On Friday’s The ReidOut, MSNBC’s Joy Reid did not take the news well that the incoming House GOP majority will conduct investigations into Hunter Biden with panelist Stuart Stevens alleging such a move proves the party is akin to a “narco-cartel.” Meanwhile, Reid also accused Evangelicals in the party of trying to make Gov. Ron DeSantis “the new Jesus.”
Strangely, Reid wondered why the GOP base doesn’t punish Republican politicians for such things, “You know, and Stuart, I mean is, I guess the thing is there's no accountability from the Republican base, right? Will there be any punishment or any consequences for telling your base that this is an election about inflation and crime and then doing literally nothing on those two subjects and just doing weird investigations?”
As hard as it may be for Reid and the rest of the media to understand, Republicans will be plenty capable of managing more than one priority at a time. Still, despite being a former Republican campaign manager, Stevens showed a lack of understanding of what exactly a political party is, “You know, Joy, the thing about the Republican Party that sometimes is hard for some of us who worked in the party to grasp is the Republican Party is what it wants to be. It is not a governing party anymore. It is a party that is about one thing, and that is the acquisition of power. That's how cartels are, that’s how narco-cartels are.”
Yes, a political party is concerned with acquiring power and this is controversial how?
Doubling down, Stevens continued, “No one asks a narco-cartel what is your real purpose here. And they don't care about these issues and what's interesting is to see that voters pretty much saw that they didn't care about it.”
Stevens then wondered, “I mean, what was the Republican plan to fight inflation? What was the Republican plan to lower gas taxes? They didn't have one. And because of that, they lost the election.”
Just because MSNBC ignored it, doesn’t mean Republicans weren’t quite vocal about the need to spend less money and stop the crusade against oil.
Still stuck on the strawman that Republicans will only focus on Hunter Biden, Stevens saw some good news, “I don't think it's good for the country that they're going to be doing, you know, crazy stuff like going after Hunter Biden's laptop. But I tell you what, it is really good for Joe Biden's re-election chances. Because Americans on the whole just don't give a damn about Hunter Biden's laptop.”
Moving on from Hunter Biden and to Evangelicals, Reid declared, “the other thing that is clear that people really don't care about is all the things that even right-wing Evangelicals have said they care about, right? They did care about overturning Roe v. Wade, they don't wear too much about women. But, I mean you now have Evangelicals trying to do the wholesale shift to the new Jesus which they want it to be DeSantis and saying Trump used us.”
The people Reid then quoted in a Washington Post article speak for themselves, because it quite possible to support a candidate on more practical grounds.
This segment was sponsored by Chase.
Here is a transcript for the November 18 show:
MSNBC The Reid Out
11/18/2022
7:37 PM ET
JOY REID: You know, and Stuart, I mean is, I guess the thing is there's no accountability from the Republican base, right? Will there be any punishment or any consequences for telling your base that this is an election about inflation and crime and then doing literally nothing on those two subjects and just doing weird investigations?
STUART STEVENS: You know, Joy, the thing about the Republican Party that sometimes is hard for some of us who worked in the party to grasp is the Republican Party is what it wants to be.
It is not a governing party anymore. It is a party that is about one thing, and that is the acquisition of power. That's how cartels are, that’s how narco-cartels are.
No one asks a narco-cartel what is your real purpose here. And they don't care about these issues and what's interesting is to see that voters pretty much saw that they didn't care about it.
I mean, what was the Republican plan to fight inflation? What was the Republican plan to lower gas taxes? They didn't have one. And because of that, they lost the election, and look, I think we exist in a world where two things are true.
I don't think it's good for the country that they're going to be doing, you know, crazy stuff like going after Hunter Biden's laptop. But I tell you what, it is really good for Joe Biden's re-election chances. Because Americans on the whole just don't give a damn about Hunter Biden's laptop.
They care about real problems, and the president has been good about actually solving problems.
REID: And I want to let you both weigh in on this because the other thing that is clear that people really don't care about is all the things that even right-wing Evangelicals have said they care about, right? They did care about overturning Roe v. Wade, they don't wear too much about women.
But, I mean you now have Evangelicals trying to do the wholesale shift to the new Jesus which they want it to be DeSantis and saying Trump used us. There's a whole piece in the Washington Post, “Donald Trump can't save America. He can't even save himself. He used us to win the White House. We had to close our mouths and eyes when he said things that horrified us.” Really? Because they treated Trump as if he was sent by God. Stuart first, it was all a lie, right ? They didn't care about the God stuff. They just said it.
