Politician Stacey Abrams appeared on “The View” Wednesday, and when it came to discussing identity politics and the finally completed Mueller report, she firmly held her own against Abby Huntsman and Meghan McCain.
The former Democratic candidate for Georgia governor visited the daytime talk show on March 27 and first addressed Huntsman’s questions about identity politics.
“I wonder your thoughts on the Democratic Party leading into 2020,” Huntsman begins. “Are you concerned that there’s going to be too much of a focus on duking it out, identity politics, focusing on investigations. When you talk to voters in Georgia, they care about their life every day, they care about health care, they care about the economy, they care about changes that can be made to help them personally. What advice do you have for Democrats who are maybe missing that connection?”
“I want to push back on the ‘identity politics’ narrative,” Abrams responds. “‘Identity politics’ means, yes, I want health care, but I need you to understand why I’m not getting it. Am I not getting it because I live in a rural community where you don’t invest in it? Or am I not getting it because I’m a black woman and maternal mortality is now at the top of the list, and that’s why black women are the most likely to die from giving birth?
“And so, identity is simply saying, I see you, and I see the obstacles to you getting the things that all of us want,” she continues. “Health care, economic security, educational opportunity. What I look for in this Democratic primary are conversations that say, we see all of you. Because if we want people to turn out and vote in November, they have to be seen long before that. Because you don’t win elections by convincing the same people to do the same thing — you win elections by getting new people to say, I care too. That’s how we win, and that’s what I’m asking everyone to do, and that’s why voter suppression is such a big part of what I talk about. Because if you can’t even have your voice heard, you’re not going to participate in an election.”
Later, Abrams went toe-to-toe about the report into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which took nearly two years for special counsel Robert Mueller to hand in. The complete contents of the report have not been released; only a four-page summary has been made public. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a non-binding resolution to release full Mueller report on Wednesday, marking the third time the effort has failed in the Senate.
“Americans want to know what happened,” Abrams says of the report. “Anything that’s classified that needs to be redacted can be redacted. But the truth of the matter should be made public. You should not have someone who disparaged the process being the person who determines whether we get to see it.”
McCain stepped in to question the Democratic response to the results of the report, despite the complete findings not being unveiled.
“Every Democrat said ‘Wait for the Mueller report,’ and now it comes out. And it seems like Democrats don’t like the results so [they’re] not accepting the results of the Mueller report,” McCain says.
“We don’t know what the results of [the Mueller report is],” Abrams explains, continuing to break things down as McCain tries and fails to interject. “We know the results of the summary of a reading of the report by a partisan who was just appointed by the person who is the subject of the report.”
“They came out and Mueller said that there was no collusion, definitively. Mueller said no collusion. So you don’t accept there was no collusion?” McCain asks.
“But the Mueller report was not simply about collusion,” Abrams replies pointedly. “That was a pundit summary of a complicated question, which was happened preceding the 2016 election. I don’t know the answer because I haven’t seen the report.”
Viewers ate up the way Abrams effortlessly schooled McCain.
“@staceyabrams just snatched NutMeg McCain’s butterscotch wig off her scalp and tossed it across the room.”
“meghan mccain trying to talk to stacey abrams. (**whispers: stacey’s intelligence is wayyyyyy out of your league) #theview.”
“Stacey Abrams swatted Meghan McCain and Abby Huntsman without batting an eye. She wasn’t playing with these rich white girls. #TheView.”
“You can see the smoke rolling out of NutMeg’s ears trying to understand what @staceyabrams simply explained. Simply. Duh.”
“Stacey Abrams putting Meghan McCain in her place- I love it.”
