On Monday, Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt attacked Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and brought up Cruz’s children after Cruz ripped the media for using the famed Sesame Street character Big Bird to sell the Biden administration’s desire to get small children vaccinated for COVID-19. Schmidt said, “If Ted Cruz had kids that age, the chances that they would be unvaccinated are exactly zero. Zero.”
Cruz fired back, “The pedophiles at @ProjectLincoln need to stop talking about my children.”
Schmidt was prompted by leftist MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, who mocked Cruz, saying, “This is one place that I had hoped so desperately would stay sort of free from the politics. It would appear Ted Cruz can’t help himself.”
“Can’t help himself,” Schmidt repeated. “And if Ted Cruz had kids that age, the chances that they would be unvaccinated are exactly zero. Zero. So, this is another moment of just abject stupidity from a United States senator from one of the nation’s mega-states in a really serious moment, a really serious time for the country.”
That triggered the tweet from Cruz:
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The pedophiles at <a href="https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ProjectLincoln</a> need to stop talking about my children. <a href="https://t.co/AJVq7dhGHG">https://t.co/AJVq7dhGHG</a>
&mdash; Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1457901807020220420?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Cruz’s criticism of the media using Big Bird came after the Twitter account of Big Bird from Sesame Street tweeted, on Saturday, “I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy. Ms. @EricaRHill even said I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!”
Biden cheered, “Good on ya, @BigBird. Getting vaccinated is the best way to keep your whole neighborhood safe.”
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Good on ya, <a href="https://twitter.com/BigBird?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BigBird</a>. Getting vaccinated is the best way to keep your whole neighborhood safe.
&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1457525774530097152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Cruz snapped, “We always knew the media were the Dems’ puppets, but this is getting ridiculous.”
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We always knew the media were the Dems’ puppets, but this is getting ridiculous. <a href="https://t.co/MmYZxLQlqY">pic.twitter.com/MmYZxLQlqY</a>
&mdash; Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1457873770773876737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Cruz’s reference to pedophiles was likely with regard to Schmidt&#8217;s fellow Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver, who allegedly exhibited sexually predatory behavior toward young men in exchange for career advancement, according to <a href="https://www.axios.com/lincoln-project-co-founder-resigns-ad554687-f2d1-4b7c-ac0c-5aa555fb312f.html">Axios</a>. One of the boys to whom Weaver reportedly spoke was only 14 years old at the time, according to one of the 21 alleged victims interviewed by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/politics/john-weaver-lincoln-project-harassment.html">The New York Times</a>.
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/02/12/lincoln-project-cofounder-steve-schmidt-resigns-after-weeks-of-turmoil/?sh=27d62e732907">Forbes</a> reported in February 2021:
<blockquote>Lincoln Project cofounder and Republican strategist Steve Schmidt has resigned from the board of the anti-Trump super PAC, he <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveSchmidtSES/status/1360378946588708866" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://twitter.com/SteveSchmidtSES/status/1360378946588708866" aria-label="announced">announced</a> Friday, as the group reels from allegations of sexual harassment against fellow <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/politics/john-weaver-lincoln-project-harassment.html" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/politics/john-weaver-lincoln-project-harassment.html" aria-label="cofounder John Weaver">cofounder John Weaver</a>. … Schmidt said he doesn’t run the Lincoln Project’s day-to-day operations, but he described himself as the group’s “senior leader” and said he should be held accountable …</blockquote>
But <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/steve-schmidt-lincoln-project-vows-fully-operational">Fox News</a> noted in April 2021 that Schmidt took part in an interview on the Lincoln Project’s  <a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_jqzgQ_3HY">YouTube show</a>, where he said, “We&#8217;re in a tough business, and it can be brutal, and Lincoln Project has had a tough couple of months at times, and we&#8217;re going to be in this fight. We&#8217;re going to be back fully operational in our attacks on the extremist, anti-democratic movement &#8230; We&#8217;re going to be on offense and we&#8217;re going to take the fight to people who deserve to have the fight taken to them.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Examines Texas’s Abortion Law

Lincoln Project Co-Founder Rips Cruz Over Big Bird, Cites Cruz’s Children. Cruz Fires, ‘The Pedophiles At Project Lincoln Need To Stop Talking About My Children’

COVID-19 Vaccine

Joe Biden

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Meghan McCain distanced herself and her family Friday from Steve Schmidt and John Weaver, both cofounders of The Lincoln Project, amid the fallout from sexual misconduct allegations against Weaver.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been very hesitant to comment but since my deceased father keeps getting invoked I will say this,&#8221; McCain began in a three-tweet thread addressing the controversy. &#8220;John Weaver and Steve Schmidt were so despised by my Dad he made it a point to ban them from his funeral. Since 2008, no McCain would have spit on them if they were on fire.&#8221;
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1. I&#39;ve been very hesitant to comment but since my deceased father keeps getting invoked I will say this:
John Weaver and Steve Schmidt were so despised by my Dad he made it a point to ban them from his funeral. Since 2008, no McCain would have spit on them if they were on fire.
&mdash; Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1360396300114669570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;My heart goes out to the victims of John Weaver, it&#8217;s abhorrent and evil &#8211; everyone who knew that this was going on deserves to be held accountable,&#8221; McCain continued. &#8220;I hope that anyone who covered up for this never works in politics ever again.&#8221;
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2. My heart goes out to the victims of John Weaver, it&#39;s abhorrent and evil &#8211; everyone who knew that this was going on deserves to be held accountable. I hope that anyone who covered up for this never works in politics ever again.
&mdash; Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1360396382650183682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;What disgusts me so much is that anyone who would engage in such awful and potentially illegal behavior would use their media associations with my father to gain opportunities. My dad was betrayed by you, hated you for it, and we all know it,&#8221; she added.
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3. What disgusts me so much is that anyone who would engage in such awful and potentially illegal behavior would use their media associations with my father to gain opportunities. My dad was betrayed by you, hated you for it, and we all know it.
&mdash; Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1360396679581728770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Schmidt, a former Republican campaign strategist who worked on the late Sen. John McCain&#8217;s (R-AZ) 2008 presidential campaign, resigned from The Lincoln Project on Friday amid allegations that his fellow cofounder Weaver allegedly exhibited sexually predatory behavior toward young men in exchange for career advancement, according to <a href="https://www.axios.com/lincoln-project-co-founder-resigns-ad554687-f2d1-4b7c-ac0c-5aa555fb312f.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Axios</a>.
As part of a lengthy statement regarding his resignation, Schmidt talked about how he had also allegedly been molested. As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/steve-schmidt-resigns-from-the-lincoln-project-releases-statement-claiming-he-was-molested-at-13" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a>:
<blockquote>“It was just a touch — a light one — and it lasted for only a moment,” Schmidt began in a lengthy statement given to journalist Miranda Green. Schmidt went on to recount in detail how, when he was a 13-year-old Boy Scout, a camp medic named Ray allegedly molested him.
Schmidt went on to claim his experience “immolated” his Catholic faith, especially since he claimed it was disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to whom he reached out to tell his story.
“A touch on a table at age 13 that lasted seconds has been a defining event in my life,” Schmidt wrote. “It never went away. That moment bequeathed me the three companions of my life that are always close and often present: anger, shame and depression.”
Schmidt went on to use his own experience as a springboard to comment on the allegations against Weaver.</blockquote>
During an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson in August, former vice presidential candidate <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sarah-palin-steve-schmidt-sabotage_n_5f3eac6ec5b697824f95d434" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sarah Palin blasted Schmidt</a> as “a piece of work” and accused him and Nicolle Wallace of being &#8220;yahoos&#8221; and “wolves in sheep’s clothing” who sabotaged her 2008 campaign with McCain. &#8220;But look where they are today,&#8221; she said.
“You know, those of us who were kind of victims of what they’re capable of, it’s kind of vindication for us,&#8221; Palin added. &#8220;It’s like, ‘See, told you so! They were never on our team to begin with.&#8217;”
WATCH:
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Tucker Carlson gives Sarah Palin an opportunity to lash out at Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace. She says there was a lot of sabotage going on there. <a href="https://t.co/Mw6QCmX3uH">pic.twitter.com/Mw6QCmX3uH</a>
&mdash; Acyn (@Acyn) <a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1296242504237342721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/steve-schmidt-resigns-from-the-lincoln-project-releases-statement-claiming-he-was-molested-at-13" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Steve Schmidt Resigns From The Lincoln Project, Releases Statement Claiming He Was Molested At 13</a>

ABC’s “The View” – Season 22

Meghan McCain Distances Family From The Lincoln Project’s Steve Schmidt, John Weaver

John McCain

Meghan McCain

Steve Schmidt, a GOP political operative and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, released a statement Friday claiming he was molested as a teenage Boy Scout. This came after news broke about his resignation from the anti-Trump organization.
Schmidt&#8217;s resignation is the latest consequence of the numerous allegations against Schmidt&#8217;s fellow co-founder John Weaver, who allegedly exhibited sexually predatory behavior toward young men in exchange for career advancement, according to <a href="https://www.axios.com/lincoln-project-co-founder-resigns-ad554687-f2d1-4b7c-ac0c-5aa555fb312f.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Axios</a>.
One of the boys to whom Weaver reportedly spoke was only 14 years old at the time, according to one of the 21 alleged victims interviewed by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/politics/john-weaver-lincoln-project-harassment.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The New York Times</a>.
The super PAC, which The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/john-weaver-lincoln-project-crisis-b14be5f06588b8f1d78125d4141394cb" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> paid most of the $90 million it raised to consulting firms with ties to the group&#8217;s founders and senior staff, has been hemorrhaging employees since the accusations against Weaver went public.
The Lincoln Project spokesperson Kurt Bardella, video series host <a class="gtm-content-click" href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1360346794253717504" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-vars-link-text="also resigned" data-vars-click-url="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1360346794253717504" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link">Nayyera Haq</a>, and columnist <a class="gtm-content-click" href="https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1360264107446988805" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-vars-link-text="said" data-vars-click-url="https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1360264107446988805" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link">Tom Nichols</a> also resigned Friday.
&#8220;It was just a touch — a light one — and it lasted for only a moment,&#8221; Schmidt began in a lengthy statement given to journalist Miranda Green. Schmidt went on to recount in detail how, when he was a 13-year-old Boy Scout, a camp medic named Ray allegedly molested him.
Schmidt went on to claim his experience &#8220;immolated&#8221; his Catholic faith, especially since he claimed it was disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to whom he reached out to tell his story.
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&#8220;A touch on a table at age 13 that lasted seconds has been a defining event in my life,&#8221; Schmidt wrote. &#8220;It never went away. That moment bequeathed me the three companions of my life that are always close and often present: anger, shame and depression.&#8221;
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Schmidt went on to use his own experience as a springboard to comment on the allegations against Weaver.
&#8220;I met a man for the first time in my life in late 2006,&#8221; wrote Schmidt. &#8220;His name was John Weaver. I met him at a fundraiser for Arnold Schwarzenegger where John McCain was the headliner at the end of the 2006 campaign. I arrived at that event with Arnold and I left with McCain. Within months, under Weaver’s leadership the campaign had collapsed and was bankrupt. During all the time I worked for John McCain I never heard a single person ever whisper that John Weaver was a predator.&#8221;
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&#8220;I did not have a professional relationship with John Weaver again until December 2019,&#8221; he added.
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Claiming he did not know about the allegations against Weaver until last month, Schmidt wrote, &#8220;My purpose in writing this isn&#8217;t to express what and when I knew about John Weaver, but how I feel about him, what he did and how many people he hurt. This is my truth. John Weaver has put me back into that faraway cabin with Ray, my Boy Scout leader. I am incandescently angry about it. I am angry because I know the damage that he caused to me, and I know the journey that lies ahead for every young man that trusted, feared and was abused by John Weaver.&#8221;
&#8220;I know the shame, the guilt, the doubt, the depression and anger that lies ahead. I know John Weaver will be a life-long companion for them in the way that Ray has been for me. I detest John Weaver in a way I can&#8217;t articulate. My heart breaks that young men felt unseen and unheard in an organization that I started. I am ashamed of it. I promise that we will release the full findings of what we discover through an independent investigation.&#8221;
https://twitter.com/mirandacgreen/status/1360374586232119299
https://twitter.com/mirandacgreen/status/1360374676430589952
Some journalists who have closely followed the Weaver story expressed skepticism regarding Schmidt&#8217;s statement.
Maggie Astor, a reporter with The New York Times, tweeted, &#8220;A former Lincoln Project employee tells me that Schmidt&#8217;s continued assertion that he didn&#8217;t know of John Weaver&#8217;s behavior until last month is false — he says he was in the room when Schmidt spoke about it in October.&#8221;
https://twitter.com/MaggieAstor/status/1360382134784000001
&#8220;Steve Schmidt says he found out about the allegations against John Weaver in January but doesn’t mention which January,&#8221; wrote Yashar Ali, reiterating Astor&#8217;s reporting. &#8220;A former Lincoln Project staffer tells me they were in a bar with Schmidt in Park City in late Oct when Schmidt admitted he was aware of Weaver’s scandals.&#8221;
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Steve Schmidt says he found out about the allegations against John Weaver in January but doesn’t mention which January. 
A former Lincoln Project staffer tells me they were in a bar with Schmidt in Park City in late Oct when Schmidt admitted he was aware of Weaver’s scandals. <a href="https://t.co/orv3g37GJM">pic.twitter.com/orv3g37GJM</a>
&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1360386353779773441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Journalist Ryan Girdusky, who first broke the story about Weaver&#8217;s alleged misconduct for <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-lincoln-projects-predator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The American Conservative</a>, was furious about Schmidt&#8217;s statement, tweeting that it made him want to &#8220;scream from the top of my f***ing lungs.&#8221;
https://twitter.com/RyanGirdusky/status/1360380868393590785
&#8220;Intersectionality, the fight against fascism, admitting to being molested as a child&#8230; this has it all folks,&#8221; Girdusky added.
https://twitter.com/RyanGirdusky/status/1360381218555060233
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/deplorable-and-predatory-behavior-the-lincoln-project-condemns-cofounder-after-nyt-reports-he-allegedly-sexually-harassed-14-year-old-boy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">‘Deplorable And Predatory Behavior’: The Lincoln Project Condemns Cofounder After NYT Reports He Allegedly Sexually Harassed 14-Year-Old Boy</a>
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Steve Schmidt Resigns From The Lincoln Project, Releases Statement Claiming He Was Molested At 13

Meet The Democratic Donors Who Helped Enrich The Lincoln Project ‘Grifters’

Rick Wilson

Former Republican campaign strategist Steve Schmidt claimed the fly that spent two minutes on Vice President Mike Pence&#8217;s head during Wednesday&#8217;s vice presidential debate was a biblical symbol of evil.
“I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s ever a good sign when a fly lands on your head for two minutes,&#8221; Schmidt told MSNBC host Ari Melber. &#8220;That&#8217;s a sign all through history of sin, and historically, biblically—it’s only safe to say this, Ari, after midnight—but a fly, he who commands the fly is always been seen historically as the mark of the devil.”
Melber laughed in response, saying, &#8220;Now, as a journalist, now I have to ask for the record if you&#8217;re joking, because the fly could have landed on anyone.&#8221;
&#8220;Yes, but it didn&#8217;t. It landed on Mike Pence, and it says something,&#8221; Schmidt added, suggesting that the fly was a &#8220;karmic&#8221; symbol of President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;cratering&#8221; campaign.
WATCH:
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Steve Schmidt says the fly landing on Pence is a &quot;sign historically of sin&quot; and the &quot;mark of the devil,&quot; prompting Ari Melber to ask if he&#39;s joking.
Schmidt: &quot;It landed on Mike Pence. And it says something&#8230;karmic about the status of the campaign as it implodes.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/mFcXavEWxt">pic.twitter.com/mFcXavEWxt</a>
&mdash; Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) <a href="https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1314069929671487489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Schmidt was perhaps referencing the biblical name Beelzebub, another name for Satan that translates from the Hebrew as &#8220;Lord of the Flies.&#8221;
The Biden campaign has already <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/520156-biden-campaign-sells-out-truth-over-flies-swatter-after-fly-lands-on-pence" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sold out of fly swatters</a> commemorating the incident. The fly on Pence was not the first time such an insect featured during a political debate. During the second presidential debate between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/07/before-pence-hillary-clinton-also-had-fly-on-face-during-debate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a fly made headlines</a> when it landed on Clinton&#8217;s forehead.
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Swats away flies and lies. Get yours today: <a href="https://t.co/ehsECKfDPO">https://t.co/ehsECKfDPO</a> <a href="https://t.co/oVLHHmq85c">pic.twitter.com/oVLHHmq85c</a>
&mdash; Team Joe (@TeamJoe) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamJoe/status/1314041430382272514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Schmidt, a member of The Lincoln Project who was once the spokesman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the deputy assistant to President George W. Bush, renounced the Republican Party in 2018 because of Trump. In an <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveSchmidtSES/status/1009325235953270784" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extensive Twitter thread</a>, he explained his belief that the GOP had become &#8220;corrupt, indecent and immoral&#8221; and that it was &#8220;filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders.&#8221;
&#8220;I have spent much of my life working in GOP politics. I have always believed that both parties were two of the most important institutions to the advancement of human freedom and dignity in the history of the world. Today the GOP has become a danger to our democracy and values,&#8221; he added.
During an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson in August, former vice presidential candidate <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sarah-palin-steve-schmidt-sabotage_n_5f3eac6ec5b697824f95d434" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sarah Palin blasted Schmidt</a> as &#8220;a piece of work&#8221; and accused him and Nicolle Wallace of being &#8220;wolves in sheep&#8217;s clothing&#8221; who sabotaged her 2008 campaign with the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). &#8220;You know, those of us who were kind of victims of what they&#8217;re capable of, it&#8217;s kind of vindication for us. It&#8217;s like, &#8216;See, told you so! They were never on our team to begin with.'&#8221;
&#8220;Ok. I can’t help it,&#8221; Schmidt responded. &#8220;It has been 12 years since [Nicolle Wallace] and I had to deal with her paranoia, pathological lying, profound ignorance, brittleness, and insanity. We had to deal with her for 70 days. It has been amazing to watch her soar and prove all her critics wrong[.]&#8221;
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Ok. I can’t help it. It has been 12 years since <a href="https://twitter.com/NicolleDWallace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NicolleDWallace</a> and I had to deal with her paranoia, pathological lying, profound ignorance, brittleness and insanity. We had to deal with her for 70 days. It has been amazing to watch her soar and prove all her critics wrong <a href="https://t.co/hUZMrmBbQf">https://t.co/hUZMrmBbQf</a>
&mdash; Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveSchmidtSES/status/1296306058336653313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-msnbc-republican-blames-jewish-talk-show-hank-berrien" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WATCH: MSNBC ‘Republican’ Blames Jewish Talk-Show Host, Right-Wing Media For Synagogue Shooting</a>

Steve Schmidt Pence fly

Fly On Pence Is ‘The Mark Of The Devil,’ Steve Schmidt Says

Mike Pence

Appearing on MSNBC with host Chris Hayes, Steve Schmidt, who served as the spokesman of the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2001, Deputy Assistant to the President under George W. Bush, and senior campaign strategist and advisor to John McCain in his campaign for president in 2008, but left the GOP in 2018, referenced the bomber who targeted famous Democratic officials and the shooter who was responsible for the most deadly attack on Jews in American history, then launched an attack on right-wing media, stating, &#8220;Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh, and Breitbart, and NewsBusters, and Judicial Watch and all the rest of them have blood on their hands for the incitements that they have made.&#8221;
Levin, as well as prominent members of the Breitbart staff, are Jewish; this would seem to be the first indication that Schmidt was launching an unhinged attack.
Schmidt seems to be fond of using the &#8220;blood on his hands&#8221; meme when it comes to President Trump or those who support his policies; after Trump moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem last May and Hamas subsequently instituted riots on the Israeli border, Schmidt <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/video/steve-schmidt-there-is-blood-on-trump-s-hands-1233504323949?v=raila&amp;">said</a> Trump &#8220;had blood on his hands.&#8221;
Speaking with Hayes, Schmidt began by claiming that Trump was causing a war in the United States. He said:
<blockquote>
Where we are is at an unprecedented place in American history. We have never had a president of the United States do what this president is doing. He is stoking a cold civil war in this country and it has turned hot on the periphery. This man (Pittsburgh shooter), what he said when he went in, &#8220;I can&#8217;t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw the optics; I&#8217;m going in.&#8221; And he went in to kill Jews; the Jews he believed that were financing the caravan, the invading army, like a Panzer division that is threatening the southern border, an army that is racked and riddled with disease. The same type of rhetoric, the same type of propaganda that you would have seen in Germany in 1938, the dehumanization; turning people into infested vermin.
</blockquote>
Schmidt ignored the fact that the Pittsburgh shooter hated Trump and accused him of being controlled by Jews, and somehow conflated the Pittsburgh shooter with the man who targeted prominent Democrats with pipe bombs, saying, &#8220;What Trump is doing is stoking and inciting for the purposes of political power, the worst amongst us to take action in his name.&#8221;
Then Schmidt started his assault on right-wing media:
<blockquote>
We have a situation, whereby for the grace of God, the largest assassination attempt in American history was avoided that targeted amongst them, two former presidents of the United States. Every one of those people was a target of Donald trump&#8217;s, and this man, a fanatic, was radicalized by Fox News, by talk radio, by a right-wing propaganda machine that is as sophisticated as it has turned deadly &#8230; What we are seeing is the cooption of the conservative project, the Republican Party, in a cult of personality which is fundamentally unconservative led by Donald Trump that is authoritarian in nature, that is antithetical to the orthodoxies of the Republican party and the conservative movement as they have existed over the last fort years but it is something more: it is the incitement.
</blockquote>
Finally, Schmidt reached the nadir of his argument as he argued that right-wing media had &#8220;blood on their hands&#8221;:
<blockquote>
Forty percent of the country has opted into an alternate reality. We have to wake up in this country and understand the danger that this presents to all of us. We can&#8217;t put our heads in the sand. Kellyanne Conway, despicably, today goes on national television, she said, well, this shooter&#8217;s motives were because there&#8217;s a (sic) anti-religious sentiment. No, ma&#8217;am. The propaganda industry that she commands, with the vile president that she serves, abetted by Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh, and Breitbart, and NewsBusters, and Judicial Watch and all the rest of them have blood on their hands for the incitements that they have made that have triggered and radicalized these crazy people. It is deliberate in intent. He scapegoats minority populations; he alleges conspiracies; he creates a sense of shared and virtuous victimhood, positions himself as the avenger, and there is no cost too high so long as it benefits his narcissism, so long as it benefits him politically.
</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
MSNBC&#8217;s Steve Schmidt accuses Mark Levin, a Jewish man, of being responsible for the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. <a href="https://t.co/DQEzq9xVyk">https://t.co/DQEzq9xVyk</a>
&#8212; Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1057112096582713344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>

WATCH: MSNBC ‘Republican’ Blames Jewish Talk-Show Host, Right-Wing Media For Synagogue Shooting

Last Friday, on HBO&#8217;s Real Time, Bill Maher framed the Second Amendment as composed by the Framers for the purpose of controlling slaves. 
Drawing on a <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/4/1677839/-Highlights-of-the-NY-Times-annotated-Constitution">Daily Kos write-up</a> of an annotated Constitution produced by The New York Times and available only in print, Maher apparently quoted historian Garry Wills:
<blockquote>
Because [Garry Wills] says the Second Amendment &#8220;shows just how far the poison of slavery pervaded the Constitution. It was intended to protect slaveholders who used militias to keep a firm grip on their slaves. It wasn&#8217;t meant to let individuals prevent federal tyranny. How could it? It was meant to guarantee the legality of well-regulated militias to handle the states&#8217; internal problems, especially the problem of a large slave population.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Americans broadly applied double standards in their perceptions of mass murderers of varying racial backgrounds, claimed Maher, who also connected Islam to race:
<blockquote>
I know it drives Republicans crazy when liberals say everything is about race and everything isn&#8217;t about race. But I feel like guns is the one area where, if you can&#8217;t see a giant difference between the way black and white are treated in America with guns, I think there&#8217;s a little racism in you. I mean, show the Roy Moore video. Here&#8217;s a politician waving a gun at a rally. Could you get away with doing that?
There you go. And the Vegas shooter himself, you know, it seems like when the shooter &#8212; if he was Muslim, certainly it would have been about, &#8220;Let&#8217;s &#8212; we got to get the ban going.&#8221; If he was a Mexican, it would be about the wall. And I feel like, when it&#8217;s the white guy, it&#8217;s like, &#8220;We don&#8217;t know how this happened.&#8221; But they don&#8217;t, you know, we don&#8217;t &#8212;
I feel like it never gets to be an isolated incident if you&#8217;re a minority. They always drag in the, you know, and this guy was from a broken home, his father was a criminal, you know, that would be big on Fox News, I feel like.
</blockquote>
Maher&#8217;s guest panelists &#8212; all left-wing Democrats (MSNBC&#8217;s Steve Schmidt and Harold Ford Jr., and New York Magzine&#8216;s Olivia Nuzzi) &#8212; all agreed with his broader indictment of American society.
Watch Maher&#8217;s comments below.
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H/T Brad Wilmouth at <a href="https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2017/10/07/bill-maher-claims-second-amendment-was-passed-enforce-slavery">NewsBusters</a>.

Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.

Bill Maher: 2A About Keeping Black Slaves In Check

Bill Maher

Guns

Media

Media Bias

MSNBC

Racism

Second Amendment

Left-wing MSNBC Republican Steve Schmidt joined his colleague Chris Matthews on Monday to criticize President Donald Trump and the Trump administration, more broadly.

&#8220;We&#8217;re reaching Orwellian dimensions with some of this stuff. It is disturbing, frankly,&#8221; said Schmidt, referring to Trump&#8217;s criticism of &#8220;fake news.&#8221;

Schmidt then lamented White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon&#8217;s hostility towards the post-WWII network of international institutions, describing such a view as &#8220;radical&#8221; and &#8220;far outside the mainstream&#8221; of American politics. He advised Trump to remove Bannon from the National Security Council:

<blockquote>
&#8220;How wildly inappropriate it is for the president&#8217;s political adviser to be on the principal&#8217;s committee of the National Security Council. I also think that what does not get enough attention is the utterly absolutely radical foreign policy policy views that are so far outside the mainstream of both Democrat and Republicans over the last seventy-two years. This is somebody who roots for the unraveling of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an unraveling of the American-led liberal international order that prevailed in the Cold War, that came to life after the Second World War. It has maintained the peace and prosperity of the world, preventing another global catastrophe. And so it&#8217;s remarkable that someone with that radical a point of view is on that committee, and that that committee will now be politicized. What President Trump should do is show that he is capable of acknowledging error, making a course correction, and sign another executive order restoring the chairman and the director of national intelligence to regular membership of that committee, and removing Steve Bannon from that permanent seat, because it is inappropriate.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Schmidt belongs to a cadre of left-wing Republicans who are used as controlled opposition by left-wing and Democrat-aligned news media outlets. Non-threatening to the dominant political perceptions of their employers, this cadre of left-wing Republican pundits &#8211; who base their political bona fides on prior employment with political campaigns and/or government &#8211; help provide a pretense of political and partisan balance to panel discussions.

Schmidt formerly worked for then President George W. Bush&#8217;s presidential campaign in 2004, subsequently joining the Bush administration.

MSNBC has ceased being somewhat transparent about its left-wing and partisan Democrat alignment, dropping its previous slogan of &#8220;Lean Forward&#8221; &#8211; a tip to neo-Marxist &#8220;progressive&#8221; politics &#8211; from its marketing and promotional materials. It now attempts to present itself as an objective and nonpartisan news outlet.

Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.
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Schmidt: Trump ‘Orwellian;’ Must Remove Bannon

Chris Matthews

Steve Bannon

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