BLUE MOON: Welker asked an obvious second question!

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024

Stefanik cuffed her aside: The world will little note, nor long remember, last Sunday's Meet the Press.

Back on December 5, Elise Stefanik had rocked the world when she questioned, or at least seemed to question, the presidents of three elite universities.

Now the rising red tribe star appeared on Meet the Press. Indeed, Stefanik was featured as Kristen Welker's lead guest. 

The 17-minute interview has generated little commentary. The interview did give us a way to ponder an important question:

Why is it so easy for current red tribe Trump supporters to steamroll our blue tribe's stars?

Back on December 5, Stefanik had steamrolled three college presidents, with blue tribe stars like Professor Tribe affirming her performance. 

Now, as we noted on Tuesday, she filibustered her way past Welker's peculiar opening question.  At this point, Welker turned to a second question, one which was blindingly obvious:

Three years later, what should we Americans think about the events which took place on January 6, 2021? What should we Americans think about that day's assault on the Capitol?

That was the essence of Welker's question. For the record, Rep. Stefanik had discussed those events on the very day in question. 

On the evening of January 6, Congress had reconvened to certify the 2020 election. Eventually, Stefanik rose to speak about the events of the day. 

Recognized by Speaker Pelosi, Stefanik had risen with a heavy heart, then had offered this:  

STEFANIK (1/6/21): Madame Speaker, I rise with a heavy heart. This has been a truly tragic day for America, and we all join together in fully condemning the dangerous violence and destruction that occurred today in our nation's Capitol.

Americans will always have the freedom of speech and the constitutional right to protest. But violence in any form is absolutely unacceptable. It is anti-American and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Thank you to the heroic United States Capitol Police and thank you to the bipartisan professional staff of the United State Capitol for protecting the People's House and the American people.

[...] 

History is a guide that the people's sacred house is the appropriate venue for a peaceful debate. And this peaceful debate serves as a powerful condemnation to the violence that perpetrated our Capitol grounds today, the violence that was truly un-American. 

Today's discussion is about the Constitution and it is about the American people. But it must also be about clearly and resolutely condemning the violence that occurred today.

For C-Span's videotape of the five-minute speech, just click here, then move ahead to minute 33.

Speaking with a heavy heart, Stefanik had unequivocally condemned the "dangerous violence" that had occurred that day. 

The violence had been "anti-American," the gentlelady had sadly said. It had also been "un-American."

She left no doubt concerning the people who had engaged in that violence. They "must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," the gentlelady had said. Indeed, she said that she and her colleagues must "clearly and resolutely condemn the violence that occurred" that day.

So it went, in real time, as Stefanik spoke in the well of the House. Now, though, three years later, our nation was engaged in a somewhat different kind of civil war.

In her peculiar opening question, Welker had identified Stefanik as "one of [Candidate Donald J.] Trump's strongest supporters." Stefanik hadn't demurred in any way from that fairly obvious characterization.

That said, Trump now seemed to be describing the people who had been prosecuted for their conduct on January 6 as political "hostages." As a very strong Trump supporter, what did Stefanik think about that? 

As the Meet the Press transcript attests, at least one inquiring mind wanted to know. Below, you see the second question Welker posed to her guest:

WELKER: This weekend, we did mark the three-year anniversary [of January 6]. And I want to pause for a minute and play some of the comments that you made on the evening of that day. Let's take a look:

[START OF VIDEOTAPE]

STEFANIK: This has been a truly tragic day for America. Americans will always have the freedom of speech and the constitutional right to protest. But violence in any form is absolutely unacceptable. It is anti-American and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[END OF VIDEOTAPE]

WELKER: In terms of what we're hearing today, former President Trump has referred to January 6th as a, quote, "beautiful day." Just this weekend, he referred to some of those who are serving time for having stormed the Capitol as, quote, "hostages." 

Do you still feel as though that day was tragic and that those who were responsible should be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law?

Candidate Trump has begun to refer to the people in question as "hostages." What did Stefanik think about that? 

It was a blindingly obvious question. To her credit, Welker asked.

You'll note that Welker had only played some of Stefanik's relevant comments from the evening in question. 

Viewers of Meet the Press saw Stefanik refer to the violence of January 6 as "anti-American." They didn't see the part of her speech where she called it un-American.

TV news tends to work that way—but Welker's question was blindingly obvious. Given what Stefanik had said in real time, which does she think about her candidate's growing body of statements in which he has described those perpetrators as "J-6 political prisoners," even as "hostages?"

This was a perfectly valid question. In fact, it was blindingly obvious.

In the exchange which ensued, some other facts became obvious. Just to offer you a tease, Stefanik's blunderbuss reply started off like this:

STEFANIK (continuing directly): Well, first of all, Kristen, as typical for NBC and the biased media, you played one excerpt of my speech...

So typical for the biased media! As part of the blunderbuss performance which would leave Welker in the dust, the "odious demagogue" began her reply with a heartfelt complaint:

Welker had only played part of her speech from January 6! She hadn't played the videotape of the entire five minutes! 

This was typical of the biased media, the rising star now said.

So began the blunderbuss reply from an alleged "odious demagogue." We submit that, in what followed, a certain sad fact became clear:

Back on December 5, Stefanik had steamrolled three college presidents, with blue tribe figures like Professor Tribe affirming her performance. Now, she proceeded to steamroll Welker too, in a way we'll show you tomorrow.

Members of our flailing blue tribe have long placed our faith in our blue tribe elites. We refer to our journalistic elites, but also to their academic counterparts.

They're "highly educated," we've long been told. But what happens when these blue elites run into the world's Stefaniks?

Tomorrow: Anatomy of an escape