We know that National Public Radio promoted In Defense of Looting and endorsed an author who wanted riots to be called “rebellions” as a political tactic. NPR anchor Steve Inskeep welcomed a radical leftist author to Monday’s Morning Edition. He believes President Biden shouldn’t have spoken against rioting in 2020.
Anand Giridharadas often appears on the wilder MSNBC programs to make complaints about Americans being too “freedom-obsessed”. He sounds like he’s to Bernie Sanders’ left. NPR’s Anand Giridharadas suggested that the Democrats use the phrase “Medicare freedom for all” to describe the end to private insurance.
The most extreme part of the interview is Anand’s criticism of Joe Biden for saying that “rioting isn’t protesting, looting IS not protesting” because it demoralizes his base. It’s amazing that when a fraction of Trump’s base riots, the whole party should be denied power. NPR presents pro-rioting views as a legitimate dissenting viewpoint.
Anand was told by leftists in Kenosha (Wisconsin) that this was a terrible thing because it’s arguing over Republican territory. “So, if someone says to you, immigrants must be animals, and you counter that immigrants can’t be animals, then I’m correct. Immigrants are not animals. Problem is, I’ve now entered into a conversation about the animal-ness and cruelty of immigrants. This is the wrong conversation I should be having.
Inskeep defended Biden like a good Democrat.
INSKEEP: I will concede that you can’t respond to everyone who says the outrageous things. You could lose the argument by just having the argument. In this particular example, Joe Biden, a Democratic leader, wants to appeal to a broad coalition and concludes that people from all income levels and races probably don’t want their downtowns and shops destroyed. He is against this. He concludes that most people want police protection, and that defunding the police is a bad slogan. He said these things because it was bad politics.
GIRIDHARADAS : I don’t think anyone was saying that he should have said defund police. I don’t think Anat [Shenker Osorio in Kenosha] would or anyone else say that there’s no way to talk rioting.
INSKEEP: She did however say that he shouldn’t have condemned rioting.
The author responded, “The problem is that you demoralize yourself because now it seems like your own base which in Joe Biden’s instance was Black voters. You signal to your base you are equating protests of injustice with the injustice itself.” There’s a lot of research that shows that this just demoralizes your most passionate support. It “feels like an insecure grasp for the white moderate vote in ways that often don’t work at wooing them and alienates people who are of color.”
This is a strange conversation to have on a public broadcasting station that provided hours of live coverage on the House January 6 Committee. It didn’t look for Trump backers to condemn January 6.
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Inskeep’s tweet about the interview didn’t reflect this segment of the interview.
Below is the transcript
INSKEEP: Giridharadas interviewed a woman who worked as a nurse in Kenosha (Wisconsin) in 2020.
ARI SHAPIRO [archival video]: Tonight, more protests are planned in Kenosha (south of Milwaukee). Yesterday, a Black man was shot by police in the area. His name is Jacob Blake.
INSKEEP: Protests against police shootings erupted. Giridharadas claims that activists tried to find messages that went beyond protesting injustice in the chaos.
GIRIDHARADAS – A Kenosha group called BLAK (B-L-A-K) developed a way of talking about their cause and organized a rally called Justice for Jacob. After a mourning rally, the second rally was a celebration. Barbecues were held. Voter registration was available. There was also a bounce house. A beautiful video was shared on the internet. It’s better to be yourself, to express your views and to show that you prefer the world offered by the other side.
INSKEEP: You should follow up on this particular example. Joe Biden, then a presidential candidate, made an ad about violent protests in Kenosha. Joe Biden stated that violent protest is bad.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD
JOE BIDEN – I want it to be absolutely clear. Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not a protest.
INSKEEP: Joe Biden’s words were deemed a terrible act by your activists. Why?
GIRIDHARADAS – I think one of my most important lessons from Anat Shenker Osorio was that we often pay attention only to what we are saying, but are often blind to the conversation we are having. If someone says that immigrants are animals and I counter that immigrants aren’t animals, then I am correct. Problem is, I’ve now entered into a conversation about the animal-ness of immigrants. This is the wrong conversation I should be having.
INSKEEP: I will concede that you can’t respond to everyone who says the outrageous things. You could lose the argument by just having the argument. In this particular example, Joe Biden, a Democratic leader, wants to appeal to a broad coalition and concludes that people from all income levels and races probably don’t want their downtowns and shops destroyed. He is against this. He concludes that most people want police protection, and that defunding the police is a bad slogan. He said these things because it was bad politics.
GIRIDHARADAS : I don’t think anyone was saying he should say defund the police. Anat, or anyone else, would not say that there is no way to talk of rioting.
INSKEEP: She did however say that he shouldn’t have condemned rioting.
GIRIDHARADAS – The ad was – it was the thesis of the advertisement that condemned rioting. The problem is that you demoralize your base. It now seems to be your own base (in Joe Biden’s instance, Black voters) – you signal your base that your protests against injustice are being equated with injustice. There is a lot of research out there that will demoralize your most passionate supporters. Instead of talking about how we can all thrive, you should instead talk about the world that is possible. Republicans may have a harder time competing on this turf. There may be a way to speak out about riots and nonviolent protest. But lecturing people about law, order, and other issues in that moment, as has been the case with Democrats so many times, feels like an insecure grasp for the white moderate vote in such a way that it often fails to win and alienates people of colour.
