Sarah Silverman: I can’t believe I’m being accused of racism for criticizing Joy Reid

I can’t believe she can’t believe it. She’s over 50 and a lifelong leftist. She should be intimately familiar with what happens when you criticize a nonwhite person from the right.

Silverman probably made the common mistake of believing that her long history of activism for liberal causes meant she’d get the benefit of the doubt when scolding Reid. That’s not how politics works in 2021. The only litmus test that matters in proving your ideological bona fides is the next one.

For background on this, read Ed’s and Karen’s posts from last week. Ron DeSantis announced that he wants to form a small state guard unit independent of the federal government to assist with emergencies like hurricanes. Many other states, including some deep blue ones, have units like that. But liberals freaked out about it this time, accusing DeSantis of angling to create his own paramilitary force. With characteristic understatement, Reid called it “fascisty bananas” on Twitter and linked to a CNN story about it.

Silverman saw that tweet and replied by politely asking her to read the full article she linked, as it mentioned right in the piece that Democratic states like California and New York already have forces like the one DeSantis wants.

That was a litmus test and she failed — twice over. She accused a black woman reporter (accurately) of distorting the truth for political gain. And she sided with Democrats’ second-least favorite Republican, DeSantis, against a narrative liberals are trying to build that he’ll threaten democracy if he becomes president someday.

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