On Monday, political commentator Charlie Sykes made a guest appearance on MSNBC's Hardball With Chris Matthews, wherein he disparaged both President Trump and his base. Among his bolder assertions was the claim that the President's base didn't care "whether he actually accomplishes anything," so long as they saw him "fighting."
Matthews first asked Sykes to offer his opinion on recent statements made by conservative columnist Ann Coulter, who had threatened that Trump stood to lose his base's support if he failed to deliver on his immigration-related campaign promises. "I'm actually not sure that Ann Coulter is right," Sykes began. "What we've seen about The Trump base is that they don't actually hold him accountable for whether he actually accomplishes anything." He concluded, "They just want to see him fighting."
This analysis intrigued Matthews. "So as long as you're viscerally hating?" he paraphrased. "In other words, if you are really resenting immigrants – illegal immigrants in this case. If you're really showing your rage at them..." At this point, all those present on the panel got the gist of his point, but he continued nonetheless:
...by screwing the dreamers, the DACA people, as long as you're enraged, it doesn't matter if you fail in your major goal, which is to stop illegal immigration with a wall – I mean, that was the way he was going to do it. And you’re saying, as long as he is angry like they are, it doesn't matter if he’s incompetent.
"Yeah," Sykes confirmed. To substantiate the point, he added. "I mean, even Ann Coulter says that she never believed that the Mexicans were going to pay for that wall."
As the conversation continued, Matthews grew frustrated upon recounting the President's failure to secure meaningful border wall funding in the recent omnibus bill. He maintained that Trump had been foolhardy to attempt to restrict "what they called chain migration, or whatever they call it," while negotiating a deal for the DACA program, and that he should have traded amnesty in exchange for "some wall" in the omnibus bill. "That was the deal that would have made sense, because Schumer wanted that deal," he griped.
Sykes had another hot take to offer on DACA. After characterizing the debate as "the lowest-hanging fruit" in the greater political firefight over border security, he remarked, "Nobody is really angry about, or thinks that it's fair to deport, you know, children who were brought here without any culpability on their own part."
If pressed, Sykes likely would have had a hard time proving that "nobody" was interested in repealing DACA. This peculiar claim was also at odds with Matthews's summary of his position: that Trump's base would support him so long as he was "screwing the dreamers," which Sykes had agreed with just minutes earlier.
Click below to read a partial transcript of the segment:
MSNBC’s Hardball With Chris Matthews
04/02/2018
7:23 – 7:28 p.m. Eastern7:23
CHARLIE SYKES: I’m actually not sure that Ann Coulter is right. What we’ve seen about the Trump base is that they don’t actually hold him accountable for whether he actually accomplishes anything. They just want to see him fighting. And I think that's what you're seeing over the weekend, you know, his Easter celebration by talking about deporting young children, you know, and the whole DACA thing. But I think, again, that this is the concern that you do not want the Ann Coulters of the world to create a movement known as former-Trumpers.CHRIS MATTHEWS: So as long as you're viscerally hating. In other words, if you are really resenting immigrants, illegal immigrants in this case, if you're really showing your rage at them by screwing the dreamers, the DACA people. As long as you're enraged, it doesn't matter if you fail in your major goal, which is to stop illegal immigration with a wall. I mean, that was the way he was going to do it. And you’re saying, as long as he is angry like they are, it doesn't matter if he’s incompetent.
SYKES: Yeah, I mean, even Ann Coulter says that she never believed that the Mexicans were going to pay for that wall.
(...)
7:26
MATTHEWS: It's not my job to help him out. But it seemed to me if, he hadn't listened to the red hots about what they called chain migration or whatever they call it, or family reunification most people call it, and diversity lotteries, if he had ignored all that clatter from those people, having just ignored it and said, “You know what? Straight trade-off. I'll give you DACA to the people but I want some wall built.” He could’ve cut that deal, and put it in the continuing resolution, and he’d have been advanced now. He’d have gotten the wall moving and DACA off his back. He is listening to the wrong people. Why should I advise him? But he is. That was the deal that would have made sense, because Schumer wanted that deal.(...)
7:28
SYKES: Look, the reason we’re talking about DACA is because that is the lowest hanging fruit in the immigration debate. Nobody is really angry about, or thinks that it's fair to deport – you know, children who were brought here without any culpability on their own part. The reason we're talking about this is because the compromise should have been so easy.
