of power and privilege and guess what? They don't get to run away. We won't let them. We won't forget this.
REID: Right, and, you know, Alicia, you had The Nation did a piece where they quote a woman who says, she can't believe anyone got arrested at all. It was only like 50 something people got arrested and she says: “‘This is not America,’ a woman said to a small group, her voice shaking. She was crying, hysterical. ‘They're shooting at us. They're supposed to shoot BLM, but they're shooting the patriots.” Like, what? I — you know, that shock, you know, that there was any policing at all, but what I saw was under policing. They weren’t shooting at anyone. It was one person who did get shot who was trying to breach the Speaker's — the area where the Speaker of the House is. I — what do you make of it?
ALICIA GARZA: Listen, as Brittany said and I 100 percent agree, this was clearly designed and it was by design and even the outrage of the woman that you just talked about who was quoted in The Nation. I mean, what she is saying is actually true for her. She deeply believes and deeply understands that this country is supposed to demonize Black Lives Matter. It's supposed to demonize people who are fighting for dignity and justice and freedom. It is overpolice our communities. It's supposed to create us into an other that is criminal, animalistic, and savage and out to take something from white people in this country. And that is literally laid out in display on — on that article. And I also do want to say here, one of the ways in which we see how whiteness is on display in the country, not just in that article, but over the last few days and, frankly, over the last 300 plus years, but certainly in a heightened way because of the events last night, is frankly, there are false equivalencies even being made between, you know, the insurrection and attempted coup that happened yesterday with vanilla ISIS at the — at the behest of Donald Trump. And, you know, people who are taking to the streets because we are tired of being killed by the people who are supposed to protect and serve us because we are tired of having our communities be devastated by a lack of resources while our military budgets and police budgets are in the trillions and yet, as you saw at the Capitol building yesterday, vanilla ISIS was literally almost given milk and cookies. I can tell you 100 percent that a black woman who was having a mental health crisis dared to do a U-turn in front of the building and she was shot and killed. So, that is whiteness on display.
REID: Wow.
GARZA: And I'm actually glad that quote came out because it is really reflective, I think, of how a lot of people see what America is.
REID: Yeah. Well, amazing. You win for vanilla ISIS — vanilla ISIS. You got that in there. There’s nothing funny about it, but I have to smile at that one.
