Andrew Sullivan Tells MSNBC’s Melber His Network Is ‘Propaganda All the Time’

SULLIVAN: “I think what Trump set in motion and what the divisions of the country has done and what the Democrats have done in the last four years, which is respond to Trump by going even further to the left, means that we are losing the legitimacy of the system, and that is the critical thing. When you lose that core legitimacy, you lose your democracy. That’s where we are really going to lose our democracy, because we don’t believe in it anymore.”
MAHER: “Damn right.”
SULLIVAN: And you can see that the results of that — the way that this works — is you start disbelieving all the institutions and then you say, ‘Who do I want?’ And you want a strongman. You want someone to come in and cut all the knots. This is a classic case of how you lose a democracy. And he’s almost certainly going to be there. He’s going to win this election almost certainly, and quite well.”
MELBER: “I think you make fair points, Andrew, but you sound a little bit both sides-y. I don’t know if that’s on purpose or not.”
SULLIVAN: “I take that as a compliment.”
MELBER: Well, then you’ve just been complimented — “
SULLIVAN: “Thank you.”
MELBER: “ — in your mind. But there’s absolutely problems with the Democratic Party and the overreaction to Trump. We just spoke about the ballot case and its thinness, and we cover that all the time on the news. But there’s not equivalence here on the problems you just referred to. There’s not equivalence of political violence. There’s not equivalence on responding to court cases. Bush v. Gore was very controversial, but there was no violent response and there was not any mainstream response from Democrats about overthrowing the certification. Al Gore actually showed up on Jan. 6th, remember, it was that date, and certified it. So, there isn’t a both side-ism to this decay. And what Trump does, and I agree at times, he may draw his opponents into messy, dumb feuds, but he is the one banking on a cynicism, an attack on democracy, and on complete rejection of the policy democracy that you want because they didn’t even have a platform. So, he’s saying, ‘It’s just me. You don’t even know what I’m going to do. Just vote for me, no platform.’ And you’ve got a whole Republican Party that’s basically codifying that.”
SULLIVAN: You know what would be good at MSNBC, is if you actually did think about both sides and weigh the arguments and make constructive arguments against that side while respecting them. You don’t do that. It’s propaganda all the time. And by denying any— “
MELBER: What you just said described — what you just said described my show. I had Trump lawyer on this week, I’ve had Steve Bannon on my show, I’ve had Trump White House officials — “
SULLIVAN: “I watch MSNBC— I watch MSNBC, and the both sides — “
MELBER: “Right, so, you’re describing the goal that I’m achieving, I take that as a compliment.”
SULLIVAN: “In your mind.”