Stephanie Ruhle must have realized she was lagging behind the other hosts on MSNBC in political exploitation and did her best on Wednesday night’s The 11th Hour to push her half-hour-long interview with Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) in an increasingly gruesome, hateful, and constitutionally dubious direction.
The interview began innocuously enough, with Ruhle simply asking Murphy, “It has been 24 hours [since the Texas shooting], what are we doing?” Murphy replied that he had been, “talking to everybody I could in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats, asking them that question. What are you gonna do? Are you prepared to sit down and try to find a bipartisan path forward?”
Murphy said that he was “really hopeful” about convincing enough Republicans to support a bipartisan gun control bill.
Ruhle clearly thought Murphy’s optimism was not what was needed, because she followed it up with this gruesome insinuation, “But were those Republicans willing to talk to you today because nineteen precious babies were massacred yesterday? A week from now, two weeks from now, do you really think they’re going to sit down and — and do more than have a conversation?”
Once Murphy realized what sort of interview this was, he eagerly joined in the frenzy, implying that the only thing Republican Congressmen care about is being reelected this November or “pay a price.”
Ruhle then moved on to her next target, the NRA, seeing it as the sinister power behind the throne in Republican politics:
“But is it the combination of Republicans that are beholden to the NRA, and Republicans who are rich and want their taxes really low, or single-issue Republicans who really just care about limiting a woman's right to choose, is it when you combine that trifecta the NRA gets their way, because those other Republicans who care about taxes and abortion, they're not paying attention?”
It was here that Murphy decided to drop the “bipartisanship” mask. First, he said it was odd that Republicans so often associated gun rights with traditional American liberties, “because there are plenty of other ways to demonstrate that you care about individual liberty other than the question of firearm ownership” (perhaps Murphy is thinking of abortion?).
But it was in his second point that Murphy well and truly left the reservation:
“The second issue — I think here — is that the Republican Party over the course of the last ten years has kind of become a little devoid of ideas except for one: the destruction of government. The Republican Party used to have — you know — big ideas; now their one idea is “let’s just have less government,” and no organization stands more solidly against government than the NRA, which stands for the right of the citizenry to arm themselves in rebellion against the government.”
The Second Amendment states that the right to keep and bear arms is necessary not for the preservation of “the government,” but of “a free state,” and apparently — by his own admission mind you — Murphy feels threatened by the NRA standing up for this right. Ruhle either did not fully understand the implications of what Murphy was saying or, worse, agreed with it. And that should concern all of us.
This alarming glimpse into the Leftist outlook was brought to you by 4imprint and Golden Corral. Their contact information is linked.
Click “Expand” to see the relevant transcript.
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
05/25/22
11:01:38 PM ETSTEPHANIE RUHLE: With us tonight, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy. Senator, I turn that question to you. It has been 24 hours, what are we doing?
CHRIS MURPHY: Yeah, I was sitting — presiding over the Senate last night or yesterday afternoon, when I looked down at my phone and saw that another Sandy Hook had happened, 19 kids in Texas.And I went straight to my desk, and that was the question that I kept on asking myself. And it was the question that I just spontaneously asked my colleagues. What are we doing? Why are we here? Why do you care so much about being a United States Senator if in the face of this evil, in the face of this carnage, with all these parents who are just so frightened for their kids, with all these kids who are so frightened for themselves. What are we doing? Nothing can’t be the answer.
And, Stephanie, I spent all day today from the minute I woke up until I literally sat down in this chair, talking to everybody I could in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats, asking them that question. What are you gonna do? Are you prepared to sit down and try to find a bipartisan path forward?
I don't know whether we’re going to be able to get there. But I found enough Republicans today that were willing to talk, that over the next seven to ten days, we’re going to have a discussion. Privately, confidentially, behind closed doors, as to whether there are sixty votes in the Senate to pass something that makes sure that less people have access to dangerous weapons, or less dangerous people have access to weapons.
We will see, but I'm a little exhausted at the end of the day, and I'm also really hopeful that we’ll be able to try to convene a conversation in the Senate over the course of the next week about bipartisan support for anti-gun-violence legislation.
RUHLE: But were those Republicans willing to talk to you today because nineteen precious babies were massacred yesterday? A week from now, two weeks from now, do you really think they’re going to sit down and — and do more than have a conversation? You've been at this for a decade.
MURPHY: Yeah, I've been at this for a decade, but I also understand that great social change movements in this country often take more than a decade to effectuate change.
Remember, it was more than a decade from the shooting of James Brady in 1981 to the passage of the Brady Handgun Bill, the background check system. It was more than a decade from the open casket of Emmet Till until the passage of the Voting Rights Act. So I understand that sometimes these important movements take a long time.
I think the question that Republicans will ask themselves over the course of the next few days is, “Will I pay a price this November if I sit on my hands again?” Now in 2018, Republicans did pay a price for doing nothing. And I think it needs to be voters, and citizens, and activists over the next few days that — you know — pepper these members’ offices with calls and emails to tell them that if they don't sit down and work with people like me, who are willing to compromise, that they are ultimately not going to get reelected. And that’s the question that my Republican colleagues will be asking themselves over the course of the next week.
(...)
11:07:27 PM ET
RUHLE: I want to understand, because the NRA, — ironically, tragically — is having their big event in Texas in just two days. I want to understand the stronghold they have over the Republican Party. Because we hear it every day, polls show most Americans want some kind of gun reform, but basically nothing is done.
So can you explain the roadblock? Is it when you combine Republicans? Because there’s lots of Republicans that are not hard-core NRA supporters. You represent Connecticut. There's a whole lot of really rich Greenwich Connecticut Republicans who have no affinity for guns, especially not assault rifles.
But is it the combination of Republicans that are beholden to the NRA, and Republicans who are rich and want their taxes really low, or single-issue Republicans who really just care about limiting a woman's right to choose, is it when you combine that trifecta the NRA gets their way, because those other Republicans who care about taxes and abortion, they're not paying attention?
MURPHY: Yeah, listen, I'll be honest with you Stephanie, I don't know that I completely understand what the answer to that question is. But I have been engaged in a process of trying to discover that answer for ten years. And I'll share with you two thoughts.One, I think that the NRA has been very smart to associate the issue of guns with a broader set of values, right? So, Republicans that — you know — want to talk about issues like freedom, and liberty, and abusing the issue of unrestricted gun ownership as the prism through which they talk about their affection for those values. It's strange, because there are plenty of other ways to demonstrate that you care about individual liberty other than the question of firearm ownership.
The second issue — I think here — is that the Republican Party over the course of the last ten years has kind of become a little devoid of ideas except for one: the destruction of government. The Republican party used to have — you know — big ideas; now their one idea is “let’s just have less government,” and no organization stands more solidly against government than the NRA, which stands for the right of the citizenry to arm themselves in rebellion against the government.
So if you’re trying to prove how much you hate government, the NRA's endorsement has become – sort of — the clearest way you signal that to your constituents. Again, we just have to find a different way for Republicans to be able to translate how much they hate government other than the endorsement of the gun industry. We've got to solve for these problems, but I think that that's part of what's happening here.
