Efforts by President Donald Trump and Republicans to secure the border and let Americans keep more of their money sent the liberal media into hysterics over the past month. On MSNBC, the President was called a “white supremacist” who was a “danger to non-white people” for wanting to tighten immigration enforcement.
For believing tax cuts would lead to higher wages and growth, Today show host Savannah Guthrie wondered if House Speaker Paul Ryan was “living in a fantasy world.” One columnist even called the GOP tax bill the “worst law to be enacted on Capitol Hill since the Fugitive Slave Act.”
There was also a brief boomlet for an Oprah Winfrey presidential candidacy with CNN’s Van Jones crowning her “queen of the universe.”
And speaking of celebrities, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel condemned “disgusting” Republicans for “putting a tax cut that mostly goes to rich people ahead of the lives of children” while actor Will Smith called Trump’s administration “the darkness before the dawn.”
The following is a collection of the most heinous outbursts from liberal journalists and celebrities over the past month:
[LANGUAGE WARNING]
“White Supremacist” Trump is a Danger to the Country
“The President is a white supremacist – we heard in Charlottesville the President is a terrorist sympathizer, and our President is a clear and present danger to non-white people in America....Unless the Democratic party realizes that this man is an enemy to non-white people in America – and this is not an exaggeration – everything in his rhetoric and policy has said so – we will be in danger as a sovereign nation.”
— The Root’s politics editor and MSNBC political contributor Jason Johnson on MSNBC’s All In, January 11.
“Compliant” Congress Letting Trump Turn Country Into “S-Hole”
“[The Founders] wrote a Constitution that would have checks and balances on a tyrannical president. They never, ever let their imaginations be darkened by the possibility of a compliant Congress in the face of a tyrannical president. But that appears to be exactly what we have in 2018.”
— Host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, January 15.
“We have a man child who is deranged and racist in this office. But it takes a lot of other silent people to go along with it. And we’re seeing those silent people in Congress....We are seeing all kinds of people who for small, personal, trivial gains are willing to see their country turned into the real s-hole.”
— Political analyst Anand Giridharadas on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, January 15.
“Darkest” Part of Trump Era is “Eviscerating” Safety Net
Hardball host Chris Matthews: “I think everything Paul Ryan hears or thinks about has to do with his agenda. He’s not very personal. It’s all about this sort of Ayn Rand, objectivist goals he has. Less taxes, less government, you know, less entitlement programs. You know, that’s his goal in life and anything that advances that is fortunate. And anything that doesn’t advance that is unfortunate.”
AM Joy host Joy Reid: “It’s unfortunate.”
Matthews: “He doesn’t care about these moral questions or these issues of how we should talk as Americans.”
Reid: “I agree with you. There has never been a more single-minded politician than Paul Ryan. He cares only about eviscerating the social safety net, repealing the 20th century, all of the New Deal, the Great Society, he wants that gone and it is true. He is pathetic. I think it’s one of the darkest, sort of chapters in the Trump era is there Paul Ryan revealing himself.”
— MSNBC’s Hardball, January 12.
Republicans Marching Behind “Dear Leader” Trump
AM Joy host Joy Reid: “I think Democrats need to make a gut check, is it worth siting around that table with this man, given that he has now put his racist views on the table.”
Hardball host Chris Matthews: “I’m betting the Republicans to be Republicans, Joy.”
Reid: “Yeah, they will. The Republicans will fall in line. As you said, they’re the North Korean army marching behind the Dear Leader.”
— MSNBC’s Hardball, January 12.
Enforcing Immigration Laws = The Act of an “Inhumane Beast”
“What kind of person would send back people who have been working here, who have contributed to this country, who have children here, who will be separated from their children from their communities? What kind of inhumane beast? Are you raised by wolves?”
— Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin to National Diversity Coalition’s Stephanie Hamill on MSNBC’s AM Joy, January 14.
Ovation for Oprah, 2020
“Does she [Oprah Winfrey] want to be demoted from queen of the universe to President of the United States? That’s the only question. If she wants to do it, she can do it. She is probably the most beloved human being on Earth. She is probably the most beloved carbon based life form on Earth. If she runs, she will destroy anybody in front of her.”
— Political commentator Van Jones on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, January 8.
“As a nation we’re not just looking for a politician, we’re looking for a rock star. Once Barack Obama left, I knew there was going to be a rock star because no one else could fill the position. We’re not just looking for a politician, we’re looking for someone who has got that ‘It’ factor. Oprah has that ‘It’ factor.”
— Political analyst April Ryan on CNN’s At This Hour With Kate Bolduan, January 8.
Trump “Reminiscent” of Dictators Juan Peron, Hugo Chavez
“It’s ironic that a president who wants to build a wall with Latin America is actually importing a style of cult of personality politics that is reminiscent of Juan Peron, or, or actually of, of Hugo Chavez as well. And that’s an irony I don’t think his, his supporters really appreciate.”
— New York Times columnist Bret Stephens on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, January 11.
Yes, He Said That With a Straight Face
“But the important point I want to make is this book is not about my impression of the President. I came into this with no agenda. I continue to have no political agenda.”
— Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff on CBS This Morning, January 8.
“You can remove the politics from this, and I went into this literally with no political agenda at all, and there’s really not much politics per se in this book.”
— Wolff on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, January 8.
We Don’t Know If It’s True, But We’re Going to Broadcast It Anyway
“I’ve spoken to people inside the White House in the last 24 hours who have said, ‘Even if not all of it is true, the spirit of the book [Fire and Fury] is and it’s troublesome.’”
— Host Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC Live, January 4.
Trump’s Nixonian Denial
“When you hear him put out that tweet, ‘stable genius,’ it’s kind of like Richard Nixon, ‘I’m not a crook.’”
— Moderator George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week, January 7.
Let’s Just Say It, Trump is Nuts
“When a President of the United States threatens North Korea by invoking the size of his nuclear button, it is fair to ask about his fitness. If a leader of another country were to do the same thing, I think many commentators, many reporters will conclude that he is not well. This past year has been full of reasons to question his fitness. President Trump promotes conspiracy theories. He shares racist videos on social media. He live-tweets Fox News shows that mislead him while he derides real reporting as fake news. He calls for the prosecution of political opponents. He insults people for fun. He says so many flat-out false things that journalists can barely keep up.”
— Host Brian Stelter on CNN’s Reliable Sources, January 7.
Tax Cuts Spurring Economic Growth = “Fantasy”
“Let me quote Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire, hardly an enemy of business. He said, ‘CEOs aren’t waiting on a tax cut to ‘jump-start the economy,’ a favorite phrase of politicians who have never run a company – or to hand out raises. It’s pure fantasy to think that the tax bill will lead to significantly higher wages and growth.’ I’ll ask you plainly, are you living in a fantasy world?”
— Co-host Savannah Guthrie question to House Speaker Paul Ryan on NBC’s Today, December 20.
Tax Cut Bill Almost as Bad as Fugitive Slave Act
“There’s a reason the tax bill is so unpopular. It’s a terrible idea – arguably, if approved, the worst law to be enacted on Capitol Hill since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed the return of captured escaped slaves up North to their whip-cracking masters down South.”
— Philly.com columnist Will Bunch in December 17 article “How the GOP produced the worst bill since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.”
Tax Cut Ceremony = “Druid” Ritual Celebrating “Sun King” “Julius Caesar”
“Look at them all up there like lemmings....Looks like a North Korean parade....It was like a scene out of Julius Caesar yesterday on the south lawn of the White House. One by one Republican leaders lined up to praise his eminence, the imperious Donald Trump....They were like North Korean soldiers. Look at all the smiles in unison, synchronized swimming.”
— Host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, December 21.
“Like the druids celebrating the winter solstice, the Trumpkins had their ritual today on the back steps of the White House....There they were today, gleaming in the sunlight, worshiping their sun king, glorying in the shortest day of the year. The day they chose to celebrate the greatest shorting of the American people in history.”
— Host Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, December 20.
Something He Never Said About Obama’s $1 Trillion “Stimulus”
“If you’re worried about government waste and tax money, you should’ve felt strong about this tax bill then Congressman, because you just blew up our deficit with it.”
— Host Chris Cuomo question to Rep. Matt Gaetz on CNN’s New Day, December 15.
Only Way Trump Gets Credit, If Shared With Obama
“The decline of ISIS is a really big story. Three years ago ISIS was on the front pages, we had the killings that were on TV a lot and now you have they lost a lot of their territory, you have a caliphate that is kind of eliminated....It’s certainly a victory for both Obama and Trump, that they had a strategy that basically worked to shrink ISIS’s territory a lot in Syria and Iraq.”
— Former Washington Post reporter Perry Bacon on ABC’s This Week, December 31.
Brian is Just Jealous of Their Ratings
“You and I have covered Fox News for years. Is it appropriate to call the channel a news channel?”
— Host Brian Stelter’s question to NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik on CNN’s Reliable Sources, December 17.
U.S. On “Slippery Slope” To Iran, Thanks to Trump
Co-host Megan McCain: “You just said we need to rise up against Trump in the same way like Ayatollah Khomeini is somehow morally relative to President Trump. I think that’s crazy.”
Co-host Joy Behar: “It’s not apples and apples. It’s not equal. But we’re on a very slippery slope in this country towards throwing democracy out of the window every single day.”
CNN analyst Ana Navarro: “We have to defend the press and civil rights here.”
McCain: “We do, but we’re not being stoned in the street for being gay.”
Behar: “Not yet! Not yet!”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg: “Not yet.”
— ABC’s The View, January 2.
Kimmel Exploits Own Kid to Condemn GOP
“C.H.I.P [Children’s Health Insurance Program] has become a bargaining chip, it’s on the back burner while they work out their new tax plans. Which means parents of children with cancer and diabetes and heart problems are about to get letters saying their coverage could be cut off next month. Merry Christmas, right?....[Republicans] let the money for it expire while they work on getting tax cuts for their millionaire and billionaire donors....I’ve had enough of this. I don’t know what could be more disgusting than putting a tax cut that mostly goes to rich people ahead of the lives of children.”
— Host Jimmy Kimmel, while holding his son, on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, December 11.
Trump is the “Darkness Before the Dawn”
“This is the purge, right? This is the cleanse, this is what happens. This is the natural reaction to the amount of light that came into the world when Barack Obama was the president....We had to expect that [the pendulum] was going to go the other way. As a cleanse – this is the darkness before the dawn.”
— Actor Will Smith during a press conference to promote his Netflix movie Bright, as reported in December 13, 2017 IndieWire article.
Rapper Wishes Death on Trump
“Dear lord - you took Michael Jackson who was my favourite male singer, you took Whitney Huston who was my favourite female singer, you took Muhammad Ali who was my favourite boxer I just want you to know that Donald Trump is my favourite president. Amen....[Trump] is destroying people family breaking them apart, No mercy ..why should i feel bad this man probably wishes anybody that is not white death. I bet if he can do what Hitler did HE FUCKING WILL … Soooo why should i feel bad before he sends this country too hell? This man is sooo thirsty to start war to kill thousand maybe millions of our soldiers and people from other countries FUCK HIM !!!!! This man have no soul HE DON’T FEEL BAD FOR ME NEITHER YOU!”
— Rapper Cardi B (real name Belcalis Almanzar) in January 17 Instagram post.
