You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It seems this adage encompasses the entirety of Chris Matthews’ programming on Hardball. There is no nuance in labeling President Trump as a racist, however that does not deter Matthews from partaking in this practice as a routine. In fact, Tuesday night’s Hardball episode could be seen as a rerun to those who are not loyal viewers.
Tuesday embarked on night two of nonstop, wall- to- wall coverage of President Trump’s “racist comments” aimed at freshmen Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley. In speaking of the House resolution to condemn President Trump’s comments (which only four Republicans voted in favor of), Matthews began:
The Republican Party, I was saying this to Michael before, they have been hiding in the corner for months if two years now, saying “you know I don't really like the way this guy tweets or talks. I don't even really like his character even, but like I his tax cuts and I like his deregulation and his rah-rah.” Here is a clear, surgical vote today to say to all that,” we don't like his behavior, his character.” This was about the character, about the language the President's used and they walked away from it, except for four members, they all went down the line like lemmings.
New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg couldn’t have agreed more as she made some truly startling accusations bashing millions of her fellow Americans:
That's right and I think that, well first of all, I'm not sure how many of the Republicans who do say that they really condemn Trump's behavior actually have a history of being anti-racist or having any real problem with racism. But more than that, they know that their constituents, particularly in the more red districts, it's precisely the racism that makes them so enthusiastic about Trump.
As if those statements were not appalling enough, Matthews continued to spew alarming and inflammatory rhetoric throughout the evening. Some examples are cited below (click “expand”):
Professor Dyson, it looks to me like that vote today was a codification of the charge that MAGA is really white nationalism.
(….)
He has taken the Republican Party hostage. They are basically all POW’s, they do anything he wants. They say anything he wants and he has no connection historically to the party.
(….)
Well, Sunday's racist tweets by him directed at four minority congresswomen showed the President is willing to use the same type of rhetoric to solidify his base ahead of the 2020 campaign as he used in 2016.
Later, in a truly bizarre moment that solidified how out of touch Matthews is with the religious portion of the American populace, he seemed to compare President Trump to Jesus in a degrading fashion: “You know, guys and Michelle, every time Trump says something sort of biblical and New Testament he puts his hands up like Jesus like the Bible pictures do. I watched that little hand raise, he makes those little fingers a circle with three fingers in the air and then you speak the divine truth.”
No amount of words in the English language could adequately describe the absurdity of what comes out of Matthews’s mouth. Suffice to say he is a grown man who makes millions to throw temper tantrums for a living.
Transcript below:
MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews
July 16, 2019
10:09 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: The Republican Party, I was saying this to Michael before, they have been hiding in the corner for months if two years now, saying “you know I don't really like the way this guy tweets or talks. I don't even really like his character even, but like I his tax cuts and I like his deregulation and his rah-rah.” Here is a clear, surgical vote today to say to all that,” we don't like his behavior, his character.” This was about the character, about the language the President's used and they walked away from it, except for four members, they all went down the line like lemmings.
MICHELLE GOLDBERG: That's right and I think that, well first of all, I'm not sure how many of the Republicans who do say that they really condemn Trump's behavior actually have a history of being anti-racist or having any real problem with racism. But more than that, they know that their constituents, particularly in the more red districts, it's precisely the racism that makes them so enthusiastic about Trump. I think one of the things that we've discovered in these last three years is that a lot of the base of the Republican Party was never that excited about Republican economic policies. It was not excited about the tax cuts. It's never been excited about laissez faire economics or a libertarian approach to regulation. What thrills them is the white nationalism and so it is very difficult, I think, for most members of the Republican Party to distance themselves from white nationalism without bringing on the rage and a possible primary challenge from their base, right? I think Trump has an accurate assessment of what moves the people who vote for him.
MATTHEWS: Professor Dyson, it looks to me like that vote today was a codification of the charge that MAGA is really white nationalism.
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: No doubt. I think Ms. Goldberg has brilliantly articulated that. It is the principle premise and predicate of this man's engagement politically, and it’s his appeal to people beyond the intelligence of the actor, the citizen, the person he confronts. He appeals directly to an emotional resonance and a response. He is a genius at that. A demented genius, but a genius nonetheless. He understands the manipulation. He understands how to characterize things and encapsulate them in bite-sized digestible form, and he does it both politically. He does it economically and socially, but he does it in terms of the politics of representation and he knew exactly what he was doing, and he knows by standing up for this principle, he will organize the logic of white supremacy across the country.
(....)
7:15 p.m. EasternMATTHEWS: Okay, here is the scary thing. Michelle Goldberg, I thought then when W. was President, it wasn't like a great leader was President who had a great oratorical ability or emotional connection with the people. He had very limited connection. He was a hiya fella, kind of back of the slap, I married up and all that ole bull — B.S. stuff. But he took us into a war that cost the lives of 100,000 people. Now this President has done something different. He has taken the Republican Party hostage. They are basically all POW’s, they do anything he wants. They say anything he wants and he has no connection historically to the party.
DYSON: And they have Stockholm Syndrome.
GOLDBERG: Well —
MATTHEWS: And how’d he do this, Michelle? How’d he make —
GOLDBERG: Well, again, I think take —
MATTHEWS: — Republicans like Kevin McCarthy is not a stupid guy. Why is he saying stupid stuff today?
(....)
7:22 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: You know, guys and Michelle, every time Trump says something sort of biblical and New Testament he puts his hands up like Jesus like the Bible pictures do. I watched that little hand raise, he makes those little fingers a circle with three fingers in the air and then you speak the divine truth. There he was, Michelle, trashing the country again and again to get elected. Now anyone who dares speaks in that way against our country should go home to wherever their grandparents came from.
(....)
7:23 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Let me talk to you about, Professor, about this race thing in big cities. Now I grew up in a big city but not really downtown, but in a city with the high school kids from, you know and there’s — there’s neighborhood fights, the Italian neighborhoods, the black neighborhoods. There was there’s — that all went on. There was rivalry and then there was also nicknames that weren't so nice and does Trump come from that? I sometimes get the sense he's sort of from that urban hostility from maybe 50 years ago.
(....)
7:34 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: President Trump was elected by embracing a hard line immigration policy, of course, promoting a Muslim ban, of course, and unabashedly using racially tinged language, of course. And as President, he refused to condemn a neo-Nazi rally, of course, in Charlottesville. Well, Sunday's racist tweets by him directed at four minority congresswomen showed the President is willing to use the same type of rhetoric to solidify his base ahead of the 2020 campaign as he used in 2016. His remarks were condemned from some of the country's major newspapers from Florida to Pittsburgh, even in Topeka, Kansas. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch for example wrote that the presidents quotes, quote these are quotes “racist rant” crossed a new line. The Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote the president was tapping into, “his tool kit of racism.” Those were the words, by attacking the congresswoman. The Charlotte Observer asked Republicans if they were “OK with a racist president?” Again, the word.
