Chuck Todd labeled ‘racist’ for saying Biden’s cabinet picks ‘placate political constituencies’
Chuck Todd is certainly one of the most reliable liberals in a news media industry teeming with them.
But on Thursday, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” actually came close to behaving like an actual journalist instead of his usual persona, a cheerleader for the Democratic Party – and the left ate him alive.
Todd interviewed former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill about Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks – which the presumed next president has promised to be the most “diverse” in history and will “look like America.”
In the segment, Todd demonstrated that he momentarily was master of the obvious: that Biden is choosing some people he wants or knows – such as opting for Tom Vilsack to run the USDA, as he did for eight years under President Barack Obama – and some who illustrate, as Todd gently put it, a “pattern” of trying to “placate political constituencies.”
“What do you make of what is clearly a pattern here?” Todd tossed out to McCaskill.
“There are people that Joe Biden can’t be talked out of, and there is clear, you can tell where his picks are his picks, and then you can tell the ones where they feel like they have to placate.” Todd then added, “It’s a little obvious which positions they view as ‘placate political constituencies,’ versus ones that the president-elect says ‘No, no, no. You’re not talking me out of this.’”
The minefield Todd was tiptoeing through is known to the rest of us as identity politics – which is what Biden promised.
Kamala Harris is the best example of this. After all, before he got the nomination, Biden vowed to pick a Black woman as VP, come hell or high water.
His Cabinet is more of the same.
For instance, Biden seemed lost in the weeds in announcing a Latino, California Attorney General Xavier Baccera, as head of Health and Human Services. He not only botched his name – pronouncing it “Bach-a-ria” – he added that he would run the “Health and Education Services” department.
Then, there is Biden’s selection of Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge to run HUD. He did so even though Fudge, a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, complained to Politico last month that there were only “certain agencies” that “people like me fit in.” “You know,” she added, “it’s always ‘we want to put the Black person in Labor or HUD.'” And so Biden did.
A third example illustrates Todd’s point in a different way.
With McCaskill, Todd noted that Biden would not be dissuaded from “his pick” to run the Pentagon, Gen. Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star general who is Black. But as Politico recently noted, Biden angered feminists with Austin by bypassing Michele Flournoy, who had served as a senior Defense Department adviser under Obama. One critic, Katrina Mulligan, a defense analyst with the left-wing Center for American Progress, told Politico that choosing Austin came against the backdrop of the “dejected silence of women realizing the bar they have to overcome to achieve their ambitions is (once again) higher than men will admit.”
“How bad of a look is it that it’s this obvious which Cabinet posts are the ones you placate for politics and the ones you don’t” Todd asked.
In response, McCaskill chided him as being “way too cynical.” “I don’t think Joe Biden is being forced to take anybody that he’s not comfortable with,” she said. “We may be working too hard to read the tea leaves. I think he is trying to find good qualified people and have his Cabinet look like America.”
“Right,” Todd replied, “But, at the same time, it does seem as if you could tell. Look, you can make a political argument on some, but he is not listening on all of them is my point.”
Yes Chuck, we can tell. And you do get some credit for at least asking. Even if your cred with libs took a hit.
As for one typical response, a Twitter user posted, “Claire McCaskill Crushes Chuck Todd’s Lazy Criticism Of Joe Biden’s Cabinet Picks. And she makes him look like the fool that he is…oh wait, it’s who he is.”
https://t.co/arTMS7MhTj
Claire McCaskill Crushes Chuck Todd's Lazy Criticism Of Joe Biden's Cabinet Picks. And she makes him look like the fool that he is…oh wait, it's who he is. #PITIFUL @MSNBC Thanks @clairecmc— HokieHoos (@HokieHoos) December 10, 2020
More reactions below: (** Language warning)
“Placating” here serves to show his contempt for non-white men and all women. @chucktodd reminds me of the racist dicks who believed my enrollment/scholarship in a private college robbed them of their god-given rights to entry/dominance. “Some Latino took MY spot.”
— Ricky RodrigueZ (@RickyRo90553610) December 10, 2020
What a smirking weasel Chuck Todd is. Blechh!!
— Meg_Mac (@MegMac33192437) December 10, 2020
@MSNBC, would you PLEASE get rid of @chucktodd already? His takes are smug and stupid. He’s the most unlikable person in news. He’s sexist and a biggot. He’s a living advertisement for @CNN. What’s it gonna take for you to cut him lose?
— 🐥 Duck the GOP 💛🐝 (@BcCaro) December 10, 2020
fuck chuck todd https://t.co/AKn9kCA6TH
— Danielle Misiak (@DanielleMisiak) December 10, 2020
The assumption by @chucktodd is POC couldn’t possibly be qualified but “special interest groups” are pressuring him & so he’s politically placating them
— FakeNews Fighter (@Latinaproducer) December 10, 2020
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