Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Friday's The 11th Hour show, MSNBC host Brian Williams pushed the liberal trope that being against crime is somehow racist as he hyped an anti-Donald Trump ad that likens the President to former segregationist Alabama Democratic Governor George Wallace, using clips of both men calling for "law and order."
MSNBC contributor Jon Meacham conflated Wallace with former Republican President Richard Nixon as he lamented that the two men combined received about 55 percent of the popular vote in the 1968 presidential election, as if there were something wrong with the 43 percent who voted for Nixon.
Neither of these two liberal journalists bothered to mention that their preferred candidate from that year, Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey, also spoke out against violent crime and called for "law and order" in his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention.
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Nearing the end of his show, Williams recalled that President Trump has made a "decision to go deep on race" as he cited polling by ABC News and Ipsos finding that most Americans disapprove of the President on race relations.
Without accurately describing the Lincoln Project as a group of disaffected former Republicans who are anti-Trump, he introduced an ad recently released by the group:
An ad by the Republican group, the Lincoln Project, compared Donald Trump to former Alabama governor and veteran segregationist George Wallace back in the 1960s. Indeed, any look through the archives proves to you there are echoes, similarities between what we're hearing now and what we heard from Wallace back then.
The ad began by going back and forth between Wallace in 1968 and President Trump this year, calling for "law and order" and promising to support police and military actions if necessary to fight crime.
Williams then brought aboard Meacham and obnoxiously suggested that Americans who oppose crime think the pro-slavery Confederacy should have won the Civil War: "Jon, what demographic is the President chasing here? Are we suddenly producing, by percentage, more people who feel the wrong team won in the Civil War?"
Meacham went along with Williams's premise as he began his response:
I don't think there are more, and, in fact, I think it's shrinking ever more. It's remarkable, again, that it's taking us this long to be able to say that. But they are devoted, they are vocal, and they vote.
Meacham declared that Trump is "not an aberration in the broad sweep of American history," adding that he is "very much in the Wallace tradition," the liberal historian tried to link Trump supporters "white supremacist" movements of the past:
Go back to the Woodrow Wilson era -- the eugenics era of which TR (Teddy Roosevelt) was a student and an advocate. Go back to Reconstruction -- go back to the Civil War -- go back to the Antebellum Order where we made fundamental white supremacist decisions about how we're going to organize the republic.
Concluding his commentary, Meacham conflated Wallace with Republican Nixon, even though Nixon never supported segregation:
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MEACHAM: But remember, even if he is defeated, the forces that elected him -- and the forces that gave George Wallace whom you just showed -- Wallace got 13.5 percent of the popular vote in 1968 and carried five states on a segregationist platform 50 years ago. So 1968 ended -- a year of great chaos -- with Nixon plus Wallace, 55 percent of the country voted for Nixon or Wallace.
Not mentioned was that all three of the major presidential candidates from 1968 promised "law and order" -- not just Wallace and Nixon. From his August 29, 1968 acceptance speech, then-Vice President Humphrey pledged:
I put it very bluntly -- rioting, burning, sniping, mugging traffic in narcotics, and disregard for law are the advance guard of anarchy, and they must and they will be stopped.
But may I say most respectfully, particularly to some who have spoken before, the answer lies in reasoned, effective action by state, local and Federal authority. The answer does not lie in an attack on our courts, our laws or our Attorney General.
We do not want a police state, but we need a state of law and order, and neither mob violence nor policy brutality have any place in America.
And I pledge to use every resource that is available to the presidency, every resource that is available to the President, to end once and for all the fear that is in our cities.
This episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams was sponsored by Fidelity Investments, USAA insurance, and AT&T. Their contact information is linked.
Relevant transcripts follow:
11:49 p.m Eastern
BRIAN WILLIAMS: It doesn't happen by accident -- the President's decision to go deep on race as we head into this election is not sitting well with voters. A new ABC News/Ipsos poll shows a majority of Americans -- 67 percent -- do not approve of how he is handling race relations.
An ad by the Republican group, the Lincoln Project, compared Donald Trump to former Alabama governor and veteran segregationist George Wallace back in the 1960s. Indeed, any look through the archives proves to you there are echoes, similarities between what we're hearing now and what we heard from Wallace back then.
GEORGE WALLACE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (from the May 1968 The David Frost Show): The most important thing in our country is maintaining law and order.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP (appearing on NewsMax TV): Right now, I think the nation needs law and order.
WALLACE (from the July 21, 1968, Face the Nation on CBS): I would use the office of the presidency --
WALLACE (from Face the Nation): -- to restore order in the District of Columbia. If I had to call federal troops into this city --
PRESIDENT TRUMP (from a June 23 speech): When rioting and looting broke out in our nation's capital, I quickly deplored -- I came in and I deployed the National Guard very quickly.
WALLACE (from Face the Nation): -- and I would give my moral support to the police in the country.
PRESIDENT TRUMP (from a June 20 speech): I will always support the incredible men and women of law enforcement.
WALLACE (from Face the Nation): I don't regard myself as a racist, and I think the biggest racists in the world are those who call other folks racists.
PRESIDENT TRUMP (from an interview on C-SPAN): The word is so overused -- it's such a disgrace -- I can tell you, I'm the least racist person in the world.
WILLIAMS (live): Jon Meacham is our guest for this segment. Jon, what demographic is the President chasing here? Are we suddenly producing, by percentage, more people who feel the wrong team won in the Civil War?
JON MEACHAM, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think there are more, and, in fact, I think it's shrinking ever more. It's remarkable, again, that it's taking us this long to be able to say that. But they are devoted, they are vocal, and they vote.
(...)
MEACHAM: Donald Trump is not an aberration in the broad sweep of American history. He is the fullest manifestation of forces we have to do everything we can to make aberrant. He is very much in the Wallace tradition. Wallace was very much in the Strom Thurmond tradition. You can do the same thing with Strom Thurmond's 1948 states' rights campaign when he ran in that four-way race in 1948.
Go back to the Woodrow Wilson era -- the eugenics era of which TR was a student and an advocate. Go back to Reconstruction -- go back to the Civil War -- go back to the Antebellum Order where we made fundamental white supremacist decisions about how we're going to organize the republic.
(...)
MEACHAM: But remember, even if he is defeated, the forces that elected him -- and the forces that gave George Wallace whom you just showed -- Wallace got 13.5 percent of the popular vote in 1968 and carried five states on a segregationist platform 50 years ago.
So 1968 ended -- a year of great chaos -- with Nixon plus Wallace, 55 percent of the country voted for Nixon or Wallace. So if you believe deeply in redeeming the country for a time from Trump, you have to be devoted to this campaign, and you have to work perennially to understand what can truly make us not only great.
WILLIAMS: Democrats would be well-advised to listen to a historian, especially the one who has been our guest tonight, Jon Meacham. Jon, great to see you. Thank you as always.
(...)
From then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey's acceptance speech from the Democratic National Convention on August 29, 1968:
The simple solution of the frustrated and the frightened to our complex urban problems is to lash out against society. But we know -- and they must know -- that this is no answer.
Violence breeds more violence: disorder destroys, and only in order can we build. Riot makes for ruin; reason makes for solution.
So from the White House to the courthouse to the city hall, every official has the solemn responsibility of guaranteeing to every American -- black and white, rich and poor -- the right to personal security -- life.
Every American, black or white, rich or poor, has the right in this land of ours to a safe and decent neighborhood, and on this there can be no compromise.
I put it very bluntly -- rioting, burning, sniping, mugging traffic in narcotics, and disregard for law are the advance guard of anarchy, and they must and they will be stopped.
But may I say most respectfully, particularly to some who have spoken before, the answer lies in reasoned, effective action by state, local and Federal authority. The answer does not lie in an attack on our courts, our laws or our Attorney General.
We do not want a police state, but we need a state of law and order, and neither mob violence nor policy brutality have any place in America.
And I pledge to use every resource that is available to the presidency, every resource that is available to the President, to end once and for all the fear that is in our cities.
(...)