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MSNBC Tag

Jesus: social justice warrior? Apparently so, if you believe Jacqui Lewis, senior minister of the very liberal Middle Collegiate Church in NYC. During her appearance on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show this morning, Lewis described Jesus as a "brown-skinned Palestinian man who understood he needed to resist." The notion that Jesus was Palestinian has been thoroughly debunked. He was Jewish, after all. But that hasn't stopped anti-Semites like Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, from also making the claim.

As we've documented, Joy Reid has a habit of shutting down conservatives on her MSNBC show who say things she doesn't like. So today, Reid invited on her kind of conservative. Kirsten Haglund, billed by the show as a "conservative commentator," was highly critical of the way Ivanka allegedly mixes business and public service. Haglund's criticism was indistinguishable from that of the liberal panelists. But what really put the lie to the notion that Haglund is a "conservative commentator" was this line from her: "Ivanka and Jared are more moderate. I hope they would use that influence [on Trump] a little bit more." So Reid's idea of a "conservative" is someone who wants to see President Trump pushed to the left. Got it!

The one sure thing about politics that this Insurrectionist has learned can be summed up in two words: "things change." So just like James Carville, who was wrong when in 2009 he wrote a book predicting that Dems would rule for 40 more years, it would be a bad mistake for Republicans to gloat, rest on their laurels, or assume they'll control both houses of congress for the foreseeable future. That said, the current sorry state of the Democrat party was put into sharp focus by Elijah Cummings on today's Morning Joe. Asked by Donny Deutsch to mention three "up-and-coming stars in our party," Dem Congressman Cummings named Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee, and Tim Kaine. Really?

Is Joy Reid going to rap DNC Chairman Tom Perez on the knuckles for failure to abide by her anointed nomenclature? As we noted this past weekend, MSNBC host Reid reprimanded Republican Katon Dawson for speaking of the "Democrat" party. She warned Dawson that "we're going to have a talking-to," she instructed him, "we say 'Democratic' on this show." Perez appeared on Morning Joe and CNN this morning to discuss yesterday's congressional primary in Georgia. And—ruh-roh—Perez twice spoke of the "Democrat" party! On Morning Joe, he said, "we're building a Democrat National Committee whose mission is not simply to elect the President of the United States." And later, on CNN, Perez said, "the Democrat party, we have to walk and chew gum."

For someone who styles herself an advocate of diversity, Joy Reid has a funny way of shutting down diverse voices. Legal Insurrection has documented how in the past she has silenced and even ejected guests who ran afoul of her speech codes. Back at it today, Reid reprimanded Republican consultant Katon Dawson for referring to the "Democrat" party. "On this show, we say Democratic," instructed Reid, telling Dawson that "we're going to have to sit down. We're going to have a talking-to." Being lectured by Joy Reid: now there's something to look forward to!

Morning Joe has been on a Steve Bannon-bashing spree the last couple of days, with various panel members predicting his departure from the White House. As Mika Brzezinski put it yesterday, "the end is nigh" for Bannon. But Mark Halperin made a strong case for Bannon on today's show, saying that being conventional is not what got Donald Trump elected, and that "Bannon is one of the few people in the White House and in Trump's life who is creative, who's innovative, who takes risks, who advocates taking risks. Someone has to be for that."

Surprising consensus on today's Morning Joe that Barack Obama blew it bigly in Syria by punting on his redline. Even Obama fan Mike Barnicle admitted, "Syria was a serious mistake that the Obama administration made." Foreign policy honcho Richard Haass said "history's going to be rough on this. This is going to be the defining moment for the Obama presidency." It wasn't just the panel that trashed Obama's mishandling of Syria. Joe Scarborough noted that not only did leading Dems like John Kerry and Hillary quickly come out in support of Trump's strikes, but that Dems were saying things that were "almost disloyal to Barack Obama, saying we could have never moved this quickly."

Donald Trump ordered a limited military strike on a Syrian air base after the Syrian military was believed behind a chemical weapons airstrike that killed dozens. The military strike generally received praise both because it happened and because, at least for now, it was limited and intended to establish the red line that Obama ignored. Whatever other horrific warfare has taken place in Syria, and it has been horrible on a historic scale, the use of chemical weapons would not be tolerated. The plans for an attack were drawn up by the U.S. military, among many alternatives. The Russians, apparently, were alerted at some level beforehand since the attack was on an airbase also used by the Russians. To have done otherwise would have risked a wider conflict if Russian troops were hit by U.S. launched missiles. So that minimal coordination, which takes place among several militaries operating in the skies over Syria, was a cautious move by the U.S. military and Trump. The widespread praise for Trump's action has triggered some really bizarre conspiracy theories.

Susan Rice is at the center of the storm over reports that she "unmasked" the names of Trump campaign and transition officials, as described in our prior post, Susan Rice unmasked? Previously said “I know nothing about” Nunes allegations. Given Rice's past tattered history with regard to the Benghazi video, it's almost a certainty that there now will be dual track congressional investigations -- of alleged Trump campaign interactions with Russia and Obama administration attempts to undermine the incoming administration. Seeking to quiet the storm, Rice appeared on Andrea Mitchell's MSNBC show. Mitchell would be viewed as a safe space for Rice in which Rice could explain away the issue.

An Al Sharpton guest has the early lead for today's most simultaneously inflammatory and nonsensical statement. Ras Baraka, mayor of Newark, NJ, said that in clamping down on sanctuary cities such as his, the Trump administration is "trying to intimidate us into being what I've called fugitive slave catchers." Not only is the image abhorrent, it is utterly illogical. By enforcing the immigration laws, the Trump admin is not seeking to force illegal immigrants into uncompensated labor. To the contrary, the goal is to deport them.

On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough argued that the MSM is failing to cover the story of the Obama admin "unmasking"and leaking the names of Trump campaign people caught up in the intercepts of Russians. According to Scarborough, 95% of the story is the attempt by the Russians to influence the election. But that still leaves the 5% that the MSM is ignoring because the people unmasked were disliked, and in the case of Michael Flynn, "loathed" by the media. In contrast, said Scarborough, the improper activity was "by people who, let's face it, most of the people in the media like and admire."

Joe Scarborough spent the first half-hour of today's Morning Joe blasting White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon for the failure of the health care bill. Excerpts:
  • "I will call Steve Bannon a hack. When you go in and threaten members, you're not only a hack, you're stupid at your game . . . Bannon failed miserably. He is the biggest loser."
  • "The stupidity of Steve Bannon knows no ends."
  • "He's an idiot when it comes to how Washington works."
  • "He blew this."

John Harwood is the CNBC journalist who advised Hillary's campaign on how to handle Ben Carson and later bragged to Hillary campaign chairman John Podesta about the rude questions he posed to Donald Trump during a debate. Harwood's attacks on Republican candidates as a moderator of a Republican primary debate were met with near universal mockery. Legal Insurrection's persistent exposure of Harwood eventually led Harwood to block Legal Insurrection on Twitter. Harwood resumed his routine on Joy Reid's MSNBC show this morning. Harwood claimed that Republicans are "radically opposed to government itself" and asserted that "governing is about taking action to solve people's problems."

Did the Trump White House use the House intel committee chairman to divert attention from the committee's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russians? That's what Joe Scarborough suggested on today's Morning Joe.  Scarborough said that his reporting suggests that the White House "shoved" committee chairman Devin Nunes in front of the cameras to reveal that communications of President Trump and associates may have been intercepted after the election by intelligence agencies conducting surveillance of foreign targets. Scarborough: "it just looked like, and sounded like from some reporting I did yesterday, that you had the White House desperate to do anything to change headlines this morning, because, again, from the reporting I did yesterday, talking to people in the White House, they were so desperate to change the narrative that it looks like they shoved him out with this information—just any information, anything—to change the headlines. And to blow up the investigation in the House. And it looks like that's exactly what they did."

As the rest of the Morning Joe panel remained in three-alarm, apocalyptic mode this morning, there was one lonely voice bringing some balance to the discussion. MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin said it was "completely improper" of FBI Director James Comey to have revealed the existence of an ongoing investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Rejecting Mika Brzezinski's suggestion that Comey was "compelled" to make the revelation, Halperin added that Comey "says the standard is, if the public is interested in something, I'll reveal an ongoing probe. I've never heard of this standard. I think it's a dangerous one to set."

Rachel Maddow's big SCOOP on Donald Trump's tax return turned into an embarrassing flop, with mockery coming at her from all directions, Rachel Maddow’s career committed suicide live on national TV tonight. Maddow did the unthinkable -- bringing together pro-Trump and anti-Trump together in horror at the horrendous clickbait. What was key was how Maddow herself build up the expectations with a pre-show tweet:

Looks like Rachel Maddow's feminist solidarity doesn't extend to Melania Trump . . . Appearing on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show this morning, did Maddow express outrage over a newspaper report on the possibility that Melania Trump had in the past worked as an "escort?" Not at all. To the contrary, Maddow described Melania's lawsuit against the newspaper involved as part of an "attack" and "assault" on the media. Maddow fretted that the media lacked the resources to "fight back."