Instead of acknowledging the historic nature of Mayra Flores’ win in her South Texas special election, Joy Reid and her guests on Wednesday night’s ReidOut instead chose to discount the win, saying Democrats hadn’t really tried in the race and tarring Flores as part of a group of “Qanon-curious” Republicans hell-bent on destroying democracy.
Reid began by going over the results of Tuesday’s primaries, concluding it with, “Mayra Flores and the QAnon-curious Republican win who flipped a House seat in the Democratic stronghold of South Texas.”
Apparently, Reid still thinks Q is relevant — which is hilarious on its own — but what makes her claim all the more ridiculous is that the only connection between Flores and Q seems to be, according to The Texas TribuneThere are already Q-related hashtags used in social media posts. These hashtags include a shotgun blast conservative hashtags designed to drive clicks. For example, #secondamendment is included on an Instagram photo about COVID-19.
Flores herself has said, “I’ve always been against any of that [QAnon]. I’ve never been supportive of it,” but of course, that’s just smoke and mirrors. Everybody knows that hashtags equal full and complete endorsement (#sarcasm).
Discussion was mostly a sackcloth-and ashes affair. Fernand Amandi, MSNBC’s political analyst, expressed his horror at the increasing number of conservatives seeking office and raising concerns about the integrity of elections.
Joy! It reminds me a lot of that movie about the zombies. World War Z. You run enough of these zombie election denier MAGA candidates — you know — it’s tough to pick ‘em all off when they’re all coming at the same time, and it only takes a few of them to get through to oversee the elections in some of these critical states and you have democracy at the — the barrel of a gun as we’re seeing right now.
Insults notwithstanding, if the best analogy you can come up with for the state of your political party — which is what any discussion on MSNBC about “our democracy” really means — is a zombie apocalypse, odds are your party isn’t doing very well.
Reid followed this dumb analogy by citing a Yahoo/YouGov poll which found that half of all Americans think America will cease to be a democracy “in the future,” and that, “What’s not asked there is whether you’re glad about that because I think some people who are not unhappy with that outcome, that not everyone is — is committed to the idea of this being a democracy.”
Reid chose to point out the vaguephrasing (“How far in the past?”). Reid decided to point out the vague phrasing (“How far in the future?”). Joe McCarthy smiles somewhere.
Reid concluded the segment by returning to the topic of Flores’ historic win, which she promptly downplayed, “Democrats didn’t even play. The district has 711,000 residents, but only 29,000 have voted..”
Amandi played the role of yes man, saying, “This is what I refer to as an AstroTurf Barrage Victory by the RepublicansBecause they spent 8-9 million dollars on this seat. Joy, This seat will be retaken by the Democrats in November’s elections. This is undisputed..”
Given the rest of the discussion’s nonstop fear porn, perhaps Amandi was trying to reassure himself in the face of what appears to be, in the words of Barack Obama, a midterm “shellacking” for the Democrats.
This was all possible thanks to the Leftist Fear Peddling. 4imprintAnd Simplisafe. You can find their contact information here.
Click “Expand” to see the relevant transcript.
MSNBC’s ReidOut
07:22.04 PM ET
06/15/22JOY REID – And then a win for Mayra Flowers, the QAnon-curious Republican that flipped a House Seat in South Texas’ Democratic stronghold. Fernand Amandi is a MSNBC political analyst, pollster, as well as David Pepper, ex-chair of Ohio Democratic Party. Pepper also wrote the book The Laboratories for Autocracy: An Alarm Call from Behind the Lines. Well that’s a book that was certainly timely.
(…)
07:23.40 ET
REID: Uh, David Pepper, what do — do these two races say anything about the future of our country and whether — uh, democracy can hold?
DAVID PEPPER : I think they are mixed. Um — I mean, I really respect what the Congressman said at the end there, that there’s sort of a bigger legacy you have when you’re in office and he’s trying to leave one that he can be proud of.
Uh — I’ll say bigger picture though, the really troubling — maybe of all the races last night, the one that should really worry us most — it’s sort of the canary in the coal mine is that secretary of state’s race in Nevada.
You have all around this country election deniers — uh, you know, the people who — who like Jim Marchant who wouldn’t have ceded that Trump — the Biden delegation. All over Arizona, Minnesota, Michigan they are running for Secretary of state. These candidates are also seeking State Houses. They are the ones who have won most of these primaries, regardless if they win Federal ones. And when you’re looking in ’24, they’re gonna write the rules of the elections in ’24, and then they’re gonna be the ones running the elections.
The people who are attacking democracy must be monitored. They have the most influence on the states. In State Houses, in secretaries of state, that’s where they’re really being aggressive, they’re putting much more money than they ever have, and that should be a real wake-up call going forward, is all these state-level races that will shape the ’24 election as much as anyone on the Federal level.
REID: Well, I mean, and to that very point, Fernand, Jim Marchant, there’s — he’s one of 23 election deniers — um, who were running in the 2020 elections in 17 states, in 17 states across the country per an organization called States United Action.
That is an excellent point. Democrats can get really focused on the White House, and especially the Presidency. Republicans are focusing on these specific states and doing very well.
FERNAND AMANDI: It’s exactly the point. Joy, that’s very similar to the zombie movie. World War Z. There are enough zombie MAGA denier MAGA candidate candidates. You know, it’s tough to pick ‘em all off when they’re all coming at the same time, and it only takes a few of them to get through to oversee the elections in some of these critical states and you have democracy at the — the barrel of a gun as we’re seeing right now.
You know that even in Florida, the Secretary of State supports QAnon.
REID: Yeah.
AMANDI: Ron Desantis also appointed him. This is what we see as the hacking of democracy. The Justice Department continues to be the root cause of the problems, I believe. Until indictments start to come down on the perpetrators of criminal activity by elected office holders that we’re seeing — Joy, this is just gonna be dismissed as political back-and-forth.
It is evident in the focus groups across the nation. Uh, everyday Americans are saying well — you know, if there were really something serious you would see these people get arrested, get indicted. In many people’s minds, it is just political as usual. It’s dangerous, because elections are not an option to address the problem of criminal activity in America. For this purpose, the Justice Department as well as the rule of the law is important.
REID: Well — I mean, David Pepper we are in a situation right now where half of Americans — and that means Democrats and Republicans — have just told a poll recently — um, a — a Yahoo/YouGov poll that America will cease to be a democracy in the future. What’s not asked there is whether you’re glad about that because I think some people who are not unhappy with that outcome, that not everyone is — is committed to the idea of this being a democracy.
PEPPER: No, I mean, look at CPAC was in Hungary, that’s a comparative autocracy. Peter Thiel literally says that democracy is inconsistent with freedom and he’s supporting all these candidates. This is a group of people who oppose elections and are seeking to be elected. So — so clearly once, not all Republicans, but there’s a chunk of people who literally are now saying that they don’t want to see the results of our newer diverse democracy.
And — and I’ll say — you know — we have to have accountability through the DOJ. To anyone trying to overturn the election, I agree. Democrats need to look beyond the Federal. Both sides know that democracy can only be shaped in the states and in state houses. And until we know as — every Democrat can tell you the swing Senate races, right?
REID: Yep.
PEPPER: They need to know the swing Secretary of State races, they need to know that we’re only two seats from winning the Arizona State House, and only three from winning the Michigan State House. ALEC and the Koch brothers know all this, but we get too excited about just a handful of Senate races, while they destroy democracy across the country.
So we’ve gotta be account — we need accountability at the legal level, but we need to be much savvier politically and go to where democracy is most fiercely being attacked, which is in state after state after state.
REID: Yeah, indeed. And to that point, let’s talk about Mayra Flores. And by the way — um, one person who doesn’t believe that we should be a democracy is Mike Lee. Now, he has a tougher race. Larry Sabato’s actually downgraded that race a little bit, so there are some people who do care in some states.
Let’s talk really quickly, we don’t have a ton of time, Mayra Flores. This was a race which was — in a tiny turnout, like less than — fewer than 30,000 people voted. She flips the seat that had been traditionally Democratic, its an 85% — um, Hispanic, it’s the second-most Hispanic — uh, apparently congressional district in America. She takes it.
Can you speak a bit more about it? Democrats couldn’t compete. Her personal ads were compelling about Mexican origins. Her husband is a — a member of the Border Patrol. Democrats didn’t even play. The district has 711,000 residents, but only 29,000 have voted. It is not a good situation.
AMANDI, Well, I’ll just tell you that it is what I would call an AstroTurf victory by the Republicans. Because they spent between 8 and 9 million dollars to secure this seat, Joy, this is the seat that the Democrats are going back to in the November election. It is certain.
In the short-term, this will be good news for Republicans because they can look back at the accomplishments of the Republicans. However, the moment is temporary and Democrats need to recognize that the bigger picture should not be lost in panic. This is still about November, and it’s about holding onto the House and the Senate.
And I really do believe based on the numbers of what I’ve seen for November with higher turnout, this seat will revert back to the Democrats.
REID: That’s it, that’s the ri — don’t wet — don’t wet the bed, turn out the vote — uh, especially in state races, not just Federal and not just Presidential.
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