Our friends at Mediaite flagged down quite the exchange on the Thursday edition of MSNBC’s The Beat in which comedian Sinbad declared that the current incarnation of Donald Trump is “post-dementia Donald Trump who just loves picking fights cause...he’s a lonely man” and one of many “keyboard gangsters” on Twitter who are far less tough in person.
Host Ari Melber first observed to Sinbad in a taped interview that “Donald Trump seems to obsess over a lot of people who come out of the culture who have either success, fame or credibility” and thus wondered: “Why do you think he's picking some of these fights with everyone from the NFL to de Niro?”
Sinbad responded that he’s noticing “two different Donald Trump[s]” with the first one being from the 1990s “that did all the fights, I was doing the casinos where you Mike Tyson there, you had, you know, Don — Don King promoting the fights” and “hanging out with hip hop cats.”
As for the current incarnation, Sinbad argued that Trump’s “post-dementia” and “just loves picking fights cause I think he’s a lonely man” who “never really had a lot of friends” and thus “wants to be popular.”
“He wants to be a celebrity and he loves being able to Twitter slam people because you don't have to see them face to face. He's not good with that,” he added.
Melber invoked Drake to inquire if Sinbad agreed with the rapper’s assertion that “people with Twitter fingers sometimes aren't as hardcore when you meet them in person.”
Sinbad agreed, dubbing Trump one of those “keyboard gangsters” that “wouldn’t hurt a fly” since “they live behind the keyboard.”
When it comes to explaining why Trump ran for president, Sinbad gave his best analysis, including the claim that he had to have had some sort of “mental deficiency”:
No. The win for him was to get a show, to go almost to the goal line, not win, pull up a hamstring move — pull a hamstring and to get your TV show, cause he could have always said. I could have won. I could have won. They didn’t want me to win. I’m too good. I’m too truthful. I’m too different. See, it’s easy — it takes the perfect trifecta. You got to be rich, I mean, filth rich where you don’t need the job, you can throw anything out there, you don't care and then you’ve got to have a little of a — a mental deficiency.
On the subject of Sinbad, he was a passenger on Hillary Clinton’s infamous trip to Bosnia and did not agree with Clinton’s recollection of coming under sniper fire, recalling: “I think the only ‘red-phone’ moment was: ‘Do we eat here or at the next place.’”
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber on July 5, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber
July 5, 2018
6:48 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Culture Shock]
ARI MELBER: Pressure works on Donald. He’s weighing the pressure on his supreme court picks this week. Tonight, he buckled to critics and ousted his Environmental chief Scott Pruitt, so it’s no surprise how often Trump tries to change the subject under pressure and bring up culture wars from the NFL to attacking liberal artists like Robert de Niro and Samantha Bee. My next guest is a comedian making his debut on The Beat, Sinbad, known for his social commentary, whose crossed paths with Trump, doing a stint on Celebrity Apprentice. Joining me now is the one and only, Sinbad. Thanks for being here, and I've got to say, you look good out there.
SINBAD: Man, you know what? It's the sun, it’s that the California sun, man, it hits you and makes everything right, brother
MELBER: Weather goes a long way and with these politics and the culture war we've been talking about, good weather, I think, anyone could use. Let's start there, you're a figure in the culture. Donald Trump seems to obsess over a lot of people who come out of the culture who have either success, fame or credibility. Why do you think he's picking some of these fights with everyone from the NFL to de Niro?
SINBAD: You know what, man? He — that is what I feel. This is what I really feel about the Pres — first of all, you remember there's two different Donald Trump. There’s the Donald Trump of the 90s that did all the fights, I was doing the casinos where you Mike Tyson there, you had, you know, Don — Don King promoting the fights. He's hanging out with hip hop cats and now, you’ve got this — this other one, I think, the post-dementia Donald Trump who just loves picking fights cause I think he’s a lonely man. I think this man never really had a lot of friends. He wants to be popular. He wants to be a celebrity and he loves being able to Twitter slam people because you don't have to see them face to face. He's not good with that.
MELBER: Are you suggesting that not unlike Drake's observation, people with Twitter fingers sometimes aren't as hardcore when you meet them in person?
SINBAD: Ah man. They’re keyboard gangsters. Man, most keyboard gangsters, man, wouldn’t hurt a fly, brother. That’s they live behind the keyboard.
MELBER: Comedians obviously look for the punchline. Do you think the joke was on Trump when you say that — that this was not supposed to end in him winning in his own mind.
SINBAD: No. The win for him was to get a show, to go almost to the goal line, not win, pull up a hamstring move — pull a hamstring and to get your TV show, cause he could have always said. I could have won. I could have won. They didn’t want me to win. I’m too good. I’m too truthful. I’m too different. See, it’s easy — it takes the perfect trifecta. You got to be rich, I mean, filth rich where you don’t need the job, you can throw anything out there, you don't care and then you’ve got to have a little of a — a mental deficiency.
MELBER: You’ve, as we point out, been critical of other people in politics. It’s not exactly ideological for you. Can the Democrats win by running on just not being Trump?
SINBAD: I — you know what, this is the first time, I don't know. We have to have — we have to have a candidate that we gonna say: “Hey, man, this cat is real.” And then if he’s real, we know we got to fight this other side. This other side is an army that’s mobilizing right now. We have to find someone that we can get behind and say, hey, this — not just can he beat Trump, can he change America? Can he make America be a better country? Can he be what’s best for everybody? I don’t think we’re ever going to go back to when two parties work together again.
MELBER: So you say —
SINBAD: I think that, once Barack Obama won — go ahead.
MELBER: — when you say real, people might wonder what do you mean by real?
SINBAD: A person that — as — cares about this country. When I say real, cares about this country. Understands politics, understands and cares about all people, whether it’s — it’s an immigrant who’s coming here, maybe it’s illegal, they’re trying to get here, but didn't, America — wasn’t America created because they wanted a better life?
MELBER: Sinbad, thank you for coming on the show. I should mention. Your new series, The Real, will air Sunday nights this fall on Fox. Thanks for being here.
SINBAD: Yes. Cool. My pleasure. Thank you so much.
