Dems Are ‘The Party That Cried Wolf’
One pattern to emerge from the media’s collective coverage of the 2024 presidential election is its collective freakout over a perceived lack of support for President Joe Biden among the varied minority communities that form part of his electoral coalition. The latest installment in that ongoing series is Jon Karl’s sitdown with talk show host Charlamagne THA God which aired on ABC This Week.
Watch as Charlamagne delivers a counternarrative history lesson and explains one of the reasons why the media’s drumbeat about Donald Trump being a supposed threat to democracy has fallen on deaf ears- they demonized everybody else:
Karl was struck by this and other remarks, specifically on Biden’s age and declining mental faculties, that run counter to Democratic orthodoxies. But beyond that, the interview was both derivative and weird.
It was derivative in the sense that we’ve seen a bunch of other interviews wherein correspondents hop on a plane and go to places like Dearborn, Michigan, and fret about Arab Americans saying they’ll never vote for Biden because of his (early) support for Israel in their war against Hamas. Or fret about Black people noticing they had more money when Trump was in office. Or Latinos in Nevada talking about the need to secure the border. Given Charlamagne’s standing and notoriety, the interview is a get but it is derivative nonetheless.
It was weird because it had a “Columbusing” quality to it- that is, Karl crowing about making some major discovery when in fact Charlamagne’s been around for years. If, at this point, Charlamagne remained undiscovered, it is by the overwhelmingly white Anglo liberal elites ensconced within the safety of the media’s cocoon. Even conservatives know who Charlamagne is from the collective dunking on Biden’s viral “you ain’t Black” moment from 2020.
Beyond that, the interview was more of the same. Having filled three books with J6 alarmism, OF COURSE Karl was going to indulge Charlamagne’s “threat to democracy” bleats, even if it meant tolerating his criticism of Biden’s age and declining abilities.
In fact, we’ve already seen a more interesting version of this interview- on CNN, wherein Charlamagne declared Biden to be “a sh***y elected official” while getting hammered by Abby Phillip and Angela Rye. The Jon Karl version seemed more self-congratulatory and deferential.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on ABC This Week on Sunday, February 18th, 2024:
JON KARL: Welcome back. We’re now going to bring you someone who has never been a guest on This Week or any other Sunday public affairs show. He’s an important and influential voice in politics and culture with billions of followers and listeners, which is why the White House pays attention to what he has to say. He’s known as Charlamagne THA God, and I sat down with him for this exclusive interview.
He’s one of the most influential voices in morning radio.
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: Yep. It’s the world’s most dangerous show The Breakfast Club. Charlamagne THA God. Jess Hilarious. I don’t know where the hell Envy is at.
KARL: Also a television personality, podcast host, and New York Times best-selling author. His interviews with pop stars and politicians making viral moments like this.
ANGELA YEE: So what’s something that you always carry with you?
HILLARY CLINTON: Hot sauce.
DJ ENVY: Really?
CHARLAMAGNE: You…
CLINTON: Yeah, yeah.
ENVY: Really?
CHARLAMAGNE: Are you getting in formation right now?
KARL: Lenard McKelvey, known to America as “Charlamagne THA God”, has built his following on charisma, comedy, and blunt questions.
CHARLAMAGNE: What was you thinking earlier this year when you got caught cheating in Vegas?
KEVIN HART: Hey, brother, listen.
CHARLAMAGNE: Mr. Irresponsible?
KARL: In the last presidential election, The Breakfast Club became a must-stop for Democratic candidates. With an average of more than 6 million monthly listeners, candidates sought to appeal to its younger, diverse audience. And in 2019, Charlamagne appeared at a campaign rally with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris. But it was his 2020 interview with Joe Biden that made the biggest splash, and drew criticism of Biden for his comments on Black voters.
JOE BIDEN: If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.
KARL: I met with Charlamagne at his radio studio to discuss the state of American politics.
I saw you describe this campaign that we’re headed into as a race between the cowards, the crooks, and the couch.
CHARLAMAGNE: Yeah. The crooks are the Republicans. The cowards are the Democrats because they don’t fight hard enough on anything and, you know, the couch is voter apathy. And, you know, that’s- that’s who everybody is up against in 2024. And right now — right now it feels like the couch is going to win. I don’t know who that benefits, you know, by the couch winning, but it feels like the couch is going to win.
KARL: What- what’s your sense? How engaged — how much is your audience paying attention to this race?
CHARLAMAGNE: My audience — I feel like my audience is America. And when I’m out and about just walking in the street or people are calling into the radio station, like, nobody is — nobody is inspired, you know, by the upcoming election. Like, you know, like nobody wants to see the rematch between, you know, Biden and Trump, and that’s what makes me feel like the couch is going to win.
KARL: Why?
CHARLAMAGNE: This is the first time in my life when people say things like, you know, this person is a threat to democracy.
KARL: Mm-hmm.
CHARLAMAGNE: It’s absolutely true. And it’s mind-boggling to me that, you know, nobody is taking it a serious as I feel, like, they should. Like, we watched an attempted coup of this country happen on January 6th, and everybody’s acting like it was just a bunch of people, you know, wilding at Spring Break, you know, down in Florida.
KARL: Yeah.
CHARLAMAGNE: Like, we literally watched, you know, people try to overthrow the government because they didn’t like the results of an election led by a former, you know, president. If that doesn’t cause a sense of urgency in people, I don’t know what will.
KARL: Biden- I mean, Biden does make that an issue over and over again. I mean, he constantly talks about that. Why is it not resonating?
CHARLAMAGNE: Oh, he’s just an uninspiring candidate. Like, you know- there’s nothing about, you know, Joe Biden that makes you want to listen to him. That’s why he should be leaning on, you know, his vice president, Kamala Harris who’s way more charismatic than him. He should be leaning on, you know, other surrogates like Gavin Newsom or, you know, Shapiro in Pennsylvania. Like, he should be leaning on people who have — are more inspiring than him, who are more charismatic than him, and he just should be, I guess if you want to call it, the brains of the operation behind the scenes. Like, that sounds crazy that we’re saying that about a president of the United States of America, but he has no main character energy. At all. None.
KARL: And what is that? Is that age? Is it the way he is? I mean, why do you- what…what…what’s the problem?
CHARLAMAGNE: I don’t think it has anything to do with age, you know. I think it has everything to do with him. Like, Donald Trump is what? Four years, three years younger than President Biden? He comes off a lot more youthful. He comes off, you know, like he has a lot more energy and I always say this about them. Donald Trump seems more sincere about his lies than Joe Biden does about his truth.
KARL: Charlamagne endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, but says it was primarily because he had chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate.
Has she met your expectations? I mean- you’ve been kind of tough on her.
CHARLAMAGNE: Yeah, no. She hasn’t, you know? And- but I don’t think it’s too late for her to pivot. Youknow, I think that right now, you know, historically vice presidents have always kind of played their role. Their role is to just basically parrot the president, you know, speak, you know, on behalf of the president, but I think, man. We’re in a new- a new era, right? Like, for new jack problems, we need new jack solutions. And she’s- serves a unique purpose, right? Because she is the first woman of color in that position. So there’s things she could talk about, there’s things that she could say that I feel like, you know, that he can’t. And I mean, man. We remember her in those Senate hearings when she was pressing those people, when she was, like, really on- you know, she was prosecuting these people and I want to see her prosecute the case against Donald Trump in this country. I feel like she could go out there and really let the American people, you know, know what’s going on. I’d like to see her going on outlets…
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