MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle pushed back after a Republican guest suggested Monday Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was "too far left" for even moderate Republicans, countering that the actual reason Republicans opposed Harris was race.
Republican pollster Chris Wilson speculated about the possibility of Republican-turned-independent Justin Amash running for president, saying that the Michigan congressman could attract the votes of moderate Republicans who chose to stay home in 2016 rather than vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Those Republican could see themselves supporting a more moderate Democatic nominee like Joe Biden, he argued, "but they’re not gonna be able to vote for an Elizabeth Warren or a Kamala Harris or Bernie Sanders."
"Why not a Kamala Harris?" Ruhle asked.
"Just because she's a little too far left," he replied.
"[On] what policy?" Ruhle kept pushing.
"Oh my god, where do you want me to start?" Wilson asked.
He began to mention Harris's support for abolition of private health insurance, but Ruhle spoke over him, saying, "Because it sounds like she's more just 'too black.'"
He audibly sighed. "Okay, no. I mean, that's absurd, Stephanie."
"I get the Bernie and the Elizabeth Warren," she said, "I just want to understand..."
"You really think there's that much separation ideologically, between the three of them?" Wilson asked, saying he only mentioned them because they were the three frontrunners other than Biden.