PoliticsNation host Al Sharpton joined his MSNBC colleague Alex Witt on her Saturday show to offer his thoughts on President Biden’s recent speech and his recent meeting with Biden. For Sharpton, the country is in the worst position it has been in since the Civil War because he falsely believes states are doing things like eliminating early voting.
Witt put the ball on the tee for Sharpton when she asked, “let’s start with the president's speech in Philadelphia on Thursday where he gave his strongest condemnation yet of the threats to democracy that are posed by the former President Trump, MAGA Republicans, we’ll call ‘em. Will this speech help define the Biden presidency? Do you think it was that effective?”
Sharpton claimed that it was and appeared to equate the January 6 rioters with election laws he doesn’t like, “he was able to do is cast the whole question of where we are in the middle of his presidency in terms of at least the first term in a broader context that we’re fighting against those that want to decide elections based on mob rule, change electors, change the voting procedures around the country and I think that using the bully pulpit of the presidency to define to America was at stake here was very important.”
It got much worse from there, “I’ve not seen, in American history, our country, at this point since the Civil War where we had the Union against the Confederates and now we’re dealing with people all over the country who are taking secretary of state spots and deciding per state, going back to states’ rights how they're gonna have election laws.”
Not only did Sharpton find the very idea of federalism and not only did he omit that states have been running elections since the country was founded—Civil Rights-era legislation didn’t change that—he painted a false picture of what these allegedly backward-looking states are doing, “Look at what they’re doing in various states like Georgia, like North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida where they’re stopping things like drop boxes to vote, and early voting, and Souls to the Polls which In many ways, that directly goes against the turnout that has been rising higher and higher in those states of black voters.”
Neither Georgia nor North Carolina nor South Carolina nor Florida have stopped early voting. Georgia and Florida also have drop boxes, and while it is true that both Carolinas do not, it is a great leap of logic to compare that to the Confederacy.
This segment was sponsored by Golden Corral.
Here is a transcript for the September 3 show:
MSNBC Alex Witt Reports
9/3/2022
1:37 PM ET
ALEX WITT: Rev., welcome my friend, so let’s start with the president's speech in Philadelphia on Thursday where he gave his strongest condemnation yet of the threats to democracy that are posed by the former President Trump, MAGA Republicans, we’ll call ‘em. Will this speech help define the Biden presidency? Do you think it was that effective?
AL SHARPTON: I think it was very effective. I think that what he was able to do is cast the whole question of where we are in the middle of his presidency in terms of at least the first term in a broader context that we’re fighting against those that want to decide elections based on mob rule, change electors, change the voting procedures around the country and I think that using the bully pulpit of the presidency to define to America was at stake here was very important.
I’ve not seen, in American history, our country, at this point since the Civil War where we had the Union against the Confederates and now we’re dealing with people all over the country who are taking secretary of state spots and deciding per state, going back to states’ rights how they're gonna have election laws. One of the reasons that we wanted to meet and emphasize to him is that democracy is always been defined differently for blacks anyway and we suffer more. Look at what they’re doing in various states like Georgia, like North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida where they’re stopping things like drop boxes to vote, and early voting, and Souls to the Polls which In many ways, that directly goes against the turnout that has been rising higher and higher in those states of black voters.
