On Tuesday night, Amanpour & Co. rewarded a Michigan Democrat for her recent rant against Republicans that went viral with help from liberal activists and the media.
Appearing as fill-in host on the show that airs on PBS and CNN International, Bianna Golodryga set up the segment by hinting that Republicans are to blame for the existence of a "culture war" during the campaign season: "Well, the U.S. midterm elections are just months away, and, right on cue, the culture wars are raging. Nationwide, Republicans like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have seized upon discussions of race, gender, identity and sexuality in schools."
She then added:
Michigan Democratic lawmaker Mallory McMorrow found herself in the middle of this pitch battle after defending the LGBTQ community. In a fundraising email, a Republican colleague accused her of wanting to "groom and sexualize" children. McMorrow says she was livid. And this week, she delivered this blistering response on the floor of the Senate.
Then came a clip of Michigan Democratic State Senator Mallory McMorrow: "I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen. So I want to be very clear right now. Call me whatever you want. I hope you brought in a few dollars -- I hope it made you sleep good last night. I know who I am."
Golodryga then marveled over the possibility that her guest's speech was such a sensation that it might help Democrats defend themselves politically: "That speech has earned McMorrow more than 15 million views and also a call from President Biden. But has she also offered fellow Democrats a blueprint on how to navigate the thorny social issues usually dominated by Republicans?"
Toward the end of the sympathetic interview, Golodryga went along with her guest comparing supporters of parental rights in schools to people who supported racial segregation:
MCMORROW: And I think we're going to find that, once we see each other as people, we don't have this fearmongering that's really reminiscent of the same language that we saw during segregation when parents and certain groups were arguing against their kids seeing black kids in their school.
GOLODRYGA: Right. And I'm glad you brought that up because you do flag that in your speech as well. It's, I think, accepted and it often times happens that a new generation says, you know, "This is a crisis moment -- we've never experienced something like this."
Earlier in the cushy interview, Golodryga teed up McMorrow to pin Republicans as standing in the way of improving people's lives and choosing lives of chaos and division (while ignoring how liberal activists are gearing up for the second-straight year of running on an obsession with someone who's no longer President in Donald Trump) (click 'expand"):
GOLODRYGA: And you sort of equated that with some of the social and economic issues that Americans across the country are dealing with. By saying , "Listen, targeting this group of people will mot fix our roads and bridges -- will not handle inflation and bring inflation and prices down." Why do you think that the two seem to be so linked by at least some members of the Republican party in their quest to, you know, when the midterms are just a few months away?
McMORROW: Right, I think it's a lot easier to play on fear than to offer up real policy solutions. It's also not sexy to talk about policy solutions when you can stoke fear and anger. We saw here in Michigan the Republican nominating convention play out this past weekend where they nominated secretary of state and attorney general candidates, and nominated far-right, fringe, conspiracy theory, Trump-backed candidates who do not believe the 2020 election was valid -- who continue to promote ideas of election fraud, and who said outwards that LGBTQ community is not a part of God's design. This is where the party is going, and I feel like too many people who are kind of traditional moderate Republicans are afraid to stand up and stop that from happening.
This cheerleading for Democrats was paid for in part by the Anderson Family Fund and the Straus Family Foundation. You can fight back by letting advertisers know how you feel about them sponsoring such content.
Transcript follows:
PBS & CNN International's Amanpour & Co.
April 26, 2022BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Well, the U.S. midterm elections are just months away, and, right on cue, the culture wars are raging. Nationwide, Republicans like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have seized upon discussions of race, gender, identity and sexuality in schools. Michigan Democratic lawmaker Mallory McMorrow found herself in the middle of this pitch battle after defending the LGBTQ community. In a fundraising email, a Republican colleague accused her of wanting to "groom and sexualize" children. McMorrow says she was livid. And this week, she delivered this blistering response on the floor of the Senate.
STATE SENATOR MALLORY MCMORROW (D-MI): People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment or that teachers are leaving the profession. I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen. So, I want to be very clear right now. Call me whatever you want. I hope you brought in a few dollars -- I hope it made you sleep good last night. I know who I am.
GOLODRYGA: That speech has earned McMorrow more than 15 million views and also a call from President Biden. But has she also offered fellow Democrats a blueprint on how to navigate the thorny social issues usually dominated by Republicans? Mallory McMorrow joins me now from Michigan. Mallory, it's great to have you on. I'm sure you have now watched and heard clips from that speech of yours many, many times -- obviously, millions of views on social media. Let's walk back to the moment that you woke up and saw that fundraising email from that Republican state senator, Senator Theis. She wrote: "Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Snowflake_ are outraged that they can't teach, can't groom, and can't sexualize kindergartners or that eight-year-olds are responsible for slavery." What went through your mind in that moment when you read that email?
McMORROW: It was just so hurtful and so vile -- especially for a mother to say about another mother -- and I did not understand where it came from. And to just realize that if I felt this bad in this moment, then how much worse it is with the LGBTQ community who is called this vile nonsense every single day?
(....)
GOLODRYGA: And you sort of equated that with some of the social and economic issues that Americans across the country are dealing with. By saying , "Listen, targeting this group of people will mot fix our roads and bridges -- will not handle inflation and bring inflation and prices down." Why do you think that the two seem to be so linked by at least some members of the Republican Party in their quest to, you know, when the midterms are just a few months away?
McMORROW: Right, I think it's a lot easier to play on fear than to offer up real policy solutions. It's also not sexy to talk about policy solutions when you can stoke fear and anger. We saw here in Michigan the Republican nominating convention play out this past weekend where they nominated secretary of state and attorney general candidates, and nominated far-right, fringe, conspiracy theory, Trump-backed candidates who do not believe the 2020 election was valid -- who continue to promote ideas of election fraud, and who said outwards that LGBTQ community is not a part of God's design. This is where the party is going, and I feel like too many people who are kind of traditional moderate Republicans are afraid to stand up and stop that from happening.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because again, you know, I think it only exacerbates the problem when you lump everyone into one party and the other party is a sort of champion of a cause, right? So, in your conversation, in your day to day, in your work, do you have the conversations with Republicans who tend to agree with you behind closed doors but who may not be as vocal about it for fear of what some of their constituents may think?
McMORROW: I think so, and, you know, outside of the colleagues that I work with, I want to talk about the constituents I represent because I flipped a district in 2018. I represent Mitt Romney's home town. And I think there's a lot of people who voted for me because they don't hate other people because this version of the Republican party is not the party that they grew up with.
(...)
MCMORROW: And I think we're going to find that, once we see each other as people, we don't have this fearmongering that's really reminiscent of the same language that we saw during segregation when parents and certain groups were arguing against their kids seeing black kids in their school.
GOLODRYGA: Right. And I'm glad you brought that up because you do flag that in your speech as well. It's, I think, accepted and it often times happens that a new generation says, you know, "This is a crisis moment -- we've never experienced something like this."
