MSNBC continued their never-ending obsession with every little action of the Trump administration Tuesday, and, true to form, they weren’t squeamish about throwing around groundless accusations of foul play. On The 11th Hour that night, Stephanie Ruhle hosted a panel which discussed Trump’s recent termination of two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission, and the allegation was made, with no evidence, that Trump did it for his own illegal personal gain.
Ruhle first turned to Rohit Chopra, formerly of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She neglected to mention off the bat that Chopra was not exactly an impartial source, but rather a Democratic Party apparatchik who had held several partisan posts and was a career left-wing activist. She asked him for his thoughts on the layoff, to which Chopra responded:
Well. Why on Earth are they getting fired? Is it because they were the ones that were taking on subscription scams? Is it because they were taking on children's privacy? Because they were going after Amazon, Facebook, some of these big companies violating the law? I don't understand what the reason is. And the only thing that makes sense, is maybe someone is calling the shots to get rid of people who were trying to enforce the law for consumers.
Chopra had just, with no evidence, accused the president of breaking the law, and had completely ignored the possibility that the termination could have been for any conceivable completely legitimate reason.
As though Chopra had just made a solid point, rather than a groundless accusation, Ruhle then moved on to MSNBC correspondent John Harwood, who happily played along with the conspiracy theory that was being freshly spun right there on the air:
Well, I think I know why he did this, Steph, and I think it relates to many of the other ways in which he's tried to, in effect, take personal control of the government. By firing the Democratic members of the FTC Donald Trump puts it all in his hands. Those Republican commissioners are going to do whatever he tells them. Donald Trump is a very transactional guy. So there's a huge opening for corruption here, with people who might have been in the sights of the FTC coming to Trump and saying, ‘Hey, do this for me, and I'll do that for you.’ I think that Donald Trump, by holding all the levers of government in his own hands, has tremendous opportunity for self-dealing.
Harwood had just made up a purely hypothetical scenario in which, with no basis in fact, he accused the president of crooked dealings. Again, Ruhle just rolled with it, and agreed, “The glory days of payday lending will be back again.”
Evidently, MSNBC had no plans of toning down the evidence-free drivel that by their standards passed for news anytime soon.
To view the full transcript, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
03/18/2025
11:24 PM(...)
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: TRUMP FIRES DEMOCRATS ON FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION]
STEPHANIE RUHLE: I got to go to Rohit first. You served on the FTC. What do you think about this?
ROHIT CHOPRA: Well. Why on Earth are they getting fired? Is it because they were the ones that were taking on subscription scams? Is it because they were taking on children's privacy? Because they were going after Amazon, Facebook, some of these big companies violating the law?
I don't understand what the reason is. And the only thing that makes sense, is maybe someone is calling the shots to get rid of people who were trying to enforce the law for consumers.
RUHLE: John, what do you think about this? You know, it's ironic, in theory, businesses might say, ‘Great, there's no rules. Let's rush, you know, as many M&A deals as we can get through.’ But the truth is I just spoke to an investment banker tonight who said first quarter M&A is disastrous.
There's no deals out there because people don't know how to plan their business in the Trump administration.
MSNBC WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT JOHN HARWOOD: Well, I think I know why he did this, Steph, and I think it relates to many of the other ways in which he's tried to, in effect, take personal control of the government.
By firing the Democratic members of the FTC Donald Trump puts it all in his hands. Those Republican commissioners are going to do whatever he tells them. Donald Trump is a very transactional guy.
So there's a huge opening for corruption here, with people who might have been in the sights of the FTC coming to Trump and saying, ‘Hey, do this for me, and I'll do that for you.’ I think that Donald Trump, by holding all the levers of government in his own hands, has tremendous opportunity for self-dealing.
RUHLE: The glory days of payday lending will be back again.
(...)
