MSNBC’s Joy Reid and her favorite Republican, Michael Steele, oohed and awed on Thursday’s The ReidOut over President Joe Biden’s fundraiser with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and a cast of celebrities, including CBS’s Stephen Colbert. Not only did they fawn over Biden, they thought the fact that Donald Trump “can’t do this” and that George W. Bush won’t do it for him deserved to be some election-defining revelation.
Steele was joined by Columbia University journalism dean, Jelani Cobb, whom Reid referenced when she gushed, “But I think, to Jelani’s point, it's just the fact that Joe Biden can gather former presidents to himself. The fact that he can gather a celebrity presence to himself. These are things that whatever else Donald Trump can do, he can gather Marjorie Taylor Greene to himself, he can't do this.”
Steele agreed, "Yeah, it's, you know, I'm sitting here looking at this, and, you know, realizing, we've got one former living president in Donald Trump. That's what we got and you sit there and say, ‘hmm, what do you do with that?’”
Most people would say nothing because liberal celebrities endorsing liberal presidents isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, but Michael Steele is not most people, “George Bush is not coming to an event for Donald Trump. George Bush is not going to get out there and bring a celebrity cadre and donors to Donald Trump and that speaks volumes about this moment for the Republican Party. When the former president who led this party is not a factor on behalf of Donald Trump in his effort to regain the White House.”
Put Trump aside, Bush couldn’t get celebrities to come out for anyone he would support because, again, celebrities, especially the ones MSNBC likes, are overwhelmingly liberal. Celebrities, like Colbert, weren’t exactly big fans of him either.
Nevertheless, Steele continued to try to make the fact there is no Republican equivalent to the Biden-Obama-Clinton-celebrity fundraiser a big deal, “And there's a reason for that and it's not just, ‘oh, he's a RINO.’ It is substantively the point both you and Jelani are making about summoning the power of the office. Galvanizing that image for the country in a way that solidifies the reality and the power and the influence, but most importantly, the importance of the presidency as we understood it growing up, right?
He continued, “And Donald Trump is all about tearing all that ish down because it-- he doesn't like it, because it requires of him something he cannot summon within himself and that's discipline, focus, presidential temper, he's just a whacked out two-bit carnival barker who happened to luckily wind up in the right place at the right time to become president.”
While The ReidOut fawns over lavish and elite fundraisers, it won’t be long until it tries to portray Trump and his supporters as the rich, out-of-touch elitists.
Here is a transcript for the March 28 show:
MSNBC The ReidOut
3/28/2024
7:07 PM ET
JOY REID: And it's also about the contrast, Michael, because, I mean, look, you do need cash. I mean-- in presidential campaigns, cash helps, you know, money helps and they're going to have $25 million, and again, Joe Biden doesn't have to spend that on legal fees, you know, it's not being siphoned off to go toward lawyers. But I think, to Jelani’s point, it's just the fact that Joe Biden can gather former presidents to himself. The fact that he can gather a celebrity presence to himself. These are things that whatever else Donald Trump can do, he can gather Marjorie Taylor Greene to himself, he can't do this.
MICHAEL STEELE: Yeah, it's, you know, I'm sitting here looking at this, and, you know, realizing, we've got one former living president in Donald Trump. That's what we got and you sit there and say, “hmm, what do you do with that?”
George Bush is not coming to an event for Donald Trump. George Bush is not going to get out there and bring a celebrity cadre and donors to Donald Trump and that speaks volumes about this moment for the Republican Party. When the former president who led this party is not a factor on behalf of Donald Trump in his effort to regain the White House.
And there's a reason for that and it's not just, "oh, he's a RINO." It is substantively the point both you and Jelani are making about summoning the power of the office. Galvanizing that image for the country in a way that solidifies the reality and the power and the influence, but most importantly, the importance of the presidency as we understood it growing up, right?
REID: Yeah.
And Donald Trump is all about tearing all that ish down because it-- he doesn't like it, because it requires of him something he cannot summon within himself and that's discipline, focus, presidential temper, he's just a whacked out two-bit carnival barker who happened to luckily wind up in the right place at the right time to become president.
Even his biographers and his supporters know, oh, he didn't expect to become president.
REID: Yeah, he did not.
STEELE: And that tells us a lot and it should tell his supporters a lot.
REID: Yeah.
STEELE: But more importantly, it should tell the rest of the country a lot about what their priorities should be when it comes to salvaging us away from a Donald Trump and yes, as Liz Cheney said, she and I have profound differences with this president on policy and I am very happy to have that debate when he's re-elected this November.
