So much for standing up for decency. On the Thursday installment of MSNBC’s Hardball, host Chris Matthews and anti-Trump Republican J.W. Verret smeared House Republicans who support the President as “disgusting” and “junior officers behind Kim Jong-un in his rallies” who risk being murdered if they stray from or upset the country’s communist dictator in any way.
Of course, the pair did so without any irony considering reports of how a group of North Korean government officials were executed as a result of what was (at least for Kim) the failed February summit between Kim and President Trump in Vietnam.
Surprisingly, Verret first broached the subject by declaring that some House Republicans “just want to ride the President's coattails and they look like one of the junior officers behind Kim Jong-un in his rallies.”
“I mean, they are disgusting, these guys. Now, there are members of the Senate, I frankly think the members of the Senate should stay quiet. Remember, their role is the judge in impeachment. The House’s role is the grand jury,” he added. Again, this guy was somehow allowed to be on the Trump transition team even though he didn’t vote for Trump.
Matthews was enthralled with this, informing him that he “love[s] the reference to the — every time I watch one of those mass hall meetings at North Korean officialdom [sic] and just I figure those people taking notes, if your smile isn't exactly like the smile on both sides of you, if there’s — if you yawn, if you get caught asleep, you're dead in the next 24 hours literally.”
Apparently forgetting how he and many on the left kowtowed to Barack Obama, Matthews asserted that the GOP is so “disciplined” in a way that he’s “never seen a political party so in step.”
Former Gore and Obama official Jeremy Bash had plenty to say too, so the MSNBC national security analyst bashed Republicans as disregarding authoritarianism (click “expand”):
Well, not only are they in step, Chris, but they're also departing from their history. Ronald Reagan spoke of peace through strength, and even I'm old enough to remember when Republicans were tough on Russia, tough on the Soviet Union, the Reagan build up in defense was really to counter the Soviet menace as it was described, and here we have Republicans who are ostensibly tough on national security and they’re lining up behind the Commander in Chief who denigrates our military, denigrates our law enforcement, denigrates our intelligence, and sends love letters to Kim Jong-un, and embraces Vladimir Putin. How is that Republicanism? How is that peace through strength?
For good measure, Matthews reupped a doomsday scenario he had put forth on Wednesday that the Russians could ruin the 2020 election by messing with voting machines to which Verret responded by doing what he had done earlier in the segment, which was to defend Senate Republicans. For the President, though, Verrett ruled that not only is his “rhetoric...disgusting,” but “deplorable” and “treasonous.”
Earlier in the segment, Matthews and PBS NewsHour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor pontificated about Trump being an illegitimate President thanks to Russian hacking and the WikiLeaks e-mails with Alcindor insisting that Trump should just come lean and admit Russia gave him the presidency.
Here’s part of their banter (click “expand”):
MATTHEWS: But not everyone acknowledges the margin of victory came from the Ruskies. Can — do you think he would ever admit that?
ALCINDOR: I — I don’t. I feel this President, at least from what we’ve seen, he does not want to admit at all
MATTHEWS: I don’t think there’s anyway to know that.
ALCINDOR: — that the Russians had an impact and I think Robert Mueller's statements, beginning his statement and ending his statement with the fact that at the core of this is the idea that Russia interfered in our elections and let's not, as Americans, forget that. That also, I think, probably got — struck the President at least.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on May 30, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Hardball
May 30, 2019
7:08 p.m. EasternYAMICHE ALCINDOR: The tweet initially was something that was something of a real revelation by the President because over and over again he's been asked point-blank do you think Russia helped you get elected? He never wanted to say that. I remember in the historic — I would say now — Helsinki press conference where he says I don't know who to believe, Russia or my own intelligence communities, but the fact that the President backtracked wasn't surprising because the politics is the President doesn't want to say Russia helped him or that they really interfered in the election because he feels as though that would then question his own legitimacy. And that's at the heart of this. It’s this idea that, at his core, he doesn't want to be seen as someone who doesn't deserve the job that he has.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: But is it — well, in fairness to this President, if he acknowledged that the Russians helped him get elected, wouldn't that be seen by most people, especially his enemies as he admitted the Russians got him in office. I mean, that’s what he’s — the slippery slope is you're the Manchurian candidate, right?
ALCINDOR: Yeah, I mean, it would — it’s a real quandary. You could say, though, of course, I believe my intelligence communities, Russia clearly interfered in the election. I did not welcome their support. They probably did impact the election. At the end of the day, I still ran a good race. Hillary Clinton didn't. You could do — you could make that argument.
MATTHEWS: But not everyone acknowledges the margin of victory came from the Ruskies. Can — do you think he would ever admit that?
ALCINDOR: I — I don’t. I feel this President, at least from what we’ve seen, he does not want to admit at all
MATTHEWS: I don’t think there’s anyway to know that.
ALCINDOR: — that the Russians had an impact and I think Robert Mueller's statements, beginning his statement and ending his statement with the fact that at the core of this is the idea that Russia interfered in our elections and let's not, as Americans, forget that. That also, I think, probably got — struck the President at least.
(....)
7:13 p.m. Eastern
BARBARA MCQUADE: I'm not sure why he even gave a press conference yesterday other than perhaps to try to preempt congressional testimony.
MATTHEWS: Well, he didn't want to testify because he didn’t want to go before the Senate Republicans, did he?
GLENN KIRSCHNER: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: Glenn, can you imagine that hearing?
KIRSCHNER: No, that hearing would be a circus because you know the —
MATTHEWS: Lindsey Graham.
KIRSCHNER: — the Republicans would ask about everything except the President's conduct. I'm sure they’d ask questions about Hillary's e-mails, for God’s sake.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
KIRSCHNER: And the Democrats, I think, would also be frustrated because they would want Mueller to go beyond the four corners of his 448 pages and he’s already indicated he's not interested in doing that. Now, if he was placed under oath, he would have to answer those questions. So, we’ll see how that plays out.
MATTHEWS: Yamiche, why do you think he chose to do the eight minutes yesterday rather than accepting testimony and cross-questioning.
ALCINDOR: I think because he was trying to say the report is any testimony, please don't subpoena me because I don't want to go any farther than this support. I think that’s why he was signaling to Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, there's nothing more than I want to say here.
(....)
7:22 p.m. Eastern
J.W. VERRET: I think there are some especially in the House that just want to ride the President's coattails and they look like one of the junior officers behind Kim Jong-un in his rallies. I mean, they are disgusting, these guys. Now, there are members of the Senate, I frankly think the members of the Senate should stay quiet. Remember, their role is the judge in impeachment. The House's role is the grand jury. I think they should all stay quiet either way, and some of them have been good at pushing back at Trump where they think they can make a difference, Rand Paul on immigration issues, Ben Sasse on trade. But some of them, there are a few heroes in the House, but Justin certainly is one and I predicted it would be Justin.
(....)
7:23 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: You know, I love the reference to the — every time I watch one of those mass hall meetings at North Korean officialdom [sic] and just I figure those people taking notes, if your smile isn't exactly like the smile on both sides of you, if there’s — if you yawn, if you get caught asleep, you're dead in the next 24 hours literally. But the Republican Party is being disciplined like that. I’ve never seen a political party so in step.
JEREMY BASH: Well, not only are they in step, Chris, but they're also departing from their history. Ronald Reagan spoke of peace through strength, and even I'm old enough to remember when Republicans were tough on Russia, tough on the Soviet Union, the Reagan build up in defense was really to counter the soviet menace as it was described, and here we have Republicans who are ostensibly tough on national security and they’re lining up behind the Commander in Chief who denigrates our military, denigrates our law enforcement, denigrates our intelligence, and sends love letters to Kim Jong-un, and embraces Vladimir Putin. How is that Republicanism? How is that peace through strength?
MATTHEWS: Well, let's talk about the objective thing. It has nothing to do with whether Trump gets reelected or not. The one sure thing we have going for us — against us is the Russians are coming again. They’ve learned what they can do. They’ve screwed us up into this two years of arguing about this, made this country more divisive than it has been over facts, what happened, what they did, and now everybody is worried about the fact that what they didn't already in Florida, screwed with counties down there according to the Republican — the new governor down there, DeSantis, if they started messing with our election counts, what happens when we won't know who the next president is because nobody knows?
VERRET: I wouldn't paint with too broad a brush here about all Republicans. Trump's rhetoric is disgusting. It’s deplorable and it’s treasonous, frankly.
