MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid and Nicole Wallace said during a panel discussion Tuesday that critical race theory (CRT) was not real and said Republicans were “dangerous” as the results from Virginia’s election night came in.
While CRT and parental education rights were a primary campaigning factor in this Virginia gubernatorial election, several of the members on MSNBC said that CRT was a made-up issue.
“They’re building a campaign platform for conservative candidates to run on it everywhere. Even though it’s not actually taught anywhere. Even though it’s not a real thing,” Rachel Maddow said. (RELATED: Virginia Education Department Promotes Pro-CRT Book, Despite McAuliffe’s Claims The Curricula Isn’t Taught In The State)
“I don’t really know what the numbers mean. Folks I’m texting with from the campaign, at first, were a little bit down. They were not super enthusiastic in their texts, they were saying, well, the numbers look up, numbers look up, it’s close, it’s going to be close, it’s going to be close,” Reid said, discussing the results. “Then they got happier when they started seeing African-American areas, so it’s like back to, will the black voters sort of save the party? But the challenge here is on white voters.”
Joy Reid also said that “anything that makes a white parent uncomfortable is critical race theory,” arguing that Youngkin has turned not talking about America’s history into a campaign.
MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace also echoed Maddow’s assertion about critical race theory. “There is no critical race theory,” while arguing that Youngkin had laundered Trump’s “disgusting, flagrant out racism” in regard to his claim to ban CRT if elected.
“His campaign promise, and he was making this promise in Loudoun and in Alexandria, is on day one, I’m going to ban critical race theory,” Wallace began. “That is like us banning the ghosts. There are no ghosts. So we can say, you know what, 7:00 P.M., we’re banning the ghosts. There are no ghosts,” Wallace described before reiterating her stance on CRT, “There isn’t Critical Race Theory.”
Maddow discussed how some voters want things to “get more rational and less dangerous” in regard to caring about school board members not being threatened, saying “whether it’s about vaccines, whether it’s about masks, whether it’s about this made-up stuff about racial indoctrination.” Maddow said.
“The way it’s played out on the ground, including in Virginia, is by teachers, school administrators and school board members being put in the bull’s-eye and those threats against people who are public servants and who are trying to provide basic services to our kids and families.”
Joy Reid said Republicans are “dangerous” and that Democrats have to be willing to vocalize it. “That this isn’t a party that’s just another political party that disagrees with us on tax policy. That at this point, they’re dangerous,” said Reid. “They’re dangerous to our national security, because stoking that kind of soft white nationalism eventually leads to the hard-core stuff.”
Glenn Youngkin beat Terry McAuliffe Tuesday evening in the Virginia gubernatorial election.