Merry Christmas? Reid Tells Viewers to FEAR the Military, Unvaxxed, GOP ‘Enemies’

JOY RID: Stuart! I will end it with you. Jim Jordan is a Member of Congress. Their bodies were attacked physically on January 6. Their lives were at risk. They ran for their lives, hiding behind tables and chairs to avoid being caught. These are the lynch mobs that drove those brutal individuals out.Jim Jordan: How is it possible that Jordan could defy subpoenas from the body in his service?

STEVENS – Look, Jim Jordan is not an American congressman. He’s a person who is determined to reform the American government. He is determined to bring down the American government. These people need to be seen in a different light. This is not your average congressman in the United States trying to keep an oath.

It’s not clear to me. It is not a conspiracy. An attempt to commit a crime isn’t considered a conspiracy. You don’t need to get rich if you plan on robbing a bank. This is a puzzle to me. These people should be considered enemies.

REID: Unfortunately, yes…

MSNBC’s The ReidOut
12/22/21

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JOY REID:  Brigadier General Anderson, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for being here. The op-ed you wrote in terror with two former generals scared me to my core. It seems that we must be worried about people plotting another coup, and I believe this to be true. While I believe most people on the panel will do their best, we don’t always have the ability to rely on the military for the right answer. This is what scares my hell. This is because it indicates that there has been an internal breakdown in one the most respected and trusted institutions of the country.

Let me now tell you what I should be concerned about. There were many people who had military qualifications. I believe one-tenth of those charged or accused of crimes that day were military veterans. There were many military personnel there. However, your greatest fear is whether they will try again.

BRIG. GEN. STEVEN ANDERSON (U.S. ARMY)Joy. : Thank you so much for inviting me to this event. It’s an honour. First off, I would like to say that in 31 years of service in the Army I was taught to be neutral and to avoid being involved in politics. I was a Republican voter up to 2016. The party seems to have lost its soul, and has forgotten its ideology. Jim Jordan is the perfect example.

The Republican Party leaders and he are the reason we wrote the Op-ed we did. 43 years ago I swear an oath of support for and defense of the Constitution of America against all foreign enemies. I didn’t know 43 years later that we would have domestic threats like we have now. Jim Jordan, however, is another reason.

But you have to look at other things that can make your bones churn. You mentioned that over 100 military personnel were involved in the rebellion. It’s quite scary. There are also former NSA NSA Lieutenant General Mike Flynn and others who advocate using the military for a coup. You are kidding me! That’s disgraceful.

You now have 124 top leaders signing a letter that supports Trump’s huge lie. The source of election integrity for those individuals is evidently the pillow guy. There is a general in Oklahoma refusing to comply with federal mandates. He works for the National Guard, so please let him know.

All these soldiers are refusing to receive the COVID vaccine. Every soldier needs to have at least 12 vaccinations to be able to complete basic training. The Republican Party spent the 11-months since January 6th examining the insurrection and essentially describing it as a tour.

My heart aches for the troops, and my fear for democracy. With people like Jim Jordan as their troops, they’ll confuse loyalty to the Constitution with allegiance towards a political party. We are deeply concerned because we believe in democracy.

REID: I agree with your concerns. Hearing it from you, all honestly, made me even more fearful, so I’m being honest. That’s part of the op ed. We are numb to the idea of another coup. ThShould another insurrection take place, it is possible for the chain command to be dissolved.

Here’s the deal — I will just stay there for a moment. Some people within the military are silently supporting what occurred on January 6th, but wish it was successful. I do not know their identities. Michael Flynn used to be an extremely decorated soldier in the United States Military. However, things went wrong and he was very disregarded. Now he seems more like QAnon then he is military. The brother holds an authority position within the United States military. Michael Flynn the ex-general requested a temporary restraining order in an effort to block the January 6th committee’s access to his documents. However, the judge refused. This is not possible.

Charles Flynn is still there, however, as Brigadier General Anderson. First, the Army falsely claimed that Charles Flynn participated in the counter insurrection response. Then Flynn said that he never opposed the sending of the National Guard to stop the violence. Flynn is now accused of lying about his part in the delay to that day’s response. I find it alarming that Flynn and others like him are still at work. It scares you.

ANDERSON: Absolutely. We recommended that intelligence be gathered against members of our ranks. This includes people such as Charles Flynn, Michael Flynn’s younger brother. The man is unknown to me. His brother and I were in Iraq with him, but he did fine. He’s obviously lost his mind. We need to find out who in us might be a mutineer.

We need to locate those individuals and remove them from the army. It is an honor to serve in the military. You don’t have to serve in the military as an unalienable right. It is not an inalienable right.

REID: Stuart. I’m sorry, but we had a Proud Boy plead guilty to today. His name was Matthew Greene. Today, Proud Boys plead guilty to obstruction. Some are flipping the script, you see? Some are openly telling the truth about the conspiracy. There are also, as you may know, Oath Keepers is made up of police and military personnel. There are many highly trained, armed people falling for this cult. I’m not sure what to do. Have any ideas?

STUART STEVENS SENIOR ADVISER THE LINCOLN PROJECT – I believe the biggest danger is that the Republican Party has demonstrated that it won’t stand against this and will just go along with it. That’s an amazing thing. Not that there were people trying to attack and crash the Capitol. One can also say that maybe it is a smallish group.

The Republican Party is the only major party in America and the country’s superpower. They have made it very clear, however, that they will not oppose this if it succeeds.

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JOY RID: Stuart! I will end it with you. Jim Jordan is a Member of Congress. Their bodies were attacked physically on January 6. Their lives were at risk. They ran for their lives, hiding behind tables and chairs to avoid being caught. These are the lynch mobs that drove those brutal individuals out.Jim Jordan. How can he possibly defy an order from his body to produce evidence?

STEVENS – Look, Jim Jordan is not an American congressman. He wants to reform the American government. He would like to topple the American government.We need to look at them like that. This is not your average congressman in the United States trying to keep an oath.

It’s not clear to me. It is not a conspiracy. An attempt to commit a crime is not a conspiracy. You don’t need to do the robbery to escape with the cash. This is a puzzle to me. These people should be considered enemies.

REID: Unfortunately, yes.Retired Army Brigadier General Steven Anderson and I would like to say thank you for all your services. Your dedication to democracy continues, as is the way you do so publicly. I want to thank you all for that. Stuart Stevens, who has grown, in many aspects, the Republican Party. He understands when it’s time to push back and talk away. Glenn Kirschner is also brilliant. We can always talk to him about the DOJ’s day-to-day activities (ph). God bless you and Merry Christmas!

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JOY REID : Dr. Gupta. It seems like I have reached my level of mental fatigue. And that’s not just because of what I and you are going through in real life.

However, it seems like there are at least half a dozen people with COVID. These people have been vaccinated and were exposed to mixed groups that were either not unvaccinated or not.

The unvaccinated have been spreading the disease. It’s spreading, and let’s just be honest, because the unvaccinated. It’s getting hard to think of what I can do to help people who refuse to be vaccinated.

Today’s stats are — I can find it here — 140 COVID new infections — 140,000,000 new COVID infected to the U.S.A. within the next 2 months according to the most recent model. 140 million cases.

Since I don’t really know, I will let you make a comment. It’s hard to know what else I should do.

DR. VIN GUPTA NBC NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Joy, good evening. It’s great being here with you, Dr. Watts.

I’ll say this: I believe we need to stop thinking about cases day-to-day. It’s too overwhelming and depressing. And, really, think about the potential breakthrough diseases that might be landing at Dr. Watts’s hospital or my ICU. That’s the number one metric.

This is why I believe we need to shift our focus because vaccines like the flu shot will reduce the chance of serious illness. It works very well. They can’t stop a positive test. It is crucial to psychologically shift this frame.

Your point is valid. What are the next steps? The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stop on Department of Labor’s order for private employers to either mandate or do a weekly vaccine test. This is a great development. This is the number one thing that will gain traction. We’ll see greater movement from the private sector. Negative incentives are also a possibility, regardless of whether there is a mandatory vaccine in the workplace. Joy, this is not our last respiratory pandemic.

How do you deal with someone who hasn’t been vaccinated but is receiving advanced ICU treatments from someone who was vaccinated? Which priority should we place?

REID: Right.

GUPTA – We use it to protect organs, the liver, and the lungs. We say, did you smoke? Are you currently a drinker? If so, it’s likely that you are lower down the list.

It is important to begin thinking about that model.

REID: Yes.

WATTS: We can’t let go of joy, but we do have it.

(CROSSTALK)

REID: There are many other countries, too — keep going. Continue.

WATTS: We don’t quit.

People are changing their minds. You’ll find that once someone has COVID it is like many other things in their lives. They won’t believe anything until they can see the evidence for themselves. There are people. They say it every single time. It’s obvious now. Talking to my family.

It is something that I hear all the time. Although it is disappointing to hear this, we all know with experience, and looking with our own eyes, that people can believe.

I am not giving up on hope. Even with all of the efforts we’ve made, I believe we can continue moving forward in vaccination.

REID: I’m going to play another doctor who is technically a doctor but was once a highly respected one. Let me repeat Dr. Ben Carson’s words, Don’t Test People. Here’s Dr. Ben Carson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CRIP)

BEN CARSON, AN EX-U.S. HOUSING and URBAN DESVELOPMENT SECRETARY. I believe that it is important to consider not testing anyone who may be asymptomatic.

We’re heading for a problem, as I stated. It’s going to be an epidemic of test-positive people. What will we do? All of it will be shut down. It doesn’t seem right, especially when dealing with something which doesn’t cause people to be very sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP).

REID: Dr. Gupta, this is the literal “stick your hands in your ears” strategy.

The NFL does this, however. The NFL has taken note of this idea.The NFL will not test vaccinated NFL athletes, although they can still be tested for viruses every day. It’s possible that it will just disappear, even though we don’t really know what it is.

It is just not intelligent, right?