Nobody Needs to Hear From Claire McCaskill About Anything
Why is anyone turning to this political failure for advice?
Claire McCaskill used to be a Democratic senator from Missouri. Then she lost her re-election campaign in 2018 by 9 points, during a year when Democrats made huge congressional gains. She lost even though she made every attempt to swing to the right and tie herself to the Trump administration. It didn't work. The people of Missouri made it clear they did not want her around anymore.
You would think, then, that Claire McCaskill would not be the person to turn to for advice on how Democrats can do better in elections in the wake of Tuesday night's rather shaky results for the party. Luckily for her, MSNBC, which has become perhaps the leading venue in America for right-leaning Democrats and their Lincoln Project allies, exists.
So it was that McCaskill turned up to MSNBC on Wednesday night to give her sage advice to Brian Williams. The conversation started with mostly standard stuff—McCaskill said that working-class white people needed to be centered more and Williams said the Democrats were a "Whole Foods Party in a nation I insist is still a Ralph's country, a Piggly-Wiggly country, a Safeway country, and so on."
Conversations about the working class never seem to mention, say, any people of color, and Williams made $10 million a year during the height of his NBC career and McCaskill's net worth has been estimated at over $26 million, so I'm not sure if they're really the people with their fingers on the pulse of blue-collar America, but whatever.
Then McCaskill really got into her stride. Let's roll the tape.
Ah yes, and now we have arrived. Things are going badly for Democrats because of "transsexuals" and gay marriage.
Many, many people objected to this casual, antiquated bigotry from McCaskill, and she was forced to apologize by Thursday morning.
Sure, fine, I definitely believe her. The thing is, I don't actually believe her, and even if you set that issue aside, it's still a remarkably lazy and outdated analysis. Gay marriage, which has two-thirds support in this country, is dragging the Democrats down? Huh? Trans rights were a central feature of the 2020 campaign? What?
It's almost as though Claire McCaskill has no idea what she's talking about.
Update, 11:54 a.m. ET: What this person said.
Update, 2:02 p.m. ET: Oh shit!
