It’s been a long day for old man Chris Matthews. Hosting Hardball on Thursday night after opining all day on the blockbuster Jim Comey Senate hearing, Matthews used his daily “Trump Watch” commentary to compare President Trump to Zimbabwe’s murderous dictator Robert Mughabe who ignores critics and operates with absolute rule.
Matthews stated that “[t]his whole mess” regarding Comey and the Russia investigation “is a tragedy of errors, a President who refuses to accept the limited powers of his office” and hasn’t accepted the notion that “Presidents are not dictators.”
Somewhere, Trevor Noah saw the following Matthews comment and smiled with glee:
You get elected to the office in this country. You are not Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. You don't ask people to kneel before you. You don't demand loyalty pledges. You don't tell the country's chief law enforcement executive to drop cases because they might reach too close to you. Donald Trump seems determined to reshape the office of President, the federal government and the way we govern ourselves in this country he way of doing business in Trump Tower.
Matthews continued by stating the obvious that Trump hasn’t made any changes to his management style since assuming office, fretting: “He seems headed for four years of trying to do it his way, to find people to come to work for him who tell him he's great at way he's doing it already.”
Being a former Tip O’Neill aide, Matthews naturally brought up Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra scandal to lecture Trump about how presidents eventually learn the limits of their power:
Well, this is going to end bad until someone intervenes with Donald Trump, sits down with him and explains even our greatest, most visionary presidents needed to learn they are not dictators. Franklin Roosevelt learned it when he tried to pack the Supreme Court. Ronald Reagan learned when he let Iran-Contra get out of hand. We're better off in this country when we have presidents who learn and learn early the constitutional efforts of their office and make the best of it.
After a meltdown earlier Thursday, this milder one concluded: “Donald Trump is still on the wrong side of learning that, still short of a needed intervention. His dealings with James Comey are already in the history book. He should study this chapter before he goes on.”
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on June 8:
MSNBC’s Hardball
June 8, 2017
7:58 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Trump watch, Thursday, June 8th, 2017. You know you're in trouble when you have to bring in a $1,500-an-hour lawyer from the big city. Donald Trump was driven to that today by the sworn testimony of the FBI director he fired. He should have known better, known better than to try and manipulate Director James Comey, known better than to demand he give him a personal oath of loyalty, known better than to ask he drop the Bureau's investigation of Michael Flynn, known better than to attack Comey's character with what Comey today said were lies about the FBI. This whole mess is a tragedy of erres a President who refuses to accept the limited powers of his office. Presidents are not dictators. You get elected to the office in this country. You are not Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. You don't ask people to kneel before you. You don't demand loyalty pledges. You don't tell the country's chief law enforcement executive to drop cases because they might reach too close to you. Donald Trump seems determined to reshape the office of President, the federal government and the way we govern ourselves in this country he way of doing business in Trump Tower. There's no evidence so far that’s he’s learning that lesson, that he's capable of learning. He seems headed for four years of trying to do it his way, to find people to come to work for him who tell him he's great at way he's doing it already. Well, this is going to end bad until someone intervenes with Donald Trump, sits down with him and explains even our greatest, most visionary presidents needed to learn they are not dictators. Franklin Roosevelt learned it when he tried to pack the Supreme Court. Ronald Reagan learned when he let Iran-Contra get out of hand. We're better off in this country when we have presidents who learn and learn early the constitutional efforts of their office and make the best of it. Donald Trump is still on the wrong side of learning that, still short of a needed intervention. His dealings with James Comey are already in the history book. He should study this chapter before he goes on.
