On Saturday night, MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin used his eponymous show to paint Republican efforts to roll back the liberal agenda on transgenders and gays as a new „McCarthyism“ with guests pushing a conspiracy theory that recent actions are an „experiment“ by Republicans to prepare to take rights away from a larger number of Americans later so they can stay in power.
The MSNBC host began with the tiresome historical comparison: „For about a decade in the late 1940’s and ’50s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy spread fear and paranoia about this country by persecuting those on the left that he deemed, ‚un-American.‘ Now, many of today’s Republicans are McCarthy’s ideological descendants. And one of their primary targets now appears to be the LGBTQ community.“
He continued: „In fact, just yesterday, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law removing gender identity as a protected class in that state. Now, trans and nonbinary Iowans are no longer shielded from discrimination in education, housing, employment, many other aspects of everyday life.“
After recalling moves by Republicans in Michigan and several other states to try to challenge the Obergell vs. Hodges decision and try to ban same-sex marriage, he concluded his introduction: „And with that foundation in place, Republicans have brought modern McCarthyism back into American life and placed a target squarely on the backs of those in the LGBTQ community.“
Mohyeldin brought on his liberal guests — Imara Jones of Translash Media and podcaster Francesca Fiorentini — for further discussion. Jones declared Republican actions are more akin to Jim Crow than McCarthyism:
[W]hat we saw during McCarthyism was a witchhunt based upon people’s supposed political beliefs and associations and I think what we’re seeing here is fundamental denial of people’s rights based upon who they are, which I think actually raises the level of concern here, right? Are we looking at something that has more in common with the worst of America’s past like Jim Crow, honestly, than McCarthyism?
Jones soon saw an ulterior motive by Republicans:
[S]o, I think what we’re looking at is an experimentation here on the part of the Republican Party and the administration for how you begin to remove people from public life an American if they’re going to hold power over time and all that’s happening is because trans people are such a small portion of the population, you know, less than one percent. It’s a great group of people from their perspective to see what you need to do in order to remove people from public life and to strip them of their rights, which is why this is not going to stop only with trans people. We now see it moving to gay people, and it’s going to move to ever larger groups of Americans
After Mohyeldin played a clip of State Rep. Josh Shriver (R-MI) announcing his push for a gay marriage ban in Michigan, he went to Fiorentini for the sarcastic retort: „[I]t’s weird that he’s a white guy. Weird. Weird one.“
She also voiced agreement with Jones’s conspiracy theory Republicans have an ulterior motive in their policies toward transgenders, leading to Mohyeldin to voice agreement, after which she added Republicans want to trap women in abusive marriages (click „expand“):
FIORENTINI: Well, I mean, there’s no question and answer during the Yale debate club. So, like, why should he have to answer any questions now? You know, it’s weird that he’s a white guy. Weird. Weird one. I think Imara is absolutely right. Let’s just underscore what she said, right? This is a trial balloon — it always has been. We are in the top line of, „First they came for the,“ trans Americans.
MOHYELDIN: Right.
FIORENTINI: Right? And if we don’t stop it there, it festers. We know they’re also going after no-fault divorce. They want to trap women whether it’s by rescinding their rights to their own bodies, when and how they can have a child if they can be safe in so doing and then now trapping them into abusive marriages. I mean, they’re trying to roll back the clock.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC’s AymanMarch 1, 20258:32 p.m. Eastern
AYMAN MOHYELDIN: For about a decade in the late 1940’s and ’50s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy spread fear and paranoia about this country by persecuting those on the left that he deemed „un-American.“ Now, many of today’s Republicans are McCarthy’s ideological descendants and one of their primary targets now appears to be the LGBTQ community. In fact, just yesterday, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law removing gender identity as a protected class in that state. Now, trans and nonbinary Iowans are no longer shielded from discrimination in education, housing, employment, many other aspects of everyday life. But Iowa is not alone. In fact, lawmakers in at least nine states have instructed measures — or, rather, introduced measures — instructing the government to chip away some of the rights of same-sex couples‘ right to marry. More than half of them, including the one in Michigan, have urged the Supreme Court to overturn the Obergefell vs. Hodges decision — the one they passed in 2015 that granted same-sex couples nationwide the right to marry. The Michigan resolution was introduced by State Representative Josh Shriver. It argues that the Obergefell ruling is, „at odds with the sanctity of marriage, the Michigan constitution, and principles upon which this country was established.“ Similar measures have now been introduced in Montana, Idaho. and the Dakotas. The ones in North Dakota and Idaho already passed state houses dominated by Republicans. And, of course, this is not at all surprising. Justice Clarence Thomas argued in 2022, after all, that the court should reconsider the same-sex marriage ruling. And with that foundation in place, Republicans have brought modern McCarthyism back into American life and placed a target squarely on the backs of those in the LGBTQ community. My panel is back with me now. Imara, your thoughts on this? Republicans — they’re not even pretending to hide their desire to overturn Obergefell anymore. When you see these lawmakers in nine states try to undermine it, it’s clear they’re trying to do. They got the green light — they got the signal. We’ve seen this playbook before. A Supreme Court justice kind of signals out there, „Hey, you know, you can change this through lawfare,“ somebody goes out, starts to bring case after case after case through the pipeline of the judiciary with the hopes that one of them gets to this specific Supreme Court. And, as we saw with Roe vs. Wade being overturned, we see Obergefell and Hodges overturned.
IMARA JONES, TRANSLASH MEDIA: Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, what we saw during McCarthyism was a witchhunt based upon people’s supposed political beliefs and associations and I think what we’re seeing here is fundamental denial of people’s rights based upon who they are, which I think actually raises the level of concern here, right? Are we looking at something that has more in common with the worst of America’s past like Jim Crow, honestly, than McCarthyism? Because what we are seeing in Iowa, for example, is the removal of trans people from civil rights protections that the state granted, you know, just a little over a decade ago, for example, and the rolling back of rights through a Supreme Court ruling and through a series of state laws, for example, that people have gained, so I think what we’re looking at is an experimentation here on the part of the Republican Party and the administration for how you begin to remove people from public life an American if they’re going to hold power over time and all that’s happening is because trans people are such a small portion of the population, you know, less than one percent. It’s a great group of people from their perspective to see what you need to do in order to remove people from public life and to strip them of their rights, which is why this is not going to stop only with trans people. We now see it moving to gay people, and it’s going to move to ever larger groups of Americans, and they’re doing it in plain view and largely getting away with it, which only emboldens people who wish to enact the worst. So I think that everybody needs to be deeply concerned about what’s happening
MOYHELDIN: Francesca, I want to talk about this. Michigan state Republican Josh Schriver, who hashed out his proposal to condemn same sex marriage. You know, he held a press conference to discuss his bill. You know, one that he, I assume is proud of and thinks is better for Americans. And yet he wasn’t brave enough to actually take any questions and bailed after a few minutes. If you’re going to go after people’s rights, why not have the courage, the moral courage to actually answer questions about it? Why run away?
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI, AMERICA UNHINGED PODCAST: Well, I mean, there’s no question and answer during the Yale debate club. So, like, why should he have to answer any questions now? You know, it’s weird that he’s a white guy. Weird. Weird one. I think Imara is absolutely right. Let’s just underscore what she said, right? This is a trial balloon — it always has been. We are in the top line of, „First they came for the,“ trans Americans.
MOHYELDIN: Right.
FIORENTINI: Right? And if we don’t stop it there, it festers. We know they’re also going after no-fault divorce. They want to trap women whether it’s by rescinding their rights to their own bodies, when and how they can have a child if they can be safe in so doing and then now trapping them into abusive marriages. I mean, they’re trying to roll back the clock.
