The entire ThisWeek panel slammed former Governor Chris Christie for creating a false equivalence between insurrection and protests.
Is Christie so devoid of morals?
Republican leadership has been trying to use President Biden’s “unity” message to stop Donald Trump’s prosecution for inciting the insurrection. Matthew Dowd had the relevant answer.
“I mean, other countries have gone through this before, Germany, Japan, South Africa,” said Matthew Dowd. “And the thing before you get to — before you get to reconciliation and healing, you have to have some element of truth and accountability-ness. … We have to have an insight into the truth before we get to reconciliation and healing.”
Rahm Emanuel pointed out that when an insurrection comprises people running around the capital with Confederate flags and racist clothes, there is no statute of limitation.
“If you have a wound in the body politic,” Emanuel said. “It must be disinfected to be cleaned.”
Christie responded that he agreed with all that Emanuel said but that it was incumbent on President Biden to treat the protests on the left equally. That was enough to ensure that every panelist responded to the false equivalence.
“What I would say here, first of all, the president has spoken that there’s no place for violence,” Emanuel responded passionately. “But what I will reject is the idea that somehow what happened in Portland is morally equivalent to a Confederate flag, and 6 million is not enough. One is defending the constitution and the country. And the organizing principles and values of this country, and also prosecuting people who committed property crimes. And if you draw moral equivalence, you’re morally loss.”
“What I’m looking forward in the Biden administration, the cessation of the what-aboutism that we had we were so addicted to in the Trump era,” Margaret Hoover said. “Well, if they’re doing this, what about this? You know what? Let’s not do what-abouts. Let’s separate them. There was an insurrection on the Capitol that the president of the United States actually encouraged and pointed his supporters to. We can deal with that in its own vessel and then separately deal with other acts of violence. They are separate. There is no what about-ism here. And we can do that. We can do all of it.”
“It is incredibly frustrating to listen to so many Republicans talk about, why isn’t Biden talking about this,” Matthew Dowd said. “I mean why isn’t Biden, and we need unity, and we need healing, and we need fiscal level of responsibility. I mean it is the triple crown, American Pharaoh level of hypocrisy and dishonesty after what we’ve witnessed the last four years in division, in polarization, and no condemning of white supremacists and white nationalists throughout many Republicans who enabled this. So just give me a break about calling Joe Biden out for any of this right now because of what happened over the last four years.”
We cannot allow the false equivalence. Emanuel got it correct. Anyone doing that is at a moral loss.