Rachel Maddow Has to Take Commercial Break Near End of Show, Skipping Over Kim Klacik’s RNC Speech

Maryland congressional nominee Kim Klacik used her brief appearance tonight during the Republican National Convention to encourage members of her party not to give up on running in cities that are Democratic strongholds.

Klacik was invited to speak after drawing President Donald Trump’s eye with a viral campaign ad, in which she walks through a blighted neighborhood and tells viewers, “Black people don’t have to vote Democrat” and she struck a similar tone during Monday’s prerecorded speech.

Viewers on MSNBC, however, were unable to hear the speech after Rachel Maddow used the time to take a “quick” commercial break for two minutes, the entirety of Klacik’s speech.

Managing editor of NewsBusters, Curtis Houck wondered, “Is MSNBC — dare I say it — racist? Rachel Maddow pulls the plug on covering the #GOPConvention at 8:51 p.m., skipping over ALL of @KimKBaltimore‘s speech.”

#BREAKING: Is MSNBC — dare I say it — racist? Rachel Maddow pulls the plug on covering the #GOPConvention at 8:51 p.m., skipping over ALL of @KimKBaltimore's speech. pic.twitter.com/OaIBdK22MY

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 25, 2020

Co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots Jenny Beth Martin said “Wow. MSNBC silenced a black Republican congressional candidate and chose to instead play an insurance commercial overlay as soon as she began speaking. Looks like they are very scared of @kimKBaltimore!”

Wow. MSNBC silenced a black Republican congressional candidate and chose to instead play an insurance commercial overlay as soon as she began speaking.

Looks like they are very scared of @kimKBaltimore!#RNCConvention2020 #RNC2020pic.twitter.com/CCMeewscey

— Jenny Beth Martin (@jennybethm) August 25, 2020

Here is the full speech:

From the Baltimore Sun:

Klacik filmed her remarks in West Baltimore, the scene of her video last week, as well as the location for videos last summer showing trash in the area that also caught the president’s attention.

Her convention remarks were shown just before 9 p.m. and ran two minutes.

Klacik, who is Black, said earlier Monday in an interview that she was aiming to spread a message that Republicans should not “write off” running in historically Democratic areas.

“I want Baltimore to be an example to Republicans around the country that we can compete in our inner cities if we reach out to the citizens and deliver real results,” she said during her remarks.

She compared herself to Democrat Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to serve in Congress and the first to seek the presidential nomination in 1972, while invoking Chisholm’s slogan.

“My name is Kim Klacik, and I’m running for Congress in Maryland’s 7th District, and like Shirley Chisholm, I’m ‘unbought and unbossed.‘”

Chisholm, of Brooklyn, New York, was a trailblazer who didn’t wait for the political establishment to sign off on her ambitions. When U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California last week accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination, becoming the first Black woman to do so, she, too, invoked Chisholm’s legacy. Harris cited her among Black women politicians and leaders who were inspirations.

Klacik also used her time to praise the president for “bringing the American spirit to life for all Americans.”

The Trump campaign described her as “a Black Republican running to represent Baltimore in Congress after Democrats have failed the city for 50 years.”

Still, she made her ardent support of Trump clear in her speech. Among Baltimore voters, the president lost badly to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“I’m asking you to help President Trump complete this great American comeback,” she told RNC viewers. “Then, I’m asking you to help me start this great Baltimore comeback.”