On Tuesday night’s episode of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, host Joy Reid took another shot at the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, after her previous meltdown on Monday night. Among her other guests, she invited MSNBC contributor Dean Obeidallah who warned about the apparent threat to democracy that the decision posed, as well as equated The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Before turning to the Muslim “comedian” Obeidallah, Reid facetiously listed a couple of the power abuses she expected from former President Donald Trump:
You know, it’s not Joe Biden who would set up shop on the White House lawn and start selling pardons for $400,000 a pop. Trump would, you know, and require, you know, alms to Donald Trump in order to get a pardon. He’d do all that stuff, you know, I mean, and maybe use SEAL Team 6, you know, to go and pick up the Biden family. Biden’s not gonna use SEAL Team 6 to go and assassinate Joe Biden even though apparently, according to John Roberts, he could.
Obeidallah declared that his callers were increasingly angry as a result of the decision, fussing that it signified Project 2025’s “prophecy come to life now, even before winning any kind of election,” and boasted his clever comparison of the Project to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. But Project 2025 was supposedly worse because of the page count: “Project 2025 is the GOP’s version of Mein Kampf. The difference is Mein Kampf is only 700 pages. Project 2025 is 900 pages…”
On top of that, he insisted it “wants to control all of our lives” and the Supreme Court “is the greatest law firm for Donald Trump in the world. It’s the law firm of Roberts, Alito, and Thomas and associates.” “They delivered a win for him on the January 6th case, maybe even the New York case, and the Fulton county case at the same time,” he whined.
Reid took her own swing to illustrate how much the terror of a second Trump presidency haunted her. For her, anything was better than Trump, so she paraded her bias under the guise of concern for democracy:
They could pick, you know, anybody they want. It doesn’t matter. All of those people believe in the rule of law. All of those people believe in democracy. The problem is Trump. It could be, you know–Biden could be, you know, Biden’s brain in a jar. I think a lot of people are like, “I’ll vote for that.” Because at least Biden’s brain in a jar still believes in the Constitution and doesn’t think that he’s the king of the United States. Donald Trump does think he’s king and would implement Project 2025 and would use these powers to their maximum detriment to the rest of the American people.
Obeidallah predicted a dark future for The ReidOut, stating that “if Trump wins, we’re doing this show in a camp somewhere. You know, that’s the reality of the world we live in right now.” He also cautioned Reid that she would become a primary target for MAGA Republicans before closing with what he believed to be the stakes of the election:
This election is not Trump versus Joe Biden. It is Trump versus democracy. It’s Trump versus freedom. It’s Trump versus self-determination. It’s Trump versus abortion. It’s Trump versus women’s health care. It’s Trump versus climate change. It’s Trump versus gun violence and saving lives from that. It’s Trump versus us having a right to decide our future or Donald Trump and his minions in Project 2025, they deciding it. That’s the stakes.
The transcript is below. Click “expand” to read:
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
7/2/2024
07:15:13 PM EST
JOY REID: Dean Obeidallah, and I–you can feel free to thre–throw your lawyer hat if you want to throw it on as well, but I am gonna take advantage of the fact that you talk to folks all day on your show on SiriusXM.
DEAN OBEIDALLAH: Sure.
REID: And, so, I am really curious to know if the regular folks are getting it, if they’re–if they’re picking up on it. Because, I mean, the reality is John Roberts and company did this knowing no Democratic president would use these powers in the way Donald Trump will. You know, it’s not Joe Biden who would set up shop on the White House lawn and start selling pardons for $400,000 a pop. Trump would, you know, um, and require, you know, alms to Donald Trump in order to get a pardon. He’d do all that stuff, um, you know, I mean, and maybe use SEAL Team 6, you know, to go and pick up the Biden family. Biden’s not gonna use SEAL Team 6 to go and assassinate Joe Biden even though apparently, according to John Roberts, he could. What are folks saying on your show in response to this?
OBEIDALLAH: Well, it’s a range of things, Joy. Uh, drone strike is one thing that comes up a lot. I think that’s in jest but people still say that, the idea of using the unlimited powers. The other–I’ll tell you this–I’ve never heard more anger or animation from my callers these two nights since the Supreme Court decision than before. People are angry. They’re not despondent. They are angry about this.
And you’ve got the situation where you’ve got–you made a great point. This is like Project 2025. The prophecy come to life now, even before winning any kind of election here. And the thing I tell listeners, Project 2025 is the GOP’s version of Mein Kampf. The difference is Mein Kampf is only 700 pages. Project 2025 is 900 pages, wants to control all of our lives. And this report is now putting that into effect through the bench. And we live in the United States of a Supreme Court that is the greatest law firm for Donald Trump in the world. It’s the law firm of Roberts, Alito, and Thomas and associates. They delivered a win for him on the January 6th case, maybe even the New York case, and the Fulton county case at the same time.
So, my listeners, Joy, they’re worked up, they’re animated, they want to go out and win. They don’t want to hear about Joe Biden dropping out. They want to hear about defeating Donald Trump. That’s all they want to hear.
REID: And to stay with you for a moment, Dean–because the issue right now is that the Democratic Party has to figure out what they’re gonna do with their de–with their nominee. But it doesn’t matter which person they pick. They could pick Shapiro in Pennsylvania, they could pick Vice President Harris, they could pick, you know, anybody they want. It doesn’t matter. All of those people believe in the rule of law. All of those people believe in democracy. The problem is Trump. It could be, you know–Biden could be, you know, uh, Biden’s brain in a jar. I think a lot of people are like, “I’ll vote for that.”
OBEIDALLAH: True.
REID: Because at least Biden’s brain in a jar still believes in the Constitution and doesn’t think that he’s the king of the United States. Donald Trump does think he’s king and would implement Project 2025 and would use these powers to their maximum detriment to the rest of the American people.
OBEIDALLAH: If Trump wins, we’re doing this show in a camp somewhere. You know, that’s the reality of the world we live in right now. You know, more you, Joy, than me–I’m like on the second tier of people, maybe the third tier of people they’re coming for–you’re way up there. Michael Steele, you’re gone.
REID: (Laughs).
MICHAEL STEELE: (Laughs).
OBEIDALLAH: So here–the reality is we–look, y–I–I don’t know what we’re going to tell people. This election is not Trump versus Joe Biden. It is Trump versus democracy. It’s Trump versus freedom. It’s Trump versus self-determination. It’s Trump versus abortion. It’s Trump versus women’s health care. It’s Trump versus climate change. It’s Trump versus gun violence and saving lives from that. It’s Trump versus us having a right to decide our future or Donald Trump and his minions in Project 2025, they deciding it. That’s the stakes.
REID: That’s the stakes.
(…)