It’s no surprise that certain elements on the right responded very poorly to Derek Chauvin’s conviction for murdering George Floyd — that’s the role they play in what passes for our political discourse and, while obnoxious, racist and demeaning, it’s certainly predictable. Less predictable have been the cringe-inducing comments coming from some who AGREE with the verdict. These included the Las Vegas Raiders, which responded by tweeted out “I Can Breathe 4-20-21” and Democratic strategist David Axelrod, who tweeted, “And for now, a nation can breathe again.”

As Jayar and John discuss in this clip from The Damage Report, their hearts were no doubt in the right place, but such efforts to “sloganize” George Floyd’s death and imply that the problem of police killings of people of color has been solved in any manner is simply tone deaf and exaggerates the level of change that has taken place in the wake of Floyd’s killing. But the worst response by far, the hosts agree, came from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who held a press conference and said, “Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice.”

Jayar clarifies for the Speaker that Floyd did not wake up that morning and decide to sacrifice his life for the cause of justice — he was murdered. He would no doubt have preferred to survive and leave the cause of solving the problems in the American criminal justice system to others, Jayar says.

Other points the two make include:

• Seven-year-old Megan of “Megan’s Law” fame similarly didn’t “sacrifice” her life to help solve the problem of child abduction
• Also, the Parkland kids didn’t “sacrifice” their lives in order to shine a spotlight on the issue of gun proliferation
• If Pelosi is so concerned about “justice” being done, why hasn’t she used her power as a leader to make it happen?
• The unspoken reality that Republican AND Democratic staffers on Capitol Hill are whispering about over the outcome of the Chauvin case