Joy Reid, host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, seized the opportunity to smear Justice Samuel Alito for flying what The New York Times classified as a “provocative flag” at his vacation home in New Jersey. At the end of her Wednesday conversation with Maya Wiley, a New York lawyer, and Tim Miller, self-proclaimed Never Trumper, Reid came to the ludicrous conclusion that Alito was a “lawless individual.”

The flag in question was “An Appeal to Heaven” flag, whose origins date back to before the Revolutionary War. The New York Times re-branded the historic flag as “a symbol of support for former President Donald Trump, for a religious strand of the 'Stop the Steal' campaign and for a push to remake the government in Christian terms.”

In fact, the flag serves as a reminder of the fundamental principles of justice and a relentless pursuit of liberty, on which the United States was founded and built. To Reid, however, the flag meant nothing more than a “Christian nationalist pro-Trump flag” representative of rabid insurrectionists.

Ironically enough and perhaps unbeknownst to Reid, the flag was actually featured on Ron Swanson’s desk in NBC’s very own “Parks and Recreation.”

 

 

Reid then turned to Wiley, who took her turn with besmirching Alito and his opinion in the Dobbs case, which overturned Roe v. Wade, outrageously opining that it reversed a “fundamental right in our country's history.” She further asserted that the decision reflected what “fundamentally was about a Christian position as opposed to a Constitutional position,” as if the Constitution was not authored by Founding Fathers whose beliefs and reasoning inherently aligned with Christian truths, despite the fact that not all were Christians themselves. Abortion was never a fundamental right in United States’ history. 

Wiley used these examples to denounce Justices like Alito and Clarence Thomas for their apparent bias and argued they must be required to recuse themselves: “If we want to preserve the rule of law one of the things that it must include is that Justice Alito, or Justice Thomas, or any other one of these justices who have demonstrated that they either are biased, are bought, or or simply not concerned with the appearance, the very appearance of ethical violations must be required to recuse themselves. Must be!”

MSNBC’s host readily agreed with her, summing up the argument with an absolute banger of a derogatory line to characterize Alito: “He is a lawless individual, a clear Christian nationalist and now a dual insurrection flag flier.”

Does Reid know that a flag flown far more frequently than these flags of “insurrection” is the American flag? Will the country’s flag eventually be considered an insurrectionist flag too? It's become associated enough with Trump fans that it triggered MSNBC analyst Mara Gay as a "disturbing" event when pro-Trump trucks flew the red, white, and blue.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

MSNBC’s The ReidOut

5/22/2024

07:14:52 PM ET

JOY REID: And I'm sure all of you have at this point if you have a phone heard this new New York Times headline, “Another Provocative Flag” -interesting word- “Was Flown at Another Alito Home.” And here is The New York Times text: “Another provocative symbol was displayed at the vacation home of Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs.” “It was an Appeal to Heaven flag, which like the inverted U.S. flag was carried by rioters at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Also flown as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald Trump, for a religious strand of the ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign and for a push to remake the government in Christian terms.”

I'm gonna let both of you comment on that. These are new photographs by The New York Times, Maya. So, now he's flying a Christian nationalist, pro-Trump flag as well.

MAYA WILEY: Wonder if he's blaming that on his wife.

REID: Martha-Ann is responsible for it all, apparently.

WILEY: Apparently women are responsible for everything.

REID: Yes.

WILEY: And so, and let's go back to one of the things that we know Justice Alito penned, which is the first-ever reversal of a fundamental right in our country's history, when he penned the opinion that reversed Roe v. Wade, which really fundamentally was about a Christian position as opposed to a Constitutional position. 

REID: Correct. Yes.

WILEY: And I just think -- we have to be honest about ourselves in this country that if we want to preserve the rule of law one of the things that it must include is that Justice Alito, or Justice Thomas, or any other one of these justices who have demonstrated that they either are biased, are bought, or or simply not concerned with the appearance, the very appearance of ethical violations must be required to recuse themselves. Must be.

REID: Any yet, they cannot be required, Tim. He is a lawless individual, a clear Christian nationalist and now a dual insurrection flag flier.