The Weekend host Michael Steele filled in for Joy Reid on Thursday night’s episode of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, giving an obnoxious tribute to President Joe Biden. During the segment, he invited MSNBC analyst Jonathan Alter to demonstrate the apparently stark contrast between Biden’s “decency” and the “malicious” and “nasty” Republican Party.
Steele began by playing a clip of Biden’s Wednesday night Oval Office speech, wistfully sighing as he fawned on the “emotional, yet graceful address to the nation…where he once again showed the country the kind of man he really is.” His cloy monologue continued, as he embellished on the attitude surrounding the event:
It was the beginning of the end for Joe Biden's five-decade career in elected office, and he did it in his own Biden-esque way, by elevating and restoring dignity to the conversation. The emotion of that speech was felt by many, including the president's family, who were sitting just out of frame in the Oval Office as he delivered those remarks, and by his staff, whose after–who afterwards greeted the president with cheers of “Let's go, Joe!” in the Rose Garden, where they celebrated in the most Biden way possible: ice cream.
Of course, Alter wholeheartedly agreed, praising the “ode to decency” and doubling down on the media’s ridiculous comparison of Biden to George Washington and the ancient Roman Cincinnatus. He further painted an arguably over-patriotic portrait of the president for “mak[ing] a decision that was in the spirit of the founder of our country,” arguing that it “puts him in very good stead historically…[and] when it counted, he made the American tradition, the American decision, in the American tradition.”
Alter insisted Trump was “the radical right-winger” before Steele expressed his outrage at an X post from GOP strategist Chris LaCivita, a picture of Trump with the caption “On Trump Force One…Hey Joe…You’re Fired.” “You cannot express any better than that just how ignorant, out of touch, out of step with the idea and the ideals of America Donald Trump is,” the host blustered.
Alter declared that in contrast to the Democratic Party, “the other side, the radicals, believe in the idea of power. Not the power of the idea. They're just interested in power. Getting it and keeping it.” He asserted that LaCivita’s post was evidence that Republicans “have no class. They have no real understanding of the decency, the mystic chords of memory that Lincoln spoke of that are supposed to bond us,” citing Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote, “With malice toward none with charity for all.”
According to Alter, the Democratic Party was the perfect model of “decency” and “class,” while Republicans were “malicious” and “nasty”; also, Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t a “San Francisco liberal” but Trump was the “radical” and “un-American candidate.”
In light of the hypocrisy on display from the Democratic Party and its toadies, ironically enough, Steele was absolutely right at the close of the segment: this election “is not a drill and a lot is at stake.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
7/26/2024
07:35:37 PM ESTMICHAEL STEELE: After what can only be described as (sighs) a few melancholy days, President Joe Biden delivered a rather emotional, yet graceful address to the nation last night, where he once again showed the country the kind of man he really is, speaking about his decision to pass the torch and drop his bid for re-election.
It was the beginning of the end for Joe Biden's five-decade career in elected office, and he did it in his own Biden-esque way, by elevating and restoring dignity to the conversation. The emotion of that speech was felt by many, including the president's family, who were sitting just out of frame in the Oval Office as he delivered those remarks, and by his staff, whose after–who afterwards greeted the president with cheers of “Let's go, Joe!” in the Rose Garden, where they celebrated in the most Biden way possible: ice cream.
Joining me now is Jonathan Alter, MSNBC political analyst and founder of “Old Goats” on Substack. Only Jonathan Alter with the “Old Goats.” Good to see you, man.
JONATHAN ALTER: (Laughs). Good to see you, Michael.
MICHAEL STEELE: So, Jonathan, I want to start with this moment in the speech, which I thought was especially poignant and important. Let's take a listen.
[Cuts to video]
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The great thing about America is, here, kings an dictators do not rule. The people do. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. You just have to keep faith. Keep the faith. And remember who we are. We're the United States of America. And there's simply nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. So let's act together, preserve our democracy.
[Cuts back to live]
STEELE: It’s–for me, it was such a powerful framing of not just what the election’s about but what our mission as Americans is about. How did you see the speech last night and your takeaway from it?
ALTER: Well, I agree with you. I think it was an ode to decency. You know, he mentioned we don't have kings and dictators here and earlier in the speech, he referred to a portrait of George Washington. So, George Washington picked up from the ancient Roman Cincinnatus and he turned over office peacefully.
This has been rarely done in human history, and this peaceful transfer of power establishing that we don't have kings here, we don't have dictators, this was essential. And what Joe Biden did last night was to give a speech and to make a decision that was in the spirit of the founder of our country. And that puts him in very good stead historically. So you can say what you might about him on policy. You can criticize the fact that he decided to run for re-election when he was probably too old to do so, but when it counted, he made the American tradition, the American decision, in the American tradition.
And this is–this is what's so important, is to set that standard again, so we realize that the radical in this campaign, Michael, is not Kamala Harris, as all the Trump advertising is saying now. The radical right-winger is Donald Trump. He's the one who is out of step with the way we’ve done it in this country since George Washington. And I think those are the notes that President Biden was able to sound last night. And it–it will live in history.
STEELE: I think–I think very much to your point, Jonathan, in the framing of the American way of doing this, the George Washington way of doing this, you had in contrast the tweet that Trump senior adviser put out. And just it's just a dumb tweet: “On Trump Force One…Hey Joe…You're fired.”
And you cannot–you cannot express any better than that just how ignorant, out of touch, out of step with the idea and the ideals of America Donald Trump is. So here's the–here’s the tougher question. Why is it, in light of what we just saw in the grace and the dignity of Biden, do we have so many people willing to fall into this sort of darker narrative with Trump?
ALTER: Well, I think historians will be studying that for generations. But they have lost faith. So, the president mentioned that word faith last night. And he wasn't talking about religious faith. He was talking about civic faith. Believe–belief in the idea of America. And, so, the Biden way, the George Washington way, the Abraham Lincoln way, is to talk about the power of ideas, particularly the power of the American idea of the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power.
The other side, the radicals, believe in the idea of power. Not the power of the idea. They're just interested in power. Getting it and keeping it. And that tweet you saw shows they have no class. They have no real understanding of the decency, the mystic chords of memory that Lincoln spoke of that are supposed to bond us. So right after the civil war, Lincoln is talking about, “With charity for all, with malice toward none.” And Joe Biden referred to Lincoln and malice last night. We're not supposed to be a malicious country.
And these people in the Republican Party now, in the leadership of that party, they are malicious. They're nasty. Why couldn't they just show a little class? He wasn't fired. That's what they wanted to do, if he had stood for re-election, if they had beaten him. They could have then said, on the day after the election in November, “We fired Biden.” Okay. That would’ve been legit. This was not a firing. This was a decision that the president made in the larger interest of the country.
And I think from that tweet, by the way, the guy who tweeted that, he's the guy who swiftboated John Kerry. So John Kerry was a war hero and this guy, who is now running the Trump campaign, just made up a bunch of lies about him and helped sink the John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign. They're gonna try to do that again to Harris.
And what Harris has to do, and she's off to a great start, is to say, “No, I'm not the radical, you know, San Francisco liberal. He is the radical. Trump is the radical. He's the one who is,” I'll say it, she can't quite say it this way, he's the un-American candidate in this race. And, so, I think people have to get a sense that there are big constitutional issues at stake here. And when President Biden talked about protecting democracy, he wasn't exaggerating. It's really on the line. This is not a draw, Michael.
STEELE: Right. No, it’s not. It is not. It is not and, I think, the poignancy of that moment actually leads us to the reality that this is not a drill and a lot is at stake. Jonathan Alter, thank you for bringing the perspective that we needed for that. Thank you so much, my friend.
(...)
