MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell was not happy last night after MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch said he doesn’t believe Elizabeth Warren has the ability to beat President Trump in a general election.
In post-debate analysis, Deutsch said, “When you can label somebody a socialist, 57% of this country thinks that word is un-American. I’m not saying it’s fair. When [Trump] can blanket Elizabeth Warren as a socialist and he’s onstage with her, the Democrats lose … I think if we’re honest with ourselves and we look hard at ourselves, I think a lot of people agree with me.”
O’Donnell rebuked Deutsch’s analysis as simply a “wild guess.”
He told him: “Let’s just identify this for what it is: pure guesswork a year-and-a-half away … And so it has, and Donny I say this respectfully, zero value.”
Deutsch shot back: “Don’t tell me it has zero value. It’s understanding human behavior. … This is a guy who has done this for 30 years and watched human behavior.”
O’Donnell recently told the Hollywood Reporter that the 2016 election taught him to make no assumptions about who would be the political victor in 2020.
“I am approaching the Democratic field with a feeling I’ve never had before, which is that I don’t know anything. I do think it’s going to be one of the recognized top-tier people – Joe Biden, one of the senators. I think Beto [O’Rourke] has a chance. I think virtually all of them could end up as the vice presidential nominee,” he said.
In 2016, O’Donnell was a trenchant voice on cable television asserting that Donald Trump would not beat Hillary Clinton. “He is on his way to being America’s biggest loser,” he said at one point.
The argument between O’Donnell and Deutsch is a debate on the Left about electability versus principle. Recent polls have shown that voters favor “electable” candidates like Biden because of his perceived ability to beat Trump. However, the same polls show rising popularity for candidates to his left, like Elizabeth Warren.
