President Trump was just acquitted on impeachment charges that Democrats threw against the wall in hopes that they would stick, so naturally MSNBC Live was upset that, unlike Bill Clinton, he refused to apologize and took a victory lap at the White House Thursday afternoon.
Guest host Chris Jansing began by lamenting the tone of the event, recalling to Washington Post White House correspondent Anne Gearan, "I took note of some things the president said about opponents, Anne. Sleazebags, leakers, liars, stone cold crazy, loathsome, dirty cops compared to his supporters who he called warriors."
She contrasted this with Clinton, "If we thought somehow that the 90 seconds where Bill Clinton came out and apologized after he was acquitted on articles of impeachment might in any way be reflected today, well we were sorely mistake, although I don't know if anyone actually thought that."
Gearan naturally agreed and praised Clinton, "Yeah, I mean that's kind of quaint, right? We knew that it wouldn't be Bill Clinton apologizing for what he had done, taking responsibility for it, but also sort of remarkably in hindsight apologizing for what he had put the country through, what he had put the Republican Congress through--"
Jansing interrupted to add, "Yeah, this is about what he has been put through it is the exact opposite." Gearan then continued, "It is the exact opposite. It was an hour long roughly as opposed to 90 seconds. I thought the Trump speech here was a pretty perfect encapsulation of how he sees his presidency, the way he sees the world, a preview of what's to come from the next year, the next five if he’s reelected."
Bill Clinton did apologize... after nearly eight months of lying and smearing of Ken Starr and Republicans. He only apologized after he got caught. Meanwhile with Trump, while the allegations against Clinton were fairly black and white and actual crimes, Democrats deliberately went with the gray charge of abuse of power because they didn't have the goods to accuse him of bribery or extortion.
Here is a transcript for the February 6 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Live with Velshi and Ruhle
1:28 PM ET
CHRIS JANSING: I took note of some things the president said about opponents, Anne. Sleazebags, leakers, liars, stone cold crazy, loathsome, dirty cops compared to his supporters who he called warriors. If we thought somehow that the 90 seconds where Bill Clinton came out and apologized after he was acquitted on articles of impeachment might in any way be reflected today, well we were sorely mistake, although I don't know if anyone actually thought that.
ANNE GEARAN: Yeah, I mean that's kind of quaint, right? We knew that it wouldn't be Bill Clinton apologizing for what he had done, taking responsibility for it, but also sort of remarkably in hindsight apologizing for what he had put the country through, what he had put the Republican Congress through--
JANSING: Yeah, this is about what he has been put through it is the exact opposite.
GEARAN: It is the exact opposite. It was an hour long roughly as opposed to 90 seconds. I thought the Trump speech here was a pretty perfect encapsulation of how he sees his presidency, the way he sees the world, a preview of what's to come from the next year, the next five if he’s reelected. It is always us against them, me against anybody who is perceived to have done him wrong and you saw him lining that up today. It was trench warfare. All the people in the trenches that he thought he done a good job he singled them out by name, lavished praise on them. Everyone starting with Peter Strzok and going all the way through even Colonel Vindman, right? Everybody was name checked who he perceives to be an enemy or had been an enemy and that is you what he thinks this was about. And it is how he will proceed from here.
