By Katherine Tinsley
8:52am PST, Feb 25, 2025
Reid and her fellow journalists appeared teary-eyed about the
Harvard graduate's exit.
"First, I want to say I love you, Joy, and I am bereft that
The ReidOut is ending," Maddow began.
"Find people who you respect and trust and love and make common cause with them, and help yourself by learning from them, and help them by standing up for them," she urged their audience.
Reid and Maddow were both vocal critics of
Donald Trump and hoped fans would continue to advocate for social causes.
"I think we have tried to do that, and I think that in important ways, we have failed, but I still think it's the right thing to try to do," Maddow stated.
"And so whether that means joining something locally or whether that means making some sort of unofficial common cause with people in your life who you respect and who you think are people you can depend on — like I feel about you — you've got to join forces," she noted.
Despite her show being canceled by the network, Reid made sure to acknowledge how Maddow protected MSNBC staffers amid network changes.
She declared that "no one fights for us harder in this company" than Maddow, calling her a "fearless leader."
Wallace praised the Harvard alum for her ability to "break the rules the way Rachel broke the rules and tell you that I love you."
"The happiest times I've had, not just at MSNBC, but ever being on television, have been sitting next to the two of you — no offense, Lawerence. We love having you there, too," the former White House communications officer tearfully stated.
According to Wallace, The ReidOut being canceled is "like losing a limb."
"[But] the only thing that chips away at that for me, is that despair is the autocrat's tool. It's their most effective weapon," Wallace said, seemingly referring to the Trump administration.
"It costs nothing, it's easy to deploy, it's contagious, and then it puts in motion all the actions they want: hopelessness, isolation, exasperation, giving up," she noted.
Wallace, who is a registered Republican, wanted to end Reid's program with a message of unity.
"And so the only reason I will not wallow in what I feel about you leaving is because I think that's what they want," Wallace stated.
O'Donnell announced he was "skipping the love stuff — we did that on Saturday."
Instead, he read from Reid's Medgar Evers biography Medgar and Myrlie.
"This is the decisive battleground for America," O'Donnell said, quoting civil rights activist Michael Schwerner, who was murdered by Ku Klux Klan members in 1964.
Although Schwerner's comments were made during the Civil Rights Movement, O'Donnell believes the point is similar to what is going on in today's cultural climate.
"Now that really feels like something someone said five minutes ago, or anytime this year," O'Donnell remarked.
O'Donnell thinks the public could learn a lot from Schwerner and his fight for justice and equality.
"That choice is there for everybody all the time," he stressed.
"Michael Schwerner didn't join a political campaign. He didn't need a leader to tell him what to do. He just did it. He just got on that bus and he went to Mississippi and he just did it," O'Donnell concluded. "And everyone can just do it."
