Joy Reid is prone to making some particularly outlandish points, whether they come from her or she allows her guests on her MSNBC show, "The ReidOut," to take certain positions which go unchecked. On Wednesday, Kurt Bardella, a former senior advisor of the Lincoln Project, appeared on the show where he said "Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, the people who wanted to do harm to our nation and to our way of life and democracy, they got nothing on what this Republican Party is doing."
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn reported on the segment, as did NewsBusters' Curtis Houck, complete with clips and a transcripts.
That such newsworthy comments would be reported on struck something of a nerve with Bardella, who called Fox News and "their apparently very sensitive viewers" out as he tweeted out a clip of the segment on Thursday morning.
The @thereidout @JoyAnnReid segment that "triggered" Fox News and their apparently very sensitive viewers:
— Kurt Bardella (@kurtbardella) May 6, 2021
“Al Qaeda, bin Laden, the Taliban, the people who wanted to do harm to our nation and to our way of life & our democracy, they got nothing on what the #GQP is doing..." pic.twitter.com/4qGHfNBwat
Reid, Bardella, and former CNN political commentator Angela Rye were discussing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and the fate of her leadership role when it comes to chairing the House Republican Conference. Unsurprisingly, so many other mainstream media outlets and Democrats--including President Biden--also couldn't help themselves when it comes to weighing in a matter of Republican leadership which will affect House Republicans, but this may be the most worrisome example.
"But in all seriousness, such rhetoric could only lead to dangerous and even violent ends when such a large network has people who poison their viewers with the notion that their coworkers, family members, and the people they attend religious services with have done more to hurt the country than actual, murderous terror groups," Houck wrote.
Here's the full context of Bardella's remarks, with added emphasis:
Reid: Is it — is it, Kurt, in your mind that we’re going to have the part of the party that is more neocon — more about — they're pro democracy but also pro-invading Iraq — right — and sort of militarism — that little wing of the party? The neocons will be one party and the rest will just be the Trump people?
Bardella: You know, Joy, I think what is really concerning here, and we'll see this come down to a very, I think, public vote very soon about Liz Cheney is the majority of people in this party, and their elected leadership is siding with the anti-democratic forces within the Republican Party. It's not that it’s just a segment of the party. It’s now becoming the entire party. I don't think there are enough of people who are willing to stand up to this iteration of the Republican Party to build another party at this point. I mean, for all the conversation about Liz Cheney or — or Mitt Romney or Adam Kinzinger, they're the outliers. And it’s really — it’s really something hearing those comments from George W. Bush. I've been thinking to myself this whole time, you know, Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, the people who wanted to do harm to our nation and to our way of life and democracy, they got nothing on what this Republican Party is doing. The idea that a member of their party, of their leadership whose last name is Cheney, could be purged from their leadership for telling the truth about January 6th, for telling the truth about a violent insurrection that claimed the lives of — of — among — a Capitol police officer — the fact that they, people like Cheney won't support the great lie that this election was rigged, or there was voter fraud, the anti-democratic forces are hijacking this party, purging one of — one of the members who won't — who won’t abide by the party line. That is so detrimental and dangerous. We are a two-party system in this country. That's how it was built for better or worse. When one of the two parties becomes this radicalized and the core of the party's ideology is anti-democratic, that's a very dangerous development going on that’s result in more violence, that’s going to result in more attempts to overthrow our government, that’s going to result in people losing lives, just like January 6th.
Fox News and NewsBusters have covered Bardella before for similarly disturbing comments.