OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
SiriusXM podcaster Megyn Kelly took aim at former White House press secretary-turned-MSNBC host Jen Psaki after the latter made a patently false claim about Republicans.
During a segment on her show Sunday, Psaki accused Republicans of doing what Democrats actually do, pitting demographic groups against each other for political gain, calling it “the re-emergence of a very old GOP playbook.” In this case, Psaki was accusing the right of pitting Muslim Americans against transgendered people, which is simply not true.
“The right-wingers, the conspiracy theorists, the birthers, they now want us to forget the years they spent fear-mongering about Muslims and Islam. Ten years ago, standing against Sharia law was the key GOP litmus test. Now that litmus test seems to be how fervently you oppose transgender people,” Psaki said, adding, “Let’s be clear: This is the same old GOP playbook, another cynical ploy to tear at the fabric of our society and damage the idea that out of many, we are one, all because they want so desperately to regain the White House.”
“We’re noticing the reemergence of an old ploy straight from the GOP playbook, only this time the party has a new target,” tweeted the Inside with Jen Psaki account.
We’re noticing the reemergence of an old ploy straight from the GOP playbook, only this time the party has a new target…@jrpsaki breaks it down. pic.twitter.com/wZ55u20476
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) July 2, 2023
That set off Kelly.
“It gets covered by MSNBC as ‘the white man is evil and manipulative,’” Kelly said in response during her Monday program, noting that, for starters, it’s not true that Muslims have only recently rejected transgenderism and the LGBTQ movement and agenda.
“You could go back a long way to find out why Muslims object to the LGBTQ agenda, the way it’s currently being taught in particular,” she said.
She went on to label Psaki’s false claims as “another diminishment of Muslims in America as, ‘You’re just too stupid to realize you are being manipulated. You can’t have a genuinely held belief.’”
“Whitey is at it again!” Kelly said. “It’s the whites trying to pit the loving Muslims who have always been pro-LGBTQ against the poor trans people.”
As her reference, Kelly noted that many parents of Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox faiths have recently appeared at the largest school district in Maryland to push back on a rule forbidding them from removing their children from English courses that include lessons with LGBTQ themes.
WATCH:
“Why are they mad? What actually drags a parent out on a weekend to protest? It has to be a lot. Parents are busy. They’ve got jobs, they’ve got kids, they don’t really have a lot of time to protest, but they did it on Tuesday outside the Board of Education meeting because Maryland’s largest school district will not allow them to opt out their children from books and lessons that have certain LGBTQ lessons that they find objectionable,” Kelly said, according to The Wrap.
“Maryland state law doesn’t allow the opt-out provision unless it’s a specific unit on sex ed, and this isn’t technically sex ed. They’ve folded it in under an English language arts curriculum. And these parents think it’s inappropriately sexual and has messages with which they do not agree when it comes to trans people,” she added.
“And so they’re going out there saying, ‘You can teach what you want,’ they’re not saying you have to shut down the lesson plan, but, ‘They’re our kids, and we should be permitted to be able to opt them out.’ And the school says, ‘No, you can’t,'” Kelly noted further.
“This doesn’t get covered on its substance — a debate about whether the parents are right or wrong, or what’s in the text,” she concluded. “It gets covered by MSNBC as ‘the white man is evil and manipulative.’”
