The Deep State and liberal media had quite the night on Thursday in light of a New York Times report that “Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected.” On MSNBC’s Hardball, it sounded like every night from January 2017 through late-spring 2019.
In the show’s first 27 minutes, the narrative was that, without citing direct evidence, President Trump was a “wannabe dictator” “collaborating with the Soviets” to carry out “Russian attacks on our democracy” with an assist from “a complicit, compliant, lick-spittle Republican Congress” acting like “hosts of Russia Today.”
Delirious host Chris Matthews screeched in his opening tag that “it’s all happening again” before adding that “Russia has endorsed the re-election of President Donald Trump who is trying desperately to keep that matter secret” making for a “disturbing revelation.”
To the ears of Matthews, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told him that The Times article was grounds for a “corrupt abuse of power” (read: second impeachment) against “a President who doesn't care about American values,” “doesn't care about democratic norms, “doesn't care about our free and fair elections,” “doesn't care about the notion of one person one vote,” and “doesn't care about....the rule of law.”
Huh. That’s ironic considering that’s how CNN, MSNBC, The Times, and the rest of the liberal media feel, which has been that the will of the people doesn’t, in fact, matter and should be reversed if the people don’t feel and vote the way that’s demand of them.
Speaking to faux Republican Steve Schmidt (a real-life Brick Tamland) and former Obama official Jeremy Bash, Matthews fretted that “this is a grand situation” following “the so-called acquittal of the President” in which Russia “hacking” and engaging in “bogus use of social media.”
Of course, there’s no evidence in The Times piece that those things have happened yet. And in speaking to Schmidt, Matthews claimed that Trump is “apparently if not collaborating with the Soviets.”
Schmidt replied by, as usual, shouting in superlatives about how Trump and the GOP are what ills America (plus some ugly swipes at Richard Grenell) (click “expand,” emphasis mine):
Well, I think we're at a very serious place right now in this country, Chris, that since his acquittal by the United States Senate, Donald Trump has been unrestrained with his abuse of power. He is eviscerating the concept of the use of law with the constant interference with the Department of Justice. He appointed a political crony, somebody with zero experience, completely unqualified. Not competent to the task to be the highest ranking intelligence officer in the country and now we find out about this and What this is is an attack on the United States of America by a hostile foreign power. An attack on our elections, on the sovereignty of the American people to pick their leaders is tantamount in my view to an act of war and to see the President of the United States complicit with it, egging it on, trying to take advantage of it, trying to suppress it is as grave an abuse of power as you can possibly see coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and I think Congressman Jeffries is exactly right. There has to be an appeal to what has been a complicit, compliant, lick-spittle Republican Congress who has allowed this President to run amuck to say that this attack by Russia, by other hostile foreign powers on the sovereignty of the country cannot be abided, it cannot be abetted, it must be repudiated, and it must be repudiated by America's political leadership regardless of their partisanship or party.
(....)
There is no evidence, sadly, Chris, that any of them will put their oath of office ahead of their partisan interests....There is apparently one Republican in the whole of the Congress, Mitt Romney from my state of Utah, a man of probity and rectitude who’s got the guts and bearing to stand up and call out what's wrong in a time of corruption, in a time of indecency, in a time of faithlessness to the institutions and the concepts of the country by some of the highest political elected leaders in the land.
To the silent approval of Bash and Matthews, Schmidt offered up another rant about his former party being no more than Russia Today hosts and that Air Force veteran/Congressman Chris Stewart (R-UT) would rather commit treason than stand up to Trump (click “expand”):
[W]ell, it's a party that's intellectually and morally corrupted beyond my ability to describe it in the English language. We saw during the impeachment dozens and dozens of Republicans echoing propaganda from Moscow no different than if they were the hosts of Russia Today. They are serving the role that used to be called useful idiots, advancers of a foreign hostile power's propaganda against the interests of the United States so it is a sad, sad time for the Republican party as it has capitulated fully to Donald Trump. It's become a cult of personality and we've watched over three years the subordination of truth itself
(....)
[A]nd so you have a Republican member of Congress there living in an utter fantasy land, ignoring the counsel of the intelligence community about what's clearly in front of them, which is an attack on the sovereignty of the country by the Russian Federation. He would rather sign up with the Russians than confront an indecent and corrupt President and that is tragic for the country and the security of the country.
And for good measure, Matthews responded by touting the debunked claim that “17 of our intelligence agencies” confirmed Russian meddling (when it was four).
In the next block, NBC News national security correspondent and Deep State mouthpiece “CIA Ken” Dilanian panicked over this “alarming development” with more proof of Trump “behavi[ng]” like “an autocrat” and undermining “the job of intelligence officials to speak truth to power, not to shade their analysis, to bluntly and explicitly explain...what is going on out there.”
Circling back to Grenell, the partisan Bash hypocritically claimed that Grenell will “do the partisan work of the President” and, combined with The Times allegations, have served as “underpinnings of our nation's defense being eroded before our very eyes.”
Matthews also griped that Grenell was no more than a “crony,” “one of [Trump’s] biggest sychophants,” “a fierce Trump loyalist and toady, current U.S. Ambassador to Germany, a hard liner for Trump who will do his bidding” who, according to him, lacks an actual resume.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on February 20, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Hardball
February 20, 2020
7:00 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: It's all happening again....It's official. Russia has endorsed the re-election of President Donald Trump who is trying desperately to keep that matter secret. In a major breaking story tonight, The New York Times is reporting late today, in fact on this disturbing revelation, that has huge implications for our country....Well, this news paints a devastating portrait of a President who appears now willing to suppress intelligence of Russia’s intentions for his own political purposes keeping Congress in the dark about new Russian attacks on our democracy....Congressman Jeffries, what do you make of this report that he’s trying — that the President is trying to keep you in Congress in the dark that the Russians are trying to throw the election of 2020 to him?
(....)
CONGRESSMAN HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, what it basically shows, once again, is that this is a President who doesn't care about American values, he doesn't care about democratic norms, he doesn't care about our free and fair elections, he doesn't care about the notion of one person one vote, he doesn't care about the preeminence of the rule of law. He doesn't care about the notion that the American people and the American people alone should decide who serves at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and so I expect hopefully that both the House and the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans, will look into what is transpiring here and I think we're going to plea to the goodwill of our patriotic colleagues on the other side of the aisle to say when is enough enough as it relates to this out of control President, wannabe dictator with authoritarian tendencies. When is enough enough?
MATTHEWS: Thank you so much, U.S. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of the House leadership. Let me go right now — we’ve Jeremy Bash joining and Steve Schmidt. Steve, I have to go to you with this because this is a grand situation. Here we are at the end of a long impeachment exercise which ended up in the so-called acquittal of the President and now we were told after that that, no, he’s going to learn his lesson and now learning incredibly the whole damn thing is starting over again. The Russians are into their hacking, into their bogus use of social media, the whole works. The President of the United States is trying to keep that secret from us in the way he was denying it back in 2016. It's as if we're into a recidivist character doing the things he was charged with in the first crime. Your thoughts?
STEVE SCHMIDT: Well, I think we're at a very serious place right now in this country, Chris, that since his acquittal by the United States Senate, Donald Trump has been unrestrained with his abuse of power. He is eviscerating the concept of the use of law with the constant interference with the Department of Justice. He appointed a political crony, somebody with zero experience, completely unqualified. Not competent to the task to be the highest ranking intelligence officer in the country and now we find out about this and what this is is an attack on the United States of America by a hostile foreign power. An attack on our elections, on the sovereignty of the American people to pick their leaders is tantamount in my view to an act of war and to see the President of the United States complicit with it, egging it on, trying to take advantage of it, trying to suppress it is as grave an abuse of power as you can possibly see coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and I think Congressman Jeffries is exactly right. There has to be an appeal to what has been a complicit, compliant, lick-spittle Republican Congress who has allowed this President to run amuck to say that this attack by Russia, by other hostile foreign powers on the sovereignty of the country cannot be abided, it cannot be abetted, it must be repudiated, and it must be repudiated by America's political leadership regardless of their partisanship or party.
MATTHEWS: Which of the following Republicans do you think might speak up against the President for apparently if not collaborating with the Soviets, with the Russians again, the former Soviet KGB director, Mr. Putin, and not going the other way.
(....)
SCHMIDT: There is no evidence, sadly, Chris, that any of them will put their oath of office ahead of their partisan interests. This is what George Washington warned about when he said farewell after leaving the presidency. He warned about foreign interference and he warned about the rise of factions or parties that would subordinate the national interests to partisan interests. There is apparently one Republican in the whole of the Congress, Mitt Romney from my state of Utah, a man of probity and rectitude who’s got the guts and bearing to stand up and call out what's wrong in a time of corruption, in a time of indecency, in a time of faithlessness to the institutions and the concepts of the country by some of the highest political elected leaders in the land.
(....)
MATTHEWS: The New York Times reports tomorrow morning that “Representative Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican” member of the House who “was among the Republicans who challenged the conclusions about Russia's support for the president. Mr. Stewart said he has aggressively confronted Moscow.” He later told The New York Times “Moscow had no reason to support Mr. Trump.” Let me go back to Congressman Jeffries about this. What's going on in the Republican side of the aisle and the House of Representatives that there's such toadies even on measures of national security. They fight any evidence that might be — that might be untoward for the President? [SILENCE] Let me go to Steve on this. Steve Schmidt.
SCHMIDT: Well, we saw —
MATTHEWS: What is it about the Republican Party and the House that they feel this way, that they have to operate like robots for the president?
SCHMIDT: — well, it's a party that's intellectually and morally corrupted beyond my ability to describe it in the English language. We saw during the impeachment dozens and dozens of Republicans echoing propaganda from Moscow no different than if they were the hosts of Russia Today. They are serving the role that used to be called useful idiots, advancers of a foreign hostile power's propaganda against the interests of the United States so it is a sad, sad time for the Republican party as it has capitulated fully to Donald Trump. It's become a cult of personality and we've watched over three years the subordination of truth itself. What is true now for these members of Congress is what the leader tells them is true, not what is plainly true before their eyes and so you have a Republican member of Congress there living in an utter fantasy land, ignoring the counsel of the intelligence community about what's clearly in front of them, which is an attack on the sovereignty of the country by the Russian Federation. He would rather sign up with the Russians than confront an indecent and corrupt President and that is tragic for the country and the security of the country.
MATTHEWS: You know, I have to agree with you, Steve, it's hard to come up with the words of what’s going right now. The fact that for all that we’ve been through the hell of the last couple years, the Russians interfering, according to 17 of our intelligence agencies in the 2016 election and here they go again as if they can just get away with the robbery again, daylight robbery again with the President of the United States helping to keep it secret. Helping to keep it secret instead of trying to stop them. A normal president would have stopped the Russians from what they're up to again in this election.....Plus he was so infuriated by the White House briefing on Russian intelligence, in other words, they dared to tell the Congress what was going on that he replaced the director of national intelligence today with one of his biggest sycophants, his crony again. That’s coming up next, maybe to give this to Jared Kushner.
(....)
7:20 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Last night, the President announced his choice as the next acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell. Isn’t this nice? A fierce Trump loyalist and toady, current U.S. Ambassador to Germany, a hard liner for Trump who will do his bidding. Unlike past directors of national intelligence, Grenell has essentially, this is no surprise, no intelligence experience. Grenell’s resume, if you want to call it that, includes serving as U.S. Spokesman for the U.N. Under George W. Bush and he was a foreign spokesman for Mitt Romney's presidential run in 2012.
