On Tuesday, MSNBC Live host Stephanie Ruhle conceded that if President Trump had an in-person Inauguration during the pandemic, the media would pounce. In a rare moment of media self-awareness, Ruhle told never-Trumper Steve Schmidt, "It will be a smaller inauguration ceremony, but they’re still having one in person and, let’s be honest, you know if President Trump did this, he would be getting crushed for holding a super-spreader event. We’d all be saying it."
None of that mattered to Schmidt, who pompously compared Biden to Abraham Lincoln and Trump to "Southern seditionists."
STEVE SCHMIDT: Well, this continues a tradition, Stephanie, that began in 1797 when John Adams succeeded George Washington and became the second president and power transferred peacefully for the first time in this country's history under a constitutional order. Joe Biden arrives in the capital, a militarized capital, much in the same way Abraham Lincoln did in 1860 under threat of assassination from southern seditionists who would soon wage a civil war against the United States of America, that would kill 600,000 people by the time it was over.
So, we have seen an hour of American catastrophe in this country for four years. It is ending. Tomorrow is a new beginning. Which means there is new hope. The country is in great crisis. We will have a new leader. And we will see Donald Trump shuffle off in ignominy, shame, and disgrace. The damage he's done to America is incalculable.
Schmidt apparently thought Ruhle had argued that inauguration ceremony should be cancelled, instead of just being scaled back even further. He argued that, after the last four years, it is necessary for the country to hear from Biden:
Tomorrow, we begin the repair work, and it will require people of good faith from political parties, no political parties at all to come together to put the country first and expect to hear that from Joe Biden.
Don't focus on the crowd size. Focus on the message and focus on the majesty that with 35 words a new American shall become our Commander in Chief, the head of state, the President of the United States of America, the 46th president, the 45th man to hold the office. We will see our first woman vice president and it will be a historic day and it will be a day, I think, where most of this country sighs a great sigh of relief, as Donald Trump departs with a 29% approval rating. And the Capitol insurrection not yet two weeks in the rearview mirror.
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript for the January 19 show:
MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle
01/19/21
9:33 AM
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Steve, it will be a smaller inauguration ceremony, but they’re still having one in person and, let’s be honest, you know if President Trump did this, he would be getting crushed for holding a super-spreader event. We’d all be saying it.
STEVE SCHMIDT: Well, this continues a tradition, Stephanie, that began in 1797 when John Adams succeeded George Washington and became the second president and power transferred peacefully for the first time in this country's history under a constitutional order. Joe Biden arrives in the capital, a militarized capital, much in the same way Abraham Lincoln did in 1860 under threat of assassination from southern seditionists who would soon wage a civil war against the United States of America, that would kill 600,000 people by the time it was over. So, we have seen an hour of American catastrophe in this country for four years. It is ending.
Tomorrow is a new beginning. Which means there is new hope. The country is in great crisis. We will have a new leader. And we will see Donald Trump shuffle off in ignominy, shame, and disgrace. The damage he's done to America is incalculable. Tomorrow, we begin the repair work, and it will require people of good faith from political parties, no political parties at all to come together to put the country first and expect to hear that from Joe Biden. Don't focus on the crowd size. Focus on the message and focus on the majesty that with thirty-five words a new American shall become our Commander in Chief, the head of state, the President of the United States of America, the 46th president, the 45th man to hold the office; we will see our first woman vice president and it will be a historic day and it will be a day, I think, where most of this country sighs a great sigh of relief, as Donald Trump departs with a 29% approval rating. And the capitol insurrection not yet two weeks in the rearview mirror.
