Between crushing inflation, gas prices, and a rapid deterioration of America’s standing on the global stage, the Democratic Party has resorted to one final Hail Mary pass before the midterms: use the January 6 Committee to label the entire GOP as a threat to America and scare people into voting Democratic despite their mishandling of one crisis after another. MSNBC’s Stephanie Rhule took the time on Tuesday night’s The 11th Hour to help push this narrative, castigating voters for their misaligned values.
Ruhle began by complaining to former RNC chairman and current Lincoln Project aficionado Michael Steele about corporate America’s apparent lack of concern about the obvious existential threat poised by the Republican Party, “Whenever there’s something big and they’re at risk of losing employees, or losing customers, they step in. They’re dead silent here. Does that not tell you it's worrisome that, again, people vote on what affects them, not what offends them. They're not realizing this affects our future.”
Steele took Ruhle’s angst about corporate apathy and applied it to the average American, “People are setting up values. So what do you value right now? Do you value... the price of a loaf of bread and a gallon of gas more than you value the right to vote and the prospects of re-empowering a political party that literally tried to wretch — wrench the — uh, democracy away from us?”
Not only is Steele disparaging the voters who are currently having to make real sacrifices in their lives in the face of rising prices, but he is also accusing the entire Republican Party of trying to disenfranchise those same voters. You know, the party whose members are...currently testifying to the J6 Committee about their refusal to decertify the 2020 election results in the absence of evidence? That party?
Steele then gave a psychoanalysis of what he must view as the selfish, self-centered American electorate:
They're gonna look on their kitchen tables, and probably see — um, fewer meals because of the cost of things, and that is gonna be something that I hate to — I hate to say it, but Republicans are gonna take advantage of it. They're actually gonna play that card — um, to remind voters that the most important thing is that two things: one, the Democrats — uh, have ruined the economy, and secondly — uh, the culture piece, which is “they’re grooming your kids.” And those two narratives will converge, and it will be a price that the country will ultimately pay come — uh, February, March, next summer, going into 2024.
Apparently, “It’s the economy, stupid” is no longer true within liberal circles. Steele didn’t even try to refute the charges of economic bungling or child grooming (hint: because he can’t), instead trying his hardest to conjure fears of a return to those dark, dark years of 2017-2020 when gas averaged under three dollars a gallon.
The media elites are so disconnected from kitchen table issues that they can’t even fathom why voters would hold their politicians accountable for a tanking economy instead of buying into Leftist fever dreams about how a possible GOP win this November signals the end of the American experiment.
This prime example of the media’s disconnect from ordinary Americans was made possible by Life Alert and Dove. Their contact information is linked.
Click “Expand” to see the relevant transcript.
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour With Stephanie Ruhle
06/21/22
11:28:55 PM ETSTEPHANIE RUHLE: Michael Steele, former Senator Franken just laid it out for us, and it's distressing that more voters don't put the preservation of democracy higher. Think about corporate donors. Think about corporate America, right? Whenever there’s something big and they’re at risk of losing employees, or losing customers, they step in. They’re dead silent here. Does that not tell you it's worrisome that, again, people vote on what affects them, not what offends them. They're not realizing this affects our future.
MICHAEL STEELE: Well I think that's very much the case — uh, it's all about — uh, how they weigh these things and their lives. You have — uh, for — for the past couple of weeks now, Stephanie, made the case about the economy, and the role that that's playing in shaping people’s attitudes.
Uh — I break it down along a more political line. People are setting up values. So what do you value right now? Do you value the loa — the price of a loaf of bread and a gallon of gas more than you value the right to vote and the prospects of re-empowering a political party that literally tried to wretch — wrench the — uh, democracy away from us?
So, the — the realities are stark, and I think that — um, we have to be sober about that, because this November — uh, voters are gonna go to the polls, and they're going to look in their pocketbooks and see less change. They're gonna go look and they're back accounts, and see less — um, savings. They're gonna look on their kitchen tables, and probably see — um, fewer meals because of the cost of things, and that is gonna be something that I hate to — I hate to say it, but Republicans are gonna take advantage of it.
They're actually gonna play that card — um, to remind voters that the most important thing is that two things: one, the Democrats — uh, have ruined the economy, and secondly — uh, the culture piece, which is “they’re grooming your kids.” And those two narratives will converge, and it will be a price that the country will ultimately pay come — uh, February, March, next summer, going into 2024.
RUHLE: Then Al, this was Trump's playbook 2020. What we are seeing laid out over the course of these hearings should be extraordinary and disturbing to all Americans. If it's not, if there are not real consequences, are the wheels just gonna come off, come 2024?AL FRANKEN: Well — uh, Judge Luttig — uh, laid it out. He presents a clear and present danger. And yeah, there are headwinds, as Michael said, against — uh, the Democrats here. But I do see that — that these — uh, hearings are much, much more effective than I thought they were going to be.
