MSNBC: March Participants ‘Aren’t Protestors,’ Haven’t ‘Lost Their Voice’ After Trump Victory

January 21st, 2017 5:12 PM

Amidst MSNBC’s day-long propaganda effort on Saturday for the Women’s March on Washington, correspondent Stephanie Gosk fawned over how the far-left participants “aren’t protesters” because “[t]hey’ve never protested before” and came “from all over the country, a lot of them with their children, with their daughters.”

Gosk was speaking to co-host Joy Reid and Thomas Roberts about crowd control due to the hundreds of thousands on hand when she raved about the “enormous crowd and a very emotional one.”

“The people that they talked to, most of the people that I talked to, they aren't protesters. They've never protested before. They've come from all over the country, a lot of them with their children, with their daughters. They have a lot of different positions on a lot of different issues,” Gosk added. 

Yes, you read that correctly. The far-left, pro-abortion rally that kicked out pro-life groups welcomed “a lot of different positions on a lot of different issues.”

However, Gosk offered an ounce of reality in not parroting her own network’s talking points from earlier

[B]ut this is not surprisingly, a very liberal crowd of women and you know, you've been talking about it today that the theme here has been unity. Everyone who's gotten up has said something about unity, but honestly, from my perspective, what this puts a point on is how divided this country really is. 

A few minutes earlier, Roberts claimed that the rebooting of WhiteHouse.gov with President Trump’s swearing-in and the removal of positions of LGBT people galvanized more protestors:

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You know, this is also probably also another thing to remind people about, the fact that WhiteHouse.gov, they took down references to LGBT rights, climate change, health care reform and so, folks are speculating about what that means over the next four years. They need to plug in certain information.....But I think that a lot of people learning of that news and those changes that happened with WhiteHouse.gov might have been inspired to participate within the last 24 hours, to hustle over to D.C. or to go to the city of their choice, where sister marches and rallies are taking place, to be a part of this[.]

Roberts also played the role of faithful liberal cheerleader, pumping up any liberal within the sound of his voice by explaining the left “might have lost, you know, in terms of who they wanted to see take the White House, but it doesn't mean that they've lost their voice and they have to figure out how to use out moving forward in an organized fashion.”

Always willing to do anything for the Democratic Party, Reid had a few words of her own. Ignoring the fact that Trump is the first President to have expressed support for gay marriage before taking the Oath of Office, Reid implored viewers to believe that Trump’s firmly anti-LGBT: 

And by the way, on the issue of LGBT rights, the Trump administration apparently expended a lot of energy to get Caitlyn Jenner to come to one of these balls or someone in the Trump camp did. So, you know, they're definitely looking to have the optics of being pro-LGBT rights, but you know, would it have been that much more work to put something up on whitehouse.gov that makes their position on that and on women's rights clear? One wonders. 

Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s coverage of the Women’s March on January 21:

MSNBC Live
January 21, 2017
2:35 p.m. Eastern

THOMAS ROBERTS: You know, this is also probably also another thing to remind people about, the fact that whitehouse.gov, they took down references to LGBT rights, climate change, health care reform and so, folks are speculating about what that means over the next four years. They need to plug in certain information. Certain information they were able to plug in right away, but we have to give them a chance, obviously, to have the time they need, as we know that there are many jobs, not just cabinet posts that aren't filled, but many jobs within this administration that they have not been able to find the right people for or to even get held over from the Obama administration. But I think that a lot of people learning of that news and those changes that happened with whitehouse.gov might have been inspired to participate within the last 24 hours, to hustle over to D.C. or to go to the city of their choice, where sister marches and rallies are taking place, to be a part of this and as Emily was also pointing out there, talking about the positivity. You know, she gets it. You know, they might have lost, you know, in terms of who they wanted to see take the White House, but it doesn't mean that they've lost their voice and they have to figure out how to use out moving forward in an organized fashion. You know, she's probably going to be hot for a lot of people's campaigns coming up in two years, for her organization's skills, to run a congressional campaign for somebody. 

JOY REID: Well I hope and that is the question of whether or not this passion gets translated into politics. This was obviously a huge galvanizing surge of energy among mostly women, but this same surgery of energy wasn't there to elect a woman president and I think what sort of shook a lot of women — particularly young woman — was the idea that you can't really organize and galvanize women in a sort of national way around the idea of having a woman be commander in chief. And by the way, on the issue of LGBT rights, the Trump administration apparently expended a lot of energy to get Caitlyn Jenner to come to one of these balls or someone in the Trump camp did. So, you know, they're definitely looking to have the optics of being pro-LGBT rights, but you know, would it have been that much more work to put something up on whitehouse.gov that makes their position on that and on women's rights clear? One wonders. 

ROBERTS: We know that the response has been most of that material has been archived, moved over to under the Obama administration, but it doesn't mean that those laws and rights don't exist this very moment more Americans under a Trump administration. Our Stephanie Gosk is here in Washington, D.C. and we're witnessing or at least hearing from our perch up here by the Capitol, Stephanie, the noise and activity. Talk to us about the feeling from the people you have met with on the ground, who have heard the different speeches. Is there any disappointment that folks, that there were just too many of them and they weren't able to move toward the White House? 

STEPHANIE GOSK: You know, what? Actually, Thomas, a lot of people are just sort of going anyway. What you're seeing behind me right now is movement and for the last four hours, you haven't been able to budge in this area. It's literally been shoulder to shoulder and yet that announcement came that a D.C. official said that the formal march itself couldn't take place because of the numbers, and someone came on the loudspeaker and said, actually, it can. Turn around, go down the street, head to the Washington Monument and so everyone did that. Now it's hard to tell right now how much control the police have on this crowd. To be honest, I can't see any law enforcement at all around here. This is an enormous crowd and a very emotional one. The people that they talked to, most of the people that I talked to, they aren't protesters. They've never protested before. They've come from all over the country, a lot of them with their children, with their daughters. They have a lot of different positions on a lot of different issues, but this is not surprisingly, a very liberal crowd of women and you know, you've been talking about it today that the theme here has been unity. Everyone who's gotten up has said something about unity, but honestly, from my perspective, what this puts a point on is how divided this country really is.