MSNBC's Jen Psaki torches GOP ‘hair on fire’ hypocrisy with brutal supercut
MSNBC primetime anchor Jen Psaki shredded Republicans on her show Thursday night, hurling their own statements back at them from a decade ago when they "fanned the flames" of right-wing conspiracy theorists who believed the military was going to complete a hostile takeover of Texas.
Psaki opened her show, "The Briefing," recounting a "wild and crazy" conspiracy theory from 2015 that then-President Barack Obama and Democrats were plotting to declare martial law. The theory came from the U.S. military's eight-week training exercise called "Jade Helm," which took place in Texas, New Mexico, California, and other southwestern states.
"But because Barack Obama was president, conspiracy theorists seized on the fact that the military was going to be in Texas doing these exercises as proof that a hostile takeover was planned," noted Psaki.
Rather than extinguish the flames of right-wing conspiracy fears, Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), poured gasoline on the fire.
"Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said he understood the reason for concern because, quote: 'the federal government has not demonstrated itself to be trustworthy in this administration.' He was, of course, talking about the Obama administration," said Psaki.
She noted that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) even ordered the State Guard to monitor the exercise, using tax dollars to send troops to watch.
"That is how 'hair on fire' Republicans were just a decade ago about the unfounded, very remote, not-even-real possibility that the president of the United States might be calling the military into American cities," Psaki railed.
Fast forward to this week, when President Donald Trump sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. Those same Republicans have sung a different tune.
Cruz said Trump is "showing bold and strong leadership."
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), meanwhile, added, "We're going to support this. We're going to support doing this in other cities. If it works out in Washington, D.C., I think this is an experiment that's probably needed in a lot of the Democrat-run cities in America."
The two-faced responses left Psaki stunned.
"Do they even have a belief system? I ask myself often. Republicans aren't just okay with Trump using the military these days to take over the nation's capital. A city, by the way, where they all spend a fair amount of time as members of Congress, of course. They want this experiment repeated in cities run by Democrats all over the country. That's the goal."