MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Lets Candidate Rail About His ‘Dangerous’ MAGA Opponent Without Asking Why He Spent $840K to Boost Him

Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) is “exhibit A” of just how extreme the modern Republican Party is, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace about his gubernatorial opponent. The Democrat, however, was not asked once about spending nearly $1 million on an ad widely viewed, even by Mastriano, as beneficial to the staunch Donald Trump supporter.

During a Friday exchange about the “dangerous” Mastriano on Deadline: White House, Shapiro gave numerous warnings about Mastriano potentially being elected, but he was never asked about a reported $840,000 his campaign spent on a campaign ad declaring the Republican as “one of Trump’s strongest supporters,” an ad Mastriano later joked earned Shapiro a “thank you card” from him.

Wallace kicked off her segment by tying Mastriano to the controversial website Gab, which was frequently used by a mass shooter who killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. Mastriano reportedly paid $5000 for “consulting” services, a fee that has earned him followers on the platform.

Shapiro honed in on this connection, even at one point reading anti-semitic comments on Mastriano posts, including “Jews are a cancer on society” and “good people must fight evil Jew filth.”

“Importantly, Doug Mastriano never contradicts that. He never speaks up and says, those anti-semitic or racist or alt-right extremist posts have no place in his campaign. Instead, he’s embracing them. He’s bringing them into his campaign,” Shapiro said, later adding his opponent is “dangerous. he is extreme, and he must be defeated.”

Wallace and Shapiro were in complete agreement on the Republican, with Wallace asking about a “sickness in the Republican Party” and Shapiro immediately referring to Mastriano as part of this supposed “cancer.”

“Well, we do have a cancer in our politics today, particularly those leading the modern day Republican Party. What we need to do is defeat it. And the way we do that is to defeat them at the polls. That’s why I’m working as hard as I am to beat Doug Mastriano,” Shapiro said.

It was one of multiple moments where a followup question about Shapiro’s massive ad spending would have been warranted as Shapiro has promoted this “cancer” with an expensive ad even Mastriano enjoyed. No followup question ever came though. Shapiro’s ad touted Mastriano’s Trump bonafides and argued a vote for him is a “a win for what Donald Trump stands for.”

The language of the ad almost stands in contrast to Shapiro’s interview. There is no calling him “dangerous” to democracy. It’s simply a list of Mastriano positions that would presumably make him appear to be a stronger Trumpian candidate, almost as if the ad itself was simply meant to help pit Shapiro against Mastriano in a general election — with the attorney general presumably believing this “dangerous” man would be easier to defeat. A politician politicking, who woulda thought?

The ad, though, does take the air out of Shapiro’s doomsday warnings. If Shapiro thought his opponent was such a threat, why would he help bolster him as his main opponent and help his state even flirt with what he’s now saying could be disaster? On MSNBC, Shapiro doesn’t have to worry about a question like that apparently.

Shapiro has been asked about the ad before after many viewed it as him boosting the Republican.

CNN’s Dana Bash asked Shapiro in May if it was irresponsible to boost Mastriano with the massive ad buy touting his connection to Trump. Shapiro responded simply, “What we did was start the general election campaign and demonstrate the clear contrast, the stark differences between he and I.”

No such question came from Wallace, though Shapiro had plenty of time to talk about how “very, very dangerous” the Republican is.

“Are you sure he’s going to fail? Are you sure that you can beat him, that you will beat him?” Wallace asked at one point.

“Nicolle, I’m working my tail off,” Shapiro said. “Anybody who knows me knows that.”

Spending $840,000 on an ad your opponent thanks you for is certainly working your tail off, but it’s also politics as usual, just as Shapiro’s interview with Wallace was.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.