Appearing as a guest on Friday's All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, liberal Slate columnist and recurring MSNBC guest Michelle Goldberg asserted that Republicans are being "traitorous" by support President Donald Trump, and that they were giving their support so that they can get in return "tax cuts, voucherized Social Security, and forced childbirth." She also found Trump to be a "madman" and a "megalomaniac unstable demagogue" who is "wholly unsuitable to be President."
Near the end of the show which had been dominated by the political battle over President Trump's travel ban affecting several Muslim countries, substitute host Joy Reid recalled that some Democratic governors are trying to push back against President Trump, and posed: "Does it surprise you? We were talking with an executive, with a governor of a state that Trump does not seem to have adjusted to the role of executive of the United States, he seems to still essentially be in reality show mode."
The Slate columnist -- who also used to be with Newsweek and the Daily Beast -- took aim at President Trump as she responded:
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
No, because he's wholly unsuitable to be President of the United States. I mean, one of the bizarre things that you -- maybe you saw it, too, when you were covering this campaign, is that you would go out and talk to people and they were maybe a little bit skeptical of his demeanor at Trump rallies, but they assumed that beyond the brash persona was this sober business genius, right?
She added:
They assumed he's as rich as he is, he's been playing a mogul on television for however many years, that there was a person behind Trump who was not an erratic megalomaniac unstable demagogue. And what we very quickly learned is there is not. We have a madman in charge of this country. And so whatever institutions remain that can protect us are going to be the ones that -- if anything is to be salvaged of this country, it's going to be because governors and judges and people who aren't complicit in this regime step up.
Reid then fretted over Trump advisors Steve Bannon and General Michael Flynn as she followed up:
Yeah, and, you know, if he is a madman, then his Rasputin is somebody even more disturbing in a lot of ways, Steve Bannon. What does it say to you that we have not seen pushback in Washington from the professionals, the people who do politics and presumably do it for love of country? No pushback against the presence of Bannon or Flynn?
Goldberg accused Republicans of behaving like traitors as she responded: "I mean, you see pushback among Democrats, you see pushback among career diplomats. I think that you see a level of complicity among Republicans that I think is frankly traitorous."
After the MSNBC host remarked that Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan "seems to be willing to let him do whatever he wants," Goldberg added: "I think that they were willing to let him do whatever they want to this country if it means they get tax cuts, voucherized Social Security, and forced childbirth."
