Donald Trump going up against Joe Biden is not the only thing familiar about the 2024 presidential election. There is also MSNBC’s Joy Reid spreading voter suppression conspiracy theories. On the Tuesday installment of The ReidOut, the eponymous host welcomed Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock to accuse officials in his state of suppressing the vote, the lack of evidence notwithstanding.
After Warnock referenced his own election and the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, Reid claimed that “All of that happened despite your state being in some ways a marquee for voter suppression.”
She further claimed, “Your governor, Brian Kemp, who when he was secretary of State almost arithmetically attempted to remove voters from the polls and then very ceremoniously signed a voter suppression law under a portrait of a plantation, and yet, you have had your state had very high voter registration.”
Reid probably meant voter rolls, because Kemp has not physically removed people from polling places. Reid offered up no evidence that routine voter roll maintenance was in any way sinister, instead asking, “What do you make of the state of voting rights at this point, Senator? Because there is a John Lewis Voting Rights Act that does exist, that I understand is potentially going to be reintroduced in the Senate. What’s the state of voting rights in your state and nationally?”
For his part, Warnock was happy to play along “After I won, after Jon Ossoff won, the state of Georgia actually doubled down on its voter suppression tactics and the question we have to ask ourselves is why and also how? We know why. They looked at the power of us standing together. The movement of a multiracial democracy emerging in our country, the future of our country, and they went after it as one court has said in another hearing with surgical precision. That’s what S.B. 202 was about, it’s about voter suppression and making it difficult for us to do what we did.”
Later in the interview, Reid switched topics:
We know that one of the ways that Donald Trump and Republicans are hoping to demagogue their way back into, you know, control of the White House and to hold on to control of the Senate, I mean, control of the House, and gain control of the Senate is the immigration issue. And they have been truly demagoguing an issue of a Georgia young woman who was killed, a Georgia young nursing student named Laken Riley. They’ve now passed a law called the Laken Riley Act, all Republican members and 37 Democrats voted in the House to support the bill.
In something never said on The ReidOut during a gun control segment, she added, “The legislation requires the detention of any migrant who’s accused of burglary or theft. My understanding is that burglary and theft are already illegal. What does this law add to the current existing law? Is it just a messaging bill? Does it do anything or change anything? I will note for our audience that overall crime is down this year across this country. And migrant crime is negligible. Crime by migrants is negligible. What does this law do? Does it do anything?”
Warnock responded by accusing Republicans of using “smoke and mirrors” to pretend that they are doing something on the border after killing the Senate’s border-foreign aid bill.
Here is a transcript for the March 12 show:
MSNBC The ReidOut
3/12/2024
7:11 PM ET
JOY REID: All of that happened despite your state being in some ways a marquee for voter suppression. Your governor, Brian Kemp, who when he was secretary of State almost arithmetically attempted to remove voters from the polls and then very ceremoniously signed a voter suppression law under a portrait of a plantation, and yet, you have had your state had very high voter registration.
What do you make of the state of voting rights at this point, Senator? Because there is a John Lewis Voting Rights Act that does exist, that I understand is potentially going to be reintroduced in the Senate. What’s the state of voting rights in your state and nationally?
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Well, I introduced, or reintroduced, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act just a few days ago. I testified regarding it in the Senate Judiciary Hearing earlier today. After I won, after Jon Ossoff won, the state of Georgia actually doubled down on its voter suppression tactics and the question we have to ask ourselves is why and also how? We know why. They looked at the power of us standing together. The movement of a multiracial democracy emerging in our country, the future of our country, and they went after it as one court has said in another hearing with surgical precision. That’s what S.B. 202 was about, it’s about voter suppression and making it difficult for us to do what we did.
…
REID: Let me ask you another question, because we know that one of the ways that Donald Trump and Republicans are hoping to demagogue their way back into, you know, control of the White House and to hold on to control of the Senate, I mean, control of the House, and gain control of the Senate is the immigration issue. And they have been truly demagoguing an issue of a Georgia young woman who was killed, a Georgia young nursing student named Laken Riley. They’ve now passed a law called the Laken Riley Act, all Republican members and 37 Democrats voted in the House to support the bill.
The legislation requires the detention of any migrant who’s accused of burglary or theft. My understanding is that burglary and theft are already illegal. What does this law add to the current existing law? Is it just a messaging bill? Does it do anything or change anything? I will note for our audience that overall crime is down this year across this country. And migrant crime is negligible. Crime by migrants is negligible. What does this law do? Does it do anything?
WARNOCK: Let me first of all just say that my heart goes out to this young woman’s family, Laken Riley did not deserve what happened to her. To answer your question succinctly, this is smoke and mirrors by people who are not serious. We had a bipartisan piece of legislation in front of us. It had a lot of provisions, some provisions that some folks on my side didn’t like, but the only way to get comprehensive immigration reform, the only way to address the current crisis on the border in divided government is on a bipartisan basis. And so rather than demagoguing this tragic death by this young woman, they ought to get serious. And let’s pass some bipartisan legislation and deal with the crisis at the border.
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