Roughly 24 hours after the first pitch of the now-epic game seven of the World Series that was later won by the Chicago Cubs, MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews dedicated on Thursday his closing “Election Diary” to comparing Hillary Clinton to the Cubs in that while Donald Trump has closed in on her in the polls, she will still win the presidency on Tuesday
Matthew started by noting that he’s often provided his election predictions on the Thursday beforehand but he first provided his criteria of “look[ing] at the match-up” and “check[ing] the wind direction and project where things will stand on Tuesday.”
He noted that Clinton remains ahead in many of the polls but in terms of “wind direction and velocity” (aka momentum), it’s on Trump’s side in light of the bombshell FBI letter on Friday and subsequent stories about what the FBI may or may not be investigating.
It was then that Matthews introduced his lame World Series analogy:
Okay, I’ll say it. I watched the seventh game of the World Series and here's what happened and why I think it's happening for Hillary Clinton right now. The Cubs got into the lead. They had the bats and then Raja Davis hit that three-run homer in the eighth to tie up the game for Cleveland. That's when Trump did with the FBI report last Friday. Tied it up.
Even though the Indians tied the game in the eighth inning, Matthews made clear that like the Cubs eventually won, “Hillary, in this case, has the bats” since “[s]he's still out there hammering Trump with the personal stuff” and not taking the “high road” like Bernie Sanders did in dismissing her e-mail scandal.
“When she spots a weakness, Hillary Clinton — she pounds it and keeps pounding it. She knows the game. Bernie didn't. You have to tell our troops that he wants or you want to win more than they do. Otherwise, they wonder who's leading the army in the first place,” Matthews added.
He then concluded with a smirk as he ruled that Hillary, like the Cubs, will emerge victorious: “So, even though this contest hasn’t gone into overtime, it just feels that way. Trump got his rally, but Hillary isn’t — well, isn't she from Chicago? She's got the bats. I'm still looking at her.”
The relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on November 3 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
November 3, 2016
7:58 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Election Diary, Thursday, November 3rd, 2016. Thursday before election is usually my time to make a prediction. I have a simple method. Look at the match-up right now, check the wind direction and project where things will stand on Tuesday. While clearly, Hillary Clinton has a few points ahead right now, she is ahead. That's the easy part. Now to check wind direction and velocity and there's the problem. Is it still in Trump's direction as it's been ever since last Friday or did Hillary changed the subject back to his personal conduct over the years? Okay, I’ll say it. I watched the seventh game of the World Series and here's what happened and why I think it's happening for Hillary Clinton right now. The Cubs got into the lead. They had the bats and then Raja Davis hit that three-run homer in the eighth to tie up the game for Cleveland. That's when Trump did with the FBI report last Friday. Tied it up. I still think the Cubs, Hillary in this case, has the bats. She's still out there hammering Trump with the personal stuff. Forget the talk of high road. She’s hitting him where he's bleeding. None of this is enough about the damn — none of this — none of this — remember Bernie saying enough of the damned e-mails? You don’t get that from her. When she spots a weakness, Hillary Clinton — she pounds it and keeps pounding it. She knows the game. Bernie didn't. You have to tell our troops that he wants or you want to win more than they do. Otherwise, they wonder who's leading the army in the first place. So, even though this contest hasn’t gone into overtime, it just feels that way. Trump got his rally, but Hillary isn’t — well, isn't she from Chicago? She's got the bats. I'm still looking at her and that's Hardball for now. Thank you for being with us.
