MSNBC AM Joy Host Joy Reid appeared on Tuesday’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, where she bashed President Trump’s response to Hurricane Harvey. Playing the armchair psychologist, Reid said Trump lacked the ability to empathize or “understand” the depth of the “misery” the citizens of Houston, Texas are experiencing right now.
Host Trevor Noah didn’t ask the MSNBC host about her latest patently false tweet, which spread panic by claiming that Trump hadn’t hired a FEMA director. He didn’t ask about the firestorm of criticism that she faced for spreading that lie, either. Instead, he centered the discussion on Trump (what else?)
Right from the start Noah mocked Trump’s word choice in describing Hurricane Harvey, as some sort of evidence of a narcissistic personality:
He said this is the biggest disaster-- it's almost saying ‘the greatest-the biggest’ disaster of all time. I struggle with Donald Trump--do you think he's proud of having it be, like, the biggest disaster? I genuinely don't know with him. I don't know if he's bragging about the scale of it. I don't know if this is something-- what do you make of how he speaks about the hurricane?
Reid played right into that, saying his response was “disturbing” and that Trump viewed the hurricane as an “accomplishment:”
So for him, you know, the accomplishment he sees in Harvey is that it's the biggest during the era of Donald Trump. So there’s something really disturbing just about the way that he talks about it. He said something to the effect of, ‘Harvey’s a really nice name. But you know, the storm, not nice. Not nice.’ I mean, no kidding! Its a hurricane!” [laugher]
I don't think that he understands the human scale of misery. I don't think that he can connect with the sort of compassion that you normally have when you see a disaster like this.
Noah agreed with Reid’s assessment, that Trump seemed to view the hurricane as a part of his obsession with “ratings,” in light of Trump's admission that he pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the midst of Hurricane Harvey to get better ratings.
Reid agreed, calling the Arpaio situation an example of Trump’s showmanship.
“I mean, I think if you look at Donald Trump, what he has always done his entire adult life is kind of do a show. And he always wants to have a bigger and better show,” she stated.
“How do you see the show ending?” Noah asked Reid. “Is it realistic to think about impeachment? Is it realisitic to think Donald Trump will somehow relinquish his power at some point?”
Reid replied that as long as Republicans were in control of Congress, he wouldn’t be impeached. Like the true hack journalist she is, Reid claimed that the GOP’s primary goals were giving tax cuts to billionaires and serving themselves:
No, I think the Republicans have made a very crass calculation that they'll accept anything Donald Trump does in exchange for the things they want.
As long as he’s there to turn around and explain to his base the tax cuts for millionaires that they want, for billionaires, that they want, the things they want for themselves-- As long as he’s willing to translate that into Trump fan-ese, they don't care what he does.
