After the House January 6 committee held its final hearing before the election, Morning Joe wasted no time on Friday's show in trying to translate those hearings into a blatant appeal to vote Democrat in the coming midterms. The election of a Republican majority is a vote for cheating, violence and the end of democracy.
First, looking directly into the camera, Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chairman turned member of the disgraced Lincoln Project, beseeched people to make the obvious choice for democracy and vote Democrat:
MICHAEL STEELE: Now the question becomes, after all of this evidence, what is the country prepared to do? I mean, when a political party tells you that we're going to steal the election from you, that we're going to take it from you, and then they're saying, in the upcoming election, give us the power back so we can do it again?
What, what, what, what are you taking away from all of this evidence that's being presented? Sitting back, you're waiting for the Justice Department. Sitting back you're waiting to see what the state of Georgia is going to do.
But the American people have the first crack at this: it's called November 8th.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
STEELE: It's called, when you go to the ballot box this November, you've got the evidence. I don't know what the hell more you need.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski served as Steele's Amen Corner, repeatedly injecting "right!" in response.
Steele was followed by liberal historian Michael Beschloss, who made this wild accusation, capped by a pitch for votes:
I think he wanted violence so that he would have the pretext to declare martial law. You know, the number of times we've all heard him at these large rallies saying, I've got these powers under Article 2 of the Constitution that are so big that I'm not even allowed to talk about them. He has been itching to do this for a long time!...So, this was not just trying to grab an election. This was trying to destroy our democracy. And if we let that happen again, it's our [audio cuts out, presumably "fault"].
Morning Joe might as well have had sirens blaring, with big red letters flashing: VOTE DEMOCRAT TO PREVENT THE APOCALYPSE!
On Morning Joe, Michael Steele, the ex-RNC Chairman turned member of the disgraced Lincoln Project, Steele begging people to vote Democrat, and liberal historian Michael Beschloss claiming that Trump was planning to declare martial law, was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual, and Abbott, maker of Rinvoq.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
10/14/22
6:15 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: And by the way, Chris Christie said Donald Trump had told him in like May or June --
MICHAEL STEELE: Yeah!
SCARBOROUGH: -- that he's going to basically lose the election. But he started talking about it being rigged, because of the meddling --
STEELE: The trend line was there because of Covid. You can't forget the environment, the political environment at the time, at that point in 2020. Going into that summer, the election had already started losing steam for Trump because of the way the administration handled Covid --SCARBOROUGH: Right.
STEELE: -- and the way the country was responding to that. He knew, they knew. So their back-up has always been, how do you reassert a different narrative in all -- well, it's clearly cheating. It's clearly fraud, it's clearly these other problems. And he's just going to come out and say it, regardless of what the results are.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
STEELE: And so this, at this stage, we've now got enough evidence that's out here, you know, that smart reporters like our two friends here have been tracking here, and trying to get everybody: can you just read the narrative, because they're telling you the narrative, Joe!
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
STEELE: It's not like they're hiding the ball from you. Now the question becomes, after all of this evidence, what is the country prepared to do? I mean, when a political party tells you that we're going to steal the election from you, that we're going to take it from you, and then they're saying, in the upcoming election, give us the power back so we can do it again?
What, what, what, what are you taking away from all of this evidence that's being presented? Sitting back, you're waiting for the Justice Department. Sitting back you're waiting to see what the state of Georgia is going to do.
But the American people have the first crack at this: it's called November 8th.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
STEELE: It's called, when you go to the ballot box this November, you've got the evidence. I don't know what the hell more you need.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
STEELE: When you've got the leadership of the party telling you, give us the power back, and we'll then tell you what we're going to do with it. Well, they already have! You've just seen the evidence of it.
. . .
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: What was Trump after? He was not only trying to win the election. I think he wanted violence so that he would have the pretext to declare martial law. You know, the number of times we've all heard him at these large rallies saying, I've got these powers under Article 2 of the Constitution that are so big that I'm not even allowed to talk about them. He has been itching to do this for a long time!
So, there could have been violence. There could have been -- well, there was violence. Could have been assassinations on Capitol Hill that day. Could have been a hostage crisis with Members of Congress and leaders taken hostage, including the Vice President, who of course is the President of the Senate. Plus, those electoral college ballots in that wooden box. Every indication that someone in that crowd wanted to grab those, destroy them or take them somewhere else, so they could say, there's no president. Donald Trump has to stay in office. He has to hang on. Then there's chaos.
So, this was not just trying to grab an election. This was trying to destroy our democracy. And if we let that happen again, it's our [audio cuts out, presumably "fault"].
