'Ignorant of basic civics': MSNBC's Ari Melber slams GOP's key anti-Harris talking point
Trump loyalists going after Vice President Kamala Harris for being "unqualified" to serve in the Oval Office have no idea what they're talking about, said MSNBC anchor Ari Melber on Friday evening — and he brought the facts he said backed him up.
"The basic MAGA attack here is on experience," said Melber. "And then some of them mix it in with a claim that she was not only inexperienced, but somehow only rising as a kind of inexperienced, unqualified diversity pick. They are empirically wrong. This is false and I'm going to explain why."
Moreover, he said, all the Republicans pushing this line, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, are "ignorant of basic civics."
"The facts show presidential nominees typically have some experience in elected government," said Melber. "In the modern era you could go to JFK and Reagan. In their first White House runs as nominees, these are the facts: they each had about 13 and 18 years in elective office. For JFK, Congress. For Reagan, governor. ... And voters could see that at the time.
"... Now Obama had less time in national office and people discussed that in his first run. He was running for president in the first Senate term and had 11 years. After that, of course, you have Donald Trump, who had zero years in elective office when he ran" — and he actually boasted about this, saying he was coming in as a fresh face to "drain the swamp."
As for Harris? He showed the figures, from her time as an elected district attorney, Attorney General of California, senator, and vice president. "Not only does she have more experience than all of the other presidents as a nominee, but she doubles most of them. She served in elected government positions for 21 years straight and counting."
In other words, Harris has more experience in elected office than "Reagan and JFK combined," said Melber — and if you count all government and military experience, Melber continued, that pushes it up to 34 years for Harris.
And, he added, all this comes as Trump has chosen Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate, who holds fewer than two years of experience in elected office.
"This is what experience looks like," said Melber. "Imagine spending your entire adult career after school in public government service, sometimes in anonymous roles like an A.D.A., definitely making less money and sometimes breaking barriers across gender and race, and rising to vice president — which everyone knows is the training ground, the most official position that could prepare someone to be president — and then having political hacks and their D.C. pundit enablers waste time claiming there is a real debate to be had about whether you are experienced enough, when you are literally the most."
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