Epic Media Fail: Stop Normalizing A Radicalized White Nationalist Sedition Party

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Tiffany Cross was sitting in as host of The ReidOut on MSNBC on Wednesday evening, and it is a shame that the video clip of her opening segment appears to be not available (or at least I cannot find it).

This was the best analysis of election results on Tuesday, far more accurate than the lamestream media and punditocracy crap I have been reading trying to spin a GQP narrative that Democrats are doomed in 2022, and still treating the Republican Party as if it is a normal party in normal times, trying to make the violent seditious insurrection on January 6 disappear down the memory hole as if it never happened, and unlikely to happen again. As is too often the case, the corporate media is miserably failing the public by normalizing the radicalized Sedition Party. This is how democracies die.

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There is a rough transcript from the show available (excerpts):

CROSS: Now, there is no clear snapshot of where our country stands, who it is, and what it wants in the results of an election. And that`s why your timeline is bogged down with these hot takes and a wakeup call about woke politics and who is to blame. and why the pundits are throwing the panic room wide open for the Democrats.

One takeaway you definitely saw was how the election, and particularly the one in Virginia, was a referendum for the left’s failure to deliver their agenda, a rebuke on everything, from critical race theory to the Democrats’ election strategy.

But let`s be honest. Here is the thing. All those takes are like searching the edges while refusing to see what is staring back at you. And I can assure you, black voters in Virginia are not shocked by the so-called Youngkin shocker. This isn`t about enthusiasm. This isn`t about Democrats not doing enough to excite their base, and this definitely is not about messaging or even about Beloved (by Toni Morrison).

This is about the fact that a good chunk of voters out there are okay with white supremacy. Let`s call a thing a thing. Actually, scratch that. They are more than okay. This afternoon, Reporter Yamiche Alcindor asked President Biden about the results. She clearly understood the assignment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YAMICHE ALCINDOR, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: What`s your message though for Democratic voters, especially black voters, who see Republicans running on race, education, lying about critical race theory and they`re worried that Democrats don`t have an effective way to push back on that?

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, I think that the whole answer is just to speak the truth, layout where we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROSS: Some voters are also giddy over candidates who have no business governing, like Senate hopefuls in two separate states, mind you, accused of strangling their wives, one even writing a fictional thriller detailing graphic violence against women. Now, if leaders are a reflection of their voters, it isn`t looking so great for the once grand old party, is it?

Now, the elected lieutenant governor of Virginia hates a woman`s right to choose but … she certainly loves her guns. And while a trigger happy congresswoman said she gave birth in a truck, so, obviously, no one else deserves parental leave because in the bizarro world, that`s logical, and yet the election narrative piercing through the timeline is how Democrats better be concerned.

And we`re here to say, no, that ain`t it. America is who [we] should be concerned [about] because this group, the Republican Party and voters who empower them, has the sole agenda of suppressing the other group to hold on to its power by forcing voter suppression laws that expunge and even penalize black and brown participation. They can erase white supremacy from the history books, why not, because the governors will comply. They can take up arms, why not? The judges will protect them.

And speaking of judges, we have the conservative court putting abortion rights on the chopping block at which point we have to ask who are we anymore? And we got the answer last night. This is very much who America is and always has been and there is nothing shocking about it.

Joining me now Susan Del Percio, Republican Strategist, Fernand Amandi, Democratic Pollster and Strategists, and my friend, Errin Haines, Editor- at-Large at The 19th and named today one of the Roots 100 most influential African-Americans of 2021.

[E]erin, I think I`ve been so frustrated about hearing of these garbage tapes about what black voters didn`t do. Our friend, Astead Herndon, wrote about this in The New York Times and talked about how black voters shouldn`t be blamed for what happened in Virginia.

See, Black voters in Virginia refuse to be blamed for a major Democratic defeat.

Fears about Black turnout and a lack of enthusiasm did not materialize in Tuesday’s results, as former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, ran close to expected totals in the state’s majority-Black areas. Instead, Black state leaders and voters who backed Mr. McAuliffe said the results were a sign that the party could not rely on minority voters to cover its cratering totals in more white areas of the state, particularly in rural communities that voted heavily for Glenn Youngkin, the Republican businessman who won the governor’s race.

[At] the grass-roots level, voters in Newport News also said that their support for Mr. McAuliffe did not mean they were satisfied with the performance of Democrats in Washington.

Several voters cited a radio advertisement that had been playing on local stations saying Black voters should not back Mr. McAuliffe because Democrats cared about Black communities only during election season. They rejected the ad’s plea to stay home but said the general theme resonated, and they urged Democrats in Congress to pass bold legislation on President Biden’s core campaign promises, including climate change, police reform and economic investments in Black communities.

Let`s talk about some of the other groups. I mean, overwhelmingly, white women stayed loyal to the Republican Party, yet you don`t hear takes about that and saying, well, why is this group the problem? Why do you think that is and what is your take on the election landscape and what played out last night?

ERRIN HAINES, MSNBC POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Look, history tells black and white (INAUDIBLE) race and racism remain a potent factor in American politics because they work. This is a strategy that is not new [the Republican Southern Strategy originated with the Barry Goldwater campaign in 1964] so we should not call it Trump-ism because the former president was just the latest white male politician to tap into this long legacy of campaigns that has deployed race, lies, conspiracy and voter suppression as a path to victory. I mean, this is the original lie.

I think we saw in exit polling, white voters breaking something like 70/30s for Youngkin, black voters breaking 86/13 for McAuliffe, and two-thirds of Latinos and Asians also breaking for McAuliffe. So, yes, it is time to stop making voters of color either the savior of the scapegoat in every cycle as a narrative and really start asking why white voters and candidates are either complicit or condoning or racist campaign strategies.

CROSS: I cannot echo that point loud enough. And, Susan, I`d love to get your take on this, because we did saw in the polling last night, the exit polling, white women did remain loyal. And, look, this is not something that started with Trump, and I think if we`re going to move forward, we have to be honest about that. Racists have always felt comfortable in the Republican Party. People who traffic in white supremacy have always felt comfortable here. Why does that happen and what can be done now to change that?

SUSAN DEL PERCIO, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Republicans use that, or some Republicans choose to use that strategy because it works. I hate to say it but that`s the ugly part of what we`re talking about. And Errin, and you both said something very important, it`s not up to women of color or white women or anybody to be the savior or to be the blame. This is how we are operating as a country.

* * *

CROSS: Fernand, I want to bring you in here because, look, I take Susan`s point that it`s not one particular group`s responsibility to save this democracy, however, when you do see overwhelmingly white women staying loyal to a party that will have an adverse impact on their life, just like it will people of color, and white people overwhelmingly voting for policies that have an adverse impact on all of our lives, I mean, I got to ask, what do we do about this?

Take a listen to a gentleman who is kind of — he is suggesting violence as a result of not trusting that the votes will be counted accurately. Take a listen and we`ll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is tyranny. When do we get to use the guns? No, I`m not — that`s not a joke. I`m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where is the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, no, hold on. No, stop. Hold on. Now I`m going to denounce that and I`m going to tell you why because you`re playing into all their plans and they`re trying to make you do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROSS: These are the people voting, and those are the people who they are voting in office. They have turned the internet`s comment section into real live candidates. Fernand, what`s your take?

FERNAND AMANDI, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Tiffany, I think the most disturbing takeaway and consequence of last night`s elections, not just in Virginia, but, of course, in New Jersey as well, is that we saw something that I quite frankly did not think was possible. We saw the normalization of an armed, violent, insurrection and attempted coup against the United States by the party that was the instigator, the planners and the plotters, if you will, and the voters of Virginia and the voters of New Jersey, in essence, said, you know what, not a big deal.

Let`s move on from that, also taking into consideration that in Virginia, many of the plotters laid out their plans for the armed insurrection that happened less than ten months ago.

This was the first major quasi-national test on what happened around that attempted coup, which, to me, continues to be the most important issue in America today and that you have a Republican Party that has unveiled and unmasked itself as being hostile to American democracy. They do not believe in our system of government, they don`t believe in the Constitution. And as that clip you showed, they are willing to take up arms in larger numbers and the voters of Virginia and New Jersey, in essence, said yesterday no problem. It`s okay. You get a pass.

I don`t know where it goes from here. There were no easy solutions, no easy answers. And, yes, you could look at Joe Biden`s sagging approval ratings, you can look at the fact that COVID hasn`t quite been vanquished and we haven`t gotten back to full normal yet. You can look at the messy Afghanistan pullout. I don`t think any of those things, however, explain that last night, in my judgment at least, the voters of two major Democratic states, in essence, said there is no penalty to pay for the Republican Party who was behind an armed insurrection.

CROSS: Yes, which is crazy. So, Susan, I want to bring you back in here because half the Republican Party does not believe that their votes will be counted accurately. So, yes, Youngkin won in Virginia last night but I was prepared if McAuliffe had won, will this group of people ever accept another election result that they don`t like? And I think it`s kind of scary that the Republican Party is kind of trafficking in the disbelief in democracy itself.

DEL PERCIO: It`s terrifying. And to your question, they — if McAuliffe would have won, you would have heard it was rigged. There is no doubt about it. And they would have been wrong and it would have been playing into the big lie. And I agree in my heart about democracy being on the line, that we may not recognize this country in a few years if we cannot maintain faith in our elections and if we cannot broaden our country`s voting base. Everyone should be voting. We need to get more voter participation, not less. That will make us a better country.

[I] am a Republican who has supported Democrats and wants Democrats to win because I believe in democracy and I believe in governance. We can disagree on policy but the Republicans aren`t governing and they`re still able to be influential in this process. And we have to say the only solution to that is by more Democrats winning.

CROSS: Yes. And so, Errin, to that point, because I think Susan`s point, it`s all about giving Democrats something to hold on to, but let’s be honest here, Errin, you could have given this message to a lot of people. It would not matter. The Republicans dangle things like CRT, critical race theory, any of these ghost philosophies they have. The subtext of all this was we can`t let black and brown people run the country. The messaging didn`t matter. … Do you think messaging is part of the problem here?

HAINES: Well, you know, Tiffany, Susan brought up history. And I think as we reflect on today, which is the one year anniversary of last year`s election, a record election which saw record turnout among voters of color in particular who were part of the coalition that delivered a Democratic victory at the presidential level and gave Democrats control of Congress, last night was an important reminder of why it`s important to know our history and to learn our history, right, because what we saw last night and we are likely to keep seeing in our politics going forward is history repeating itself.

History tells us that the culture wars in our politics have centered on the classroom before when students were legally separated on this vicious and racist theory that mixing in a public school was somehow going to lead to interracial marriage. I mean, history tells us that some of our fellow citizens actively fought against integration after the Brown v. Board decision and the teaching of our full American story, including parents in Virginia. And, by the way, this was also considered “parents` rights,” right? It`s the erasure of that history [the history which has occurred during my lifetime] not the actual academic field of critical race theory that is not coming for anyone`s K through 12 curriculum, by the way, that all American parents should be concerned about.

And when you talk about who we`re talking about, we talk about parents, right? You know, yes, this is the conversation that we need to be having right now. These are the lessons we need to be taking a year from last year`s historic election and looking ahead to 2022 and `24 and beyond.

CROSS: Yes. And, look, I don`t want to make it seem like this is just a washout [wipeout?] I think that’s part of the media narrative, but, Fernand, there were some historic elections that happened last night. You had Michelle Wu, Boston`s first woman and Asian-American mayor. Ed Gainey was Pittsburgh`s first black mayor, Aftab Pureval, Cincinnati`s first Asian-American mayor, Nadarius Clarke, Virginia`s youngest Democratic delegate.

So, there were some sweeping victories and I think there is some danger in getting caught up in Democrats need to be so concerned. I think Democrats need to be concerned about voting rights. But there were some small victories last night, and I don`t think they should get overlooked. Your thought on the good part, good narrative that happened last night.

AMANDI: Well I mean, it certainly is a silver lining if you want to think about the future direction of the country. But, again, I go back to the point, Tiffany, if these were normal times, if we were dealing with a normal Republican Party pre-Trump, where — the ideological difference but the question of democracy was not in question, you know, I think there is reason to be optimistic.

But, again, I`m of the opinion, and I say this is the son of Cuban exiles who were forced to leave their country because of an autocratic overthrow. When the Republicans are on the precipice of recapturing the Congress without a voting rights bill having been passed to protect the integrity of elections, I am not sure, as Susan Del Percio said earlier, we can count on this democracy being intact and being — and having the full integrity of an election in 2024 and beyond and I think that`s why this is the dominant issue and really needs to be going forward.

CROSS: Yes. And, look, I mean, you heard it here from Susan Del Percio, a white Republican women, that said the key to this is having more Democratic candidates win. So, hopefully, Susan you`re shouting loud to some of your fellow Republican Party women. So, thanks so much to Susan Del Percio, Fernand Amandi and Errin Haines for joining me and breaking down some of the crazy stuff that happened last night.





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1 thought on “Epic Media Fail: Stop Normalizing A Radicalized White Nationalist Sedition Party”

  1. Tory Gavito and Adam Jentleson write at the New York Times, “The Powerful G.O.P. Strategy Democrats Must Counter if They Want to Win”, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/opinion/democrats-republicans-virginia-race.html

    The Virginia election results should shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics. No candidate would think of entering an election without a winning message on the economy or health care. Yet by failing to counter his opponent’s racial dog whistles, Terry McAuliffe did the equivalent, finding himself defenseless against a strategy Republicans have used to win elections for decades.

    Crucially, the Republican nominee, Glenn Youngkin, was able to use racially coded attacks to motivate sky-high white turnout without paying a penalty among minority voters.

    Before Tuesday night, conventional wisdom held that racially coded attacks could well spur higher white turnout but that those gains would be offset by losses among minority voters. Mr. Youngkin proved this assumption false. He significantly outperformed other Republicans among white voters, especially women … At the same time, Mr. Youngkin suffered no major drop-off among minority voters — if anything, he appeared to slightly outperform expectations.

    This should terrify Democrats. With our democracy on the line, we have to forge an effective counterattack on race while rethinking the false choice between mobilizing base voters or persuading swing voters.

    It will not work to ignore race and talk about popular issues instead.

    [S]ome Democrats may resist accepting the centrality of race, pointing to the bearish national political environment and cyclical patterns. This would be a mistake for two reasons. First, C.R.T. helped create the rough national environment, with Fox News hammering it relentlessly; and cyclical explanations, like thermostatic public opinion (a longstanding tendency for voters to drift toward the views of the party out of power on some issues), do not explain Democrats’ loss of support in the suburbs or the strong turnout. Voters in New Jersey, where a stronger-than-expected Republican performance caught Democrats off guard, have been inundated with C.R.T. hype by Fox News, too.

    Second, the past half-century of American political history shows that racially coded attacks are how Republicans have been winning elections for decades, from Richard Nixon’s “law and order” campaign to Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queens” and George H.W. Bush’s Willie Horton ad. Many of these campaigns were masterminded by the strategist Lee Atwater, who in 1981 offered a blunt explanation: Being overtly racist backfires, he noted, “so you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract.” C.R.T. is straight out of the Atwater playbook.

    In recent years, it has become commonplace in Democratic circles to think that our diversifying population has relegated such attacks to the past. The theory goes that Democrats can counteract racist appeals by encouraging high turnout among people of color. This interpretation took a ding in 2016 and a bigger hit in 2020, when Mr. Trump shocked many people by making major inroads with Latinos. Latinos recently became the largest population of color, and Democrats cannot win on the national level without winning them by large margins. Yet from 2016 to 2020, Democrats saw a seven-point drop in support among Latinos, according to the Pew Research Center.

    How did the most racist president of our lifetime outperform a more generic Republican like Mitt Romney with Latinos? Research by Equis Labs suggests that Latinos found Mr. Trump’s populist message on the economy appealing.

    And as Mr. Trump showed — and Mr. Youngkin confirmed — racially coded attacks do not necessarily repel Latino voters. They may even attract them.

    [T]his, then, is the Democrats’ problem: The fact that Republicans can drag race into the conversation with ease kicks the legs out from under the idea that Democrats can succeed by simply talking about more popular things. And the fact that racially coded attacks spur turnout among white voters without necessarily prompting a backlash among minority voters undermines the idea that mobilizing a diverse electorate can win elections for Democrats.

    That’s the bad news. The good news is, we know what a path forward looks like.

    First, Democrats must separate our (accurate and necessary) analysis of structural racism from our political strategy in a country where the electorate remains nearly 70 percent white — and as much as or more than 80 percent white in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Instead of ignoring race while Republicans beat us silly with it, Democrats must confront it and explain that powerful elites and special interests use race as a tool of division to distract hard-working people of all races while they get robbed blind. Then pivot back to shared interests. The pivot is critical: Without it, Democrats are simply talking past voters, while Republicans play on their racial fears.

    This strategy is known as the “race-class narrative,” pioneered by Prof. Ian Haney López of Berkeley, the author Heather McGhee and the messaging expert Anat Shenker-Osorio (whom we have worked with). To be clear, Democrats should not seek to impose a racial-justice frame; to the contrary, research found a focus on racial justice to be less persuasive than the race-class narrative. The strategy we suggest here is a middle way: It is more powerful than a racial-justice-only frame but also more powerful than a strategy that ignores race altogether. Race is the elephant in the room, and Democrats must stop fooling themselves into thinking that they can prevent it from becoming an issue.

    Second, Democrats must put aside the false choice between the tactics of persuasion and mobilization and embrace them both. By confronting race as a tool of division, and then pivoting to shared interests, Democrats can offer an optimistic, inspiring and even patriotic vision. This is the approach that rocketed Barack Obama to the White House. As an African-American, Mr. Obama was never allowed to ignore race. Forced to confront it, Mr. Obama offered Americans a vision that mobilized a broad, diverse coalition — while also persuading white voters. In 2008, Mr. Obama won the highest share of the white vote since Bill Clinton in 1996.

    Race has infused American history and politics since our founding. It threads through most aspects of daily life, and stirs up complicated feelings that Americans of all backgrounds find difficult to discuss. But Virginia showed that race is impossible to ignore.

    The simple fact is that Republicans have long used race to achieve victory, and Democrats are fooling themselves if they think they can avoid it. Democrats have to get real about race, and forge a way to win.

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