On Thursday night's edition of The ReidOut on MSNBC, "Country Over Party" founder, and frequent MSNBC guest Matthew Dowd smeared Republicans who frequently use the slogan “America first” as a guiding philosophy when it comes to how government resources should be allocated. According to Dowd, America first is code for democracy last.
During a segment discussing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech to a joint session of Congress in which some Republicans didn’t greet the foreign leader with the amount of applause that host Joy Reid demanded, Dowd said the following:
When Republicans say America first, which is what they constantly kinda try to say. What they really mean is democracy last. That's really what they mean when they say America first. It's not about our principles anymore and the narrative and common story that all of us have shared about a constitution and the will of the people and a government by and for the people. It is about an ability to push through whatever you want by whatever means necessary in this.
Dowd never explained how wanting to solve our nation’s problems before other countries makes you against democracy.
He then went on to proclaim that the current GOP is “in sync now with Vladimir Putin who espouses basically the exact same things which is I’m gonna hold power for power’s sake and it doesn’t matter who I run over or what I do or what country I invade.”
Getting in another shot at his former party, Dowd ended by crying that “Ronald Reagan would be shocked at what’s going on.”
This caused Joy Reid to butt in and claim Reagan would “be run out of the party. He’d be considered a RINO.”
“If Ronald Reagan ran today in the Republican nomination, Ronald Reagan would probably finish fifth or sixth in a Republican primary,” Dowd falsely claimed.
While Dowd is no longer a Republican, you would think he would be observant enough to realize that Ronald Reagan is revered in the Republican Party. George W. Bush may not be able to win a GOP primary today, but Ronald Reagan would easily.
This segment was made possible by AT&T. Their information is linked.
To read the transcript click “expand”:
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
12/22/2022
7:39:43 p.m. EasternMATTHEW DOWD: Again, I think it's a fundamental thing. When Republicans say America first, which is what they constantly kinda try to say. What they really mean is democracy last. That's really what they mean when they say America first. It's not about our principles anymore and the narrative and common story that all of us have shared about a constitution and the will of the people and a government by and for the people. It is about an ability to push through whatever you want by whatever means necessary in this.
And so it doesn't surprise me that they’re in sync now with Vladimir Putin who espouses basically the exact same things which is I’m gonna hold power for power’s sake and it doesn’t matter who I run over or what I do or what country I invade. If I can get what I want, that’s what I want. That's what the Republican Party has become. It’s the least of which it's not anything close to the last two Bushes, but it's a party that they used to claim Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan would be shocked at what’s going on.
JOY REID: And he’d be run out of the party. He’d be considered a RINO.
DOWD: He couldn’t join—If Ronald Reagan ran today in the Republican nomination, Ronald Reagan would probably finish fifth or sixth in a Republican primary.
REID: 100 percent. Easily. Easily.
