Washington Post columnist and MSNBC weekend host Jonathan Capehart joined MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports on Tuesday to discuss the Democrats' federalization of election law and to dismiss Mitch McConnell's concerns as "a load of hooey." He claimed Republicans in state legislatures are suppressing the vote because that's the only way they can win.
Mitchell led Capehart with developments from the Rules Committee where it deadlocked, 9 to 9: "What kind of setback is this for the leadership?"
Capehart avoided Mitchell's question about parliamentary procedure and instead launched an attack on Republicans:
It's a setback in the sense that a lot of people, particularly Democrats want S-1, the For the People Act, to get passed as a way of blunting the impact of all of those laws that are being proposed and adopted around the country. I’m thinking of Georgia and Florida and what's going on in Texas just to name a few. Democrats are hoping this bill gets passed and becomes law to blunt that impact.
And you know, to hear the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell talk about Democrats wanting to do a power grab and upending democracy and there is nothing wrong with our democracy is a load of hooey. I mean, our democracy is still on the brink as a result of what happening.
Capehart was responding to a clip of McConnell that Mitchell had just played where McConnell said that the fact that 2020 had the highest voter turnout in decades disproves Democratic fear-mongering about democracy being in peril.
Capehart proceeded to say he was wrong to have previously been been too nice to Republicans:
You know once I said on air these voter suppression laws are a solution in search of a problem, and a viewer sent me an e-mail and said I wish you guys in the media would stop saying that, because these laws, they are a solution to a problem that Republicans have, and that is turnout. That is the fact that people are actually out there voting and they’re not voting for Republicans.
That's an odd statement, since President Trump lost and still drew more votes than any other Republican nominee in history. It's also odd because Republicans gained 16 seats in the House of Representatives. But Capehart concluded by saying that Democratic concerns about voter suppression has motivated them to "keep pushing and pushing hard, to get S-1, the for the For The People Act on the senate floor for a vote."
In reality, McConnell is correct and it is Capehart and the Democrats are proposing solutions to problems that don't exist as there is no correlation between voter turnout and how "easy" or "restrictive" a state's voting laws are.
This segment was sponsored by Gillette.
Here is a transcript for the May 11 show:
MSNBC
Andrea Mitchell Reports
12:40 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: So Jonathan Capehart, the vote was hold and they tied 9-9 in the Rules Committee which means under their rules, it does not go to the floor as amended, that amendment dies in committee. They can bring it up on the floor if they have the votes. What kind of setback is this for the leadership?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: It's a setback in the sense that a lot of people, particularly Democrats want S-1, the For the People Act, to get passed as a way of blunting the impact of all of those laws that are being proposed and adopted around the country. I’m thinking of Georgia and Florida and what's going on in Texas just to name a few. Democrats are hoping this bill gets passed and becomes law to blunt that impact. And you know, to hear the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell talk about Democrats wanting to do a power grab and upending democracy and there is nothing wrong with our democracy is a load of hooey. I mean, our democracy is still on the brink as a result of what happening.You know once I said on air these voter suppression laws are a solution in search of a problem and a viewer sent me an e-mail and said I wish you guys in the media would stop saying that because these laws, they are a solution to a problem that Republicans have, and that is turnout. That is the fact that people are actually out there voting and they’re not voting for Republicans and so that is the mindset there that is animating what is happening in the Democratic Party, and the fact that amendment failed is a setback. I think Democrats will keep pushing and pushing hard, to get S-1, the for the For The People Act on the Senate floor for a vote.
