Joy Reid made it look easy as she slapped down Christopher Rufo, the political operative who claims to be an expert on race because he works at a conservative think tank.
Under her persistent questioning, he did admit that he's not an expert in race or law, which is where critical race theory is actually grounded.
What he is, besides a longtime passenger on the wingnut think tank gravy train, is the architect of the plan to pound the American consciousness with the idea that virtually anything they don't like about Democrats is "critical race theory." It's a classic right-wing branding and propaganda campaign.
“The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think 'critical race theory.’ We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans," he wrote on Twitter back in March.
Reid smiled warmly as Rufo said she was attacking him on air, when she was simply reading from his own mission statement.
Rufo claims in those talking points that the father of critical race theory was Ibram X. Kendi, who in a statement to Reid, said he wasn't a critical race theorist.
"I admire critical race theory but I don't identify as a critical race theorist. I'm not a legal scholar, so I wasn't trained on critical race theory," Kendi said.
"I'm a historian and Chris would know that if he actually read my work or understood that critical race theory is taught in law schools. I didn't attend law school."
Rufo complained that Reid wasn't letting him get a word in edgewise. Guess he didn't bother to prepare for her show, since (unlike most TV hosts) she's famous for stopping her guests as soon as they utter something that isn't true.
Then he claimed he wasn't a political operative, so Reid rolled video of Rufo speaking at the Claremont Institute in May, when he called critical race theory a political "cudgel" to use against Democrats.
“I hope next time you give me at least a chance to complete two sentences,” Rufo said.
“Not if you’re gonna do talking points,” Reid said.
Well, you know how white conservatives are! They think they can bully their way through an interview and claim victory.
But if you come at the queen, you best not miss.
