If one day of stupid wasn’t enough, MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews reiterated his concerns on Thursday night that President-elect Donald Trump has undermined the credibility of the news media to the point that he’s fearful people won’t believe movie times printed in newspapers.
Matthews led off the show with former Obama official Stephanie Cutter and former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele and whined that he won’t ever grow used to Trump attacking critics, including the media, due to the consequences.
What type of consequences does Matthews speak of? Of course, he’s talking about what time movies start!
“The thing is that I do believe that he’s convincing with 34 — 30 to 40 percent of the country that voted for him and they have to believe it because they’re invested in him. He’s their hope, so when the moon is made of blue cheese, are they going to believe it? If he’s going to say the movie starts at 8:30 when it starts at 7:00, they are going to be mad at him if people still go to the movies,” Matthews foolishly claimed.
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Despite being covered extensively on Wednesday, Matthews insisted on continuing to paint a doomsday scenario where the American people will no longer conduct their lives in facts due to a Trump presidency.
The MSNBC personality made no attempt to detail how the media have largely damaged themselves through false and fake stories (in addition to huge errors like this one) but instead worried that “those who actually report the news” have a lot to lose in the next four years.
“You know, reporters, correspondents, the wires, Associated Press, Reuters, Agence French-Presse — the people who bring us the facts like when the movie starts, what day of the week something is scheduled for, facts like that like Tokyo is the capital of Japan,” Matthews opined.
He concluded Hardball with this theme plus a misleading claim that Russia assisted in the actual election of Trump:
Well, this is the stuff Trump tends to attack. Facts. Same with the Intel boys. He doesn't like them because they tell us things like it's the Russians who helped him win the election by throwing out all those e-mails from the Democratic National Committee. So, now we've got someone coming to town, not St. Nick, keeping a list and checking it twice, wants to find out who's naughty or nice. Well, we're on to who Trump sees as naughty, the media and the CIA. Who's been nice to him? Cuddly little Vladimir Putin, Trump's teeny-weeny little Russian elf.
Earlier in the show, Matthews and Cutter bemoaned a Trump tweet referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as a “clown.” As with most Trump tweets (whether criticism is warranted or not), their outrage meter was well north of 10.
“Well, Schumer’s a tough customer. You know, I always say about Chuck Schumer, he’s an acquired taste and I’ve acquired it. It takes awhile. He’s a rough New Yorker. He is very tough, but he is not a clown nor should he be called a clown in politics by — first of all, when you start calling the guy a clown. You got to meet with him the next morning man or woman. You have to negotiate the budget. You got to negotiate everything,” Matthews whined.
Despite Steele explaining that what Trump’s doing is simply part of “the new landscape that we’re going to be in,” Matthews shrieked that “[i]t doesn't work with Chuck, because he is not a clown.”
Here are the relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on January 5:
MSNBC’s Hardball
January 5, 2017
7:03 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, Schumer’s a tough customer. You know, I always say about Chuck Schumer, he’s an acquired taste and I’ve acquired it. It takes awhile. He’s a rough New Yorker. He is very tough, but he is not a clown nor should he be called a clown in politics by — first of all, when you start calling the guy a clown. You got to meet with him the next morning man or woman. You have to negotiate the budget. You got to negotiate everything.
MICHAEL STEELE: But that's the next morning and I think what we need to do — first off, is just get used it because this is the new landscape that we're going to be in. Donald Trump has way of identifying and pegging his opponents.
(....)
STEELE: This is political weapon for him. It’s also a political tool for him and he uses it expertly. There's a reason why he calls Chuck Schumer a clown. He’s put that label out there.
MATTHEWS: Why? Give me the reason.
STEELE: Because — because it’s a part of a narrative that he’s going to create downstream in the eyes of the voters who begin to look at him in that frame of mind.
(....)
MATTHEWS: It doesn't work with Chuck, because he is not a clown.
CUTTER: You’re right. He’s not a clown.
(....)
MATTHEWS: I'm not going to get used to it. The thing is that I do believe that he’s convincing with 34 — 30 to 40 percent of the country that voted for him and they have to believe it because they’re invested in him. He’s their hope, so when the moon is made of blue cheese, are they going to believe it? If he’s going to say the movie starts at 8:30 when it starts at 7:00, they are going to be mad at him if people still go to the movies. But, I mean, the fact is —
STEELE: Well, I think you’re right about — I mean, yeah, there is a limit. That’s your point. There is a limit to this and I think, for Donald Trump, in his particular universe given this playground that we’re now a part of.
(....)
MATTHEWS: Trump Watch, Thursday, January 5, 2017. Two weeks before the inaugural and we're still getting an odd — I mean crazy — breakout of who the new president's friends and enemies are. Let's start with the enemies, it's a longer list. He doesn't like the media, we're his enemies. He doesn't like the intelligence community. You know, the CIA, people like that. Notice the pattern? The new man doesn't like anyone, anything that reports fact. I'm not talking about columnists and commentators. The people in Trump's list put coal in their stockings are those who actually report the news. You know, reporters, correspondents, the wires, Associated Press, Reuters, Agence French-Presse — the people who bring us the facts like when the movie starts, what day of the week something is scheduled for, facts like that like Tokyo is the capital of Japan. Well, this is the stuff Trump tends to attack. Facts. Same with the Intel boys. He doesn't like them because they tell us things like it's the Russians who helped him win the election by throwing out all those e-mails from the Democratic National Committee. So, now we've got someone coming to town, not St. Nick, keeping a list and checking it twice, wants to find out who's naughty or nice. Well, we're on to who trump sees as naughty, the media and the CIA. Who's been nice to him? Cuddly little Vladimir Putin, Trump's teeny-weeny little Russian elf. Richard Nixon ain't shown us nothing. This guy is popping into town with his enemies list already checked and ready to go.
