Judy: Even on this holiday it is
still primary election eve in
several states and midterm
election politics never stop.
Republican campaigns are ramping
up their rhetoric to appeal to
base voters.
Lisa Desjardins breaks down the
battle for GOP messaging.
Lisa: A familiar fight, what
they value in November to regain
control of congress.
That is playing out in campaign
rallies.
To discuss the political stakes
I am joined by Amy Walter of the
Koch report and Tamra from NPR.
Two things happened this weekend
it I want to play two pieces of
sound, which deal with threats
of violence.
First we will hear from Adam
Kinzinger talk about new threats
to his family and then we will
hear from senator geithner's
with a new ad directed at
Republicans.
>> This threat was mailed to my
house.
We got it a couple days ago and
it threatens to execute me, my
wife and my five-month-old
child.
There is violence in the future.
Until we get a grip on telling
people the truth, we can't
expect different.
♪♪
>> Join the Maga crew.
Get a rhino hunting permit.
There is no limits and it does
not expire.
Lisa: We edited those clips
together, but we saw a thread in
those.
Is this another dangerous
inflection point in our
political rhetoric?
Is it more of the same?
Amy: It feels like we have hit
an inflection point.
We are hearing this week about
threats made to election
officials.
We have been hearing in the
weeks and months after the 2020
election stories from election
officials, high-level officials.
Folks who are at the most basic
county level offices, often
nonpartisan, who found
themselves targeted by many of
these same sorts of threats of
violence.
One thing I will say about
Missouri, the fact he is running
at all is quite remarkable.
He was forced to resign from
office in 2018 as governor after
he was accused by the woman he
was having an affair with of
being aggressive and assaulting
her.
Most recently, his ex-wife,
during -- they are in divorce
proceedings now, this is one
with a history already of being
accused of violence who decides
I will run for the senate and
keeps playing this violent
rhetoric and is leaning into
this violent rhetoric.
The unfortunate this sort of
stuff, going over the top and
extreme outrageous, it drives
cliques, raises money, gets
attention.
Until voters say that is not ok,
that is not what we do,
those outreaches will still
continue to reap benefits.
They seem more of a reward than
a risk.
Lisa: He is a contender.
Amy: He is leading in the
polling now.
Tamra: Facebook has taken that
ad down, Twitter put a warning
on it, yet it is blowing up all
over the areas -- airwaves.
You talk about his outrageous ad
talking about rhino hunting,
you're not talking about
credible allegations against him
and you put him in a position of
fighting against disloyal
Republicans and fighting against
the media who are out
criticizing him.
It works well for someone in a
crowded primary field trying to
consolidate the primary.
The language around Adam
Kinzinger and the threat against
him, the use of the term
execution, this is a theme that
comes up a lot.
There is a glorification of
violence.
In particular, a hunger for
executions in the mythology of
the qanon culture.
You see this language again and
again.
There is almost a mainstreaming
of extreme ideas and language
and those two clips today bridge
that.
Amy: We had to discuss, do we
want to play that full add?
A lot of times we don't want to
give oxygen to that, but it is
happening right now.
Also over the weekend, the Texas
Republican party mets at their
convention.
I want to show things they
agreed to in one resolution, a
resolution that rejected the
certified results of 2020 and
called president Biden the
acting president, not the real
president.
You talk so much about the power
of, why there is not more
courage standing up against him
for Republicans we know to
oppose him.
What is it going to take?
When will it compel Republicans
to be more public about this
problem?
>> At the same convention they
went after senator John Cornyn,
who is working on a bipartisan
bill on guns would and Dan
crenshaw, a congressman widely
regarded as a rising star within
the Republican ranks.
Those two are more likely to
have a future in congress and in
setting policy in congress than
the folks sitting at the
convention this weekend in
Texas.
The parties themselves have
become so hollowed out.
This is part of the challenge we
are having overall.
They have become so hollowed out
that a credible candidate can
take that party, or you can of
those who are not particularly
credible who do not have the
interests of the party in mind
to take that party over.
They have become less relevant
than ever, even though they get
a lot of attention.
>> In theory, estate policy
should protect and promote
incumbents and serve the better
interests of the party.
But, state parties have become
the outpost of the extreme where
they are censuring members who
have done normal main string --
mainstream things.
They pass resolutions that are
untethered from what the
mainstream of the party would
consider.
They are far from the center of
gravity of their party.
That said, there are a lot of
people whose views are reflected
in those resolutions.
>> One person who advocated for
civil talk was the great mark
shields.
He sat in these very seats we
are in right now.
We are heartbroken at his loss.
Amy, I wanted to ask you to talk
about your memories.
Amy: We did a number of
elections and convention nights.
Everybody who watched him on the
show Newhouse smart he was and
how incredibly gracious he was.
The mark of a really good human,
is somebody who treats people
who are not as big or important
or famous as they are with
respect and reverence.
If you walked into this building
and watched how he treated every
single person, from desk
assistants to interns, you would
know what a good person this
was.
Judy: He enjoyed conversation
with every person and could
bring out the best in everyone.
>> He was a good reporter, too.
>> He saw the good in politics
and in people.
>> We do not pick favorites in
politics or sports teams, but I
have to make my own tribute to
the great mark shields.
>> Our mutual favorite.
>> Thank you both.
Judy: Thank you, Lisa.
We love that Boston red sox cap.
We will have full live coverage
of the January 6 hearings
tomorrow where the focus is
expected to be on the pressure
former president trump but on
state election officials to
change election results.
That starts at 1:00 P.M. Eastern
on pbs.