Appearing as a panel member on Saturday's AM Joy on MSNBC, frequent guest Elie Mystal of AboveTheLaw.com went on a rant about Republican Congressman Mark Meadows, calling him a "racist," and declaring that "whites don't get a vote" in deciding who is "racist." For his part, MSNBC Republican Charlie Sykes laughed along approvingly and further complained that Republicans did not do more to combat the "cancer" of birther conspiracy theories.
At 11:07 a.m. Eastern, host Joy Reid preemptively suggested she would enjoy listening to Mystal -- known for making incendiary comments in his MSNBC appearances -- as the liberal analyst got his turn to react to the controversy over Congressman Meadows trying to defend President Donald Trump against accusations of racism.
JOY REID: I know you have a reaction, Elie. I feel in my heart that you might have a reaction.
ELIE MYSTAL: I know why members of Congress can't say this, because they have to work with the man, but I don't have to work with the man. Mark Meadows is so racist that he needs to be put on display at the African-American History Museum as an artifact, all right? I am so sick of Republicans thinking that the only racist people left in America are David Duke and Louis Farrakhan, all right?
White people don't get a vote! My people have been held in bondage and oppression in the New World for 400 years! My own counsel will I keep on who is to be called "racist," all right? So when these people -- when these white Republicans try to tell me, and "Bagger Vance" standing behind her -- when these people try to tell me who is racist and who is not racist, they need to understand that I do not care! What I care about is what their policies are and what their actions are. And Mark Meadows is a birther, so he can roll his behind out of here.
Host Reid then took the time to show clips of Congressman Meadows from several years ago joking about the possibility of President Barack Obama being born in Kenya, and then denying that he is racist, as she set up Sykes to give his analysis. She complained that Meadows "is willing to utilize birtherism for his own political advancement, and is willing to use the physical body of a black woman as a rebuttal against the idea that Donald Trump is racist."
The MSNBC host added: "This is like a problem a lot of people have with the Republican approach on race in general. What do you think?"
Sykes began by referring back to Mystal's rant with praise. "Note to self: Never follow Elie Mystal on something like this." The Never Trumper then proclaimed "this whole hearing was kind of a morality play in watching how people were setting themselves on fire to serve Trumpism." He then agreed that Mark Meadows is a birther, and "this has been, the sort of cancer the Republican Party failed to address, early on." It was Trump's "original sin."
