We’ve got another one, ya’ll. I thought Melissa Harris-Perry’s utterly illogical talking point about Detroit serving as an example of what “Republicans would impose on us” was bad, but this… Do you think that maybe he actually believes what he’s saying, or that he’s just straight-up lying through his teeth because there is literally no good way to spin Detroit’s fiscal collapse as anything other than the inevitable conclusion of a total progressive utopia without peddling outright falsehoods? Because, according to Mr. Schultz — and stay with him here, because there’s a good chance you might not have realized this — Detroit’s ruin was actually the end result of a conservative utopia. Is your mind blown, or what?

Michigan used to be a symbol of industrial strength in manufacturing in this country. But thanks to a lot of Republican policies, the city is now filing for bankruptcy. Now, it’s the largest public sector bankruptcy in U.S. history, and the consequences could be devastating if you care about people. The already small force of police, firefighters and EMTs are in danger of future layoffs, that’s only going to make it worse. Roughly 30,000 retired workers are concerned about their pensions. You know, what they’re counting on. Make no mistake, Detroit is exactly what the Republicans want. They outsourced manufacturing jobs, attack unions, cut public services, and this is the result. Now they can wipe the slate clean because now they can start privatizing city assets.

Okay, Ed. Let’s go ahead and forget the fact that a large and liberal government made extravagant promises over the decades that it had no way of keeping; and that one of Detroit’s largest employers has been the city itself, and the now shrinking public employee force and benefits getting cut are because of the city’s utter lack of fiscal sustainability, not because of some draconian Republican budget-cutting victory; and that unions have absolutely dominated Detroit and its politics for decades, and Michigan’s first right-to-work law only went into effect less than six months ago, and that one of the appeals of right-to-work is in fact keeping workers economically competitive and thereby prevent outsourcing; and I’m not sure exactly how emergency financial manager Kevin Orr “failed” when none of the concerned parties would give an inch in negotiations, nor what Ed’s suggestions are for what Orr should have done instead, but whatever — never mind all that. Republicans, guys. Those damn Republicans. Amirite?