Flashback: MSNBC was hysterical, certain about impending death of democracy in midterm elections

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Flashback: MSNBC panics that democracy will end if Republicans see midterm success

MSNBC figures claimed that democracy was at stake and would cease to exist should Democrats fail in the 2022 midterms.

While liberal media figures on MSNBC appear pleased after a "red wave" didn't appear to materialize in this week's midterms, they previously spent months forcefully declaring that the November elections could mark the end of democracy in the United States. 

A majority of voters in various polls did show concern about the state of American democracy, but exit polls from NBC, MSNBC, and CNN did not see threats to democracy crack the list of most important issues as people left the voting booth. 

However, the topic came up daily on major media networks, with guests, hosts, reporters and commentators on MSNBC predicting a dire endgame for American rights, including free and fair elections. 

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But, on Election Day, some media pundits, such as "All In" host Chris Hayes, began to backpedal on their strong declarations of America’s decimation. 

"I don't think a GOP victory this week signals the End of Democracy," Hayes tweeted on Tuesday while Americans were still voting. "There's no final, definitive moment. There will remain many means of democratic resistance to authoritarian aspirations that the broad pro-democratic majority will have to use: courts, protest, elections, etc."

Six days earlier, Hayes gave his opening monologue in front of a massive ominous chyron reading "Six days to save democracy."

In that episode, he interviewed left-wing NBC historian Michael Beschloss, who made headlines when he warned, "We could be six days away from losing our rule of law, and losing a situation where we have elections that we all can rely on. You know, those are the foundation stones of a democracy."

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MSNBC "All In" host Chris Hayes has frequently warned about existential threats to democracy.  (Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Beschloss later added that "whether we will be a democracy in the future, whether our children will be arrested and conceivably killed," was at stake in the upcoming election. 

Hayes himself, as well as colleague Mehdi Hasan, have panicked about democracy’s impending doom on more than a few occasions leading up to Nov. 8. 

On Oct. 9, Hasan said that if election-denier Republicans win in November, it looked like democracy would be over and that "fascism is here to stay."

"If [Republicans] lose we get maybe another insurrection, domestic terrorism, a civil war, God forbid," Hasan added, bolstering his intense prediction.

Similar messages were disseminated repeatedly across the network since early 2021. 

On MSNBC’s "The Cross Connection" in April, political strategist Fernand Amandi claimed that Democrats would have to prevail in the midterm elections; otherwise they will be "turning over the democracy" to Republicans.

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The ReidOut guest Fernand Amandi previously claimed that country is in a battle between "democracy and fascism." (MSNBC)

"We’ve seen this party become radicalized. We’ve seen this party become completely unfit for the mainstream and untethered from democracy" Amandi added. "And if you turn control of this government over to the Republicans, you are turning over the democracy."

During an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Oct. 18, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell said that democracy and the January 6 Committee were at risk of destruction should Democrats see defeat. 

"If the Republicans take over the House it dies with the end of this Congress," Mitchell said. 

Days later, MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson interrupted a live report from Kelly O’Donnell to opine on the threats to democracy stemming from the Republican Party. O’Donnell, reporting from the White House, was discussing a temporary block on testimony from Lindsey Graham to the January 6 committee, discussing its importance to the case and the issue of democracy. 

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"Yeah. Which is at stake in this election as you well know. Especially with so many election-denying Republicans running for some of these secretary of state races, for example, gubernatorial, attorney general," Jackson interjected. 

One of the earliest dismal predictions for the midterms came from MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch back on Feb. 16. Deutsch, at the time, told the "Morning Joe" panel that he was not overstating things when he said that democracy was on the line in the midterm elections. 

"We are on the precipice," Deutsch said. "If we don’t get this right this time, if we don’t get this right this time—it’s over. You put McCarthy back in, you put Trump back in, our democracy is over. I’m not overstating it. That’s where we’re at."