Republican owns MSNBC

MSNBC sent a colleague of mine a rush transcript of Republican Governor Jim Justice's appearance on Stephanie Ruhle's TV show today.

He forwarded it to me.

I am puzzled as to why MSNBC would embarrass Ruhle like this.

Without trying, Jumbo Jim (as I call him) allowed Ruhle to beclown herself.

She invited him to the show under the guise of discussing covid vaccination. West Virginia has done a good job in this area.

But Ruhle is upset that the governor signed into law a ban on boys competing in girls sports because the boys are stronger and faster than the girls.

Justice is the head coach of Greenbrier East High's girls basketball team. He led them to a state championship in 2012. He once simultaneously coached the boys team. Governor seems to be his part-time job, and that is fine with me.

At its web site, MSNBC linked the video and said, "Days after signing a bill that bans transgender athletes from competing in female sports, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice was unable to provide any specific examples of a transgender person gaining an unfair athletic advantage. NBC News' Stephanie Ruhle sparred with the Republican governor over his state's priorities and why he chose to sign an anti-transgender bill over focusing on other issues."

The corollary is Ruhle was unable to cite one example of this new law harming anyone.

Justice did a good job in not only enduring her tirade but showing exasperation with her badgering.

Let us go to the transcript.

STEPHANIE RUHLE, MSNBC LIVE HOST:  Let’s head from Georgia at the low end of vaccination rates to West Virginia with one of the highest. Joining us now, Republican Governor Jim Justice. 

Governor, you have been on top of this, ahead of this vaccine rollout since the beginning, and now you’ve changed strategies, offering a $100 savings bond to young adults who get vaccinated. How’s that working?

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R), WEST VIRGINIA:  Well, Stephanie, we’re just in our infancy on this and everything, and I would tell everyone there’s no silver bullet here. I mean, when it really -- when it really boils right down to what West Virginia did, we got way out ahead of this thing. We led the nation in every way. 

Every single state, you know, we got so many of our people vaccinated that now we’re basically hitting the wall a little sooner than other states are going to do that, but we’ve got 42% of our people fully vaccinated. You know, first -- one shot about 53%, you know, but at the same time now what we need to do in order to get to where we can really shut this thing down in West Virginia, we came up with the idea that what we’re going to do is really target our young people now, 16 to 35 years of age, and give them something that is a -- basically a dose of patriotism. 

This country’s too divided. This country doesn’t need to be all about Republican and Democrat and Independent. It’s too divided. We need to be Americans first and foremost. And so, we’re going at that, you know, with a U.S. savings bond and give all of our young people $100 and everything. Maybe a keepsake they can keep for a long time, and if not, it’s $100.

So with all that being said, we’re really hopeful to be able to get a bunch of our young people. And if we do that, we’ll get to the point in time where we can shut this thing down in West Virginia.

***

Then she switched topics to mining. He is a coal operator as well as a coach and governor. He also owns The Greenbrier resort.

After that chit-chat, she went for the throat.

And missed.

***

RUHLE:  I want to ask you about other families. The law you just signed banning transgender female athletes from playing on women’s school sports team. Can you name one example of a transgender child trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage at a school there in West Virginia?

JUSTICE:  Well, Stephanie, I don't have that experience exactly to myself right now, but I will tell you this --

RUHLE:  Not yourself, your state. Sir, can you give me one example of a transgender child trying to get an unfair advantage? Just one in your state. You signed a bill about it.

JUSTICE:  No, I can’t really tell you one, but I can tell you this, Stephanie. I’m a coach, and I’m with -- and I coach a girls’ basketball team, and I can tell you that there -- you know, we all know -- we all know what an absolute advantage boys would have playing against girls. We don't do that  --

(CROSSTALK)

RUHLE:  But sir, you have no examples of this happening. Why would you take your time to do this? Let’s talk about other things that I can give you examples of in your state. According to U.S. News & World Report, West Virginia ranks 45th in education, 47th in healthcare, 48th on the economy, and 50th in infrastructure. If you cannot name one single example for me of a child doing this, why would you make this a priority? I just named four things that would seem to me like a much bigger priority.

JUSTICE:  Well, Stephanie, I didn’t make it a priority. It wasn’t my bill.

RUHLE:  You signed it.

JUSTICE:  I mean, it’s just -- it’s just come to me, and I have absolutely signed it because I believe from the standpoint of a coach, I believe that girls work so hard to obtain Title IX, and I do not have any idea now why we are trying to disadvantage them in participating in a sport that they put so much into. I don't know why we’re doing it. This is not like it’s a big priority to me. In fact, I think we only have --

RUHLE:  Well, you signed it, sir.

JUSTICE:  -- 12 -- no, Stephanie. Listen. I think we only have 12 kids maybe in our state that are transgender type kids. I mean, for crying out loud, Stephanie, I sign hundreds of bills. Hundreds of bills. This is not a priority to me, and -- but within -- with all that, I would say, I think that it would impose an unfair disadvantage on the girls. And so, from that standpoint, I support it.

RUHLE:  All right then, sir. Thank you. And please come back when beyond anecdotal feelings as a coach, you can show me evidence where those young women are being disadvantaged in your state because I can show you evidence about how ranking that low in education is disadvantaging young women and men in West Virginia. Thanks for your time.

JUSTICE:  OK, Stephanie.

***

Never argue with these clowns. They are trained professionals. They are plugged into a staff who feeds them questions and information in their earpieces. 

But if you are stuck in a situation like this, be prepared to be blindsided.

And when that happens, make absolutely sure the home audience knows this. Exasperation is the best way to communicate that.