Eager to politicize the upcoming natural disaster of Hurricane Florence, on Wednesday, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle and her panel of guests hammered President Trump for defending the federal government response to Hurricane Maria in 2017 and debated whether the commander-in-chief was “evil” or just a self-centered “toddler.”
Reacting to public comments from the President on Tuesday, Ruhle fretted: “...the President – I want to go to Puerto Rico – says the administration does not get enough credit for their response to Hurricane Maria. Do you agree? I mean, it was a very complicated situation, and it is an island. But 3,000 people died.”
MSNBC conservative P.J. O’Rourke quipped: “I covered the Iraq war. Baghdad was put together – back together faster than Puerto Rico, you know, and they don’t even like us.” Ruhle asked: “But then help me understand the President’s strategy here, right?” O’Rourke replied: “It’s called lying. There’s a technical term for it, it’s just called lying.”
Left-wing Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude, an MSNBC regular, chimed in with a nasty personal attack against Trump:
He’s incapable of critical self-reflection, incapable of a kind of a self-assessment....he didn’t show any sense of empathy. And that’s because in some significant way Donald Trump is a deeply, morally flawed human being. I’ve called him indecent....it has something to do with the fact that he is such a narcissist, that in that moment he can’t think of anyone else.
Ruhle argued: “He doesn’t view them as our family, he views them as our neighbors.” Glaude went further, accusing the President of racism: “Right, he views them as our neighbors. And, let’s be honest, these are islands populated by people of color.”
The anti-Trump discussion was then interrupted for a few minutes by live coverage of a FEMA press conference about preparations for Florence.
Immediately following that presser, Ruhle and her guests returned to keep up their barrage against the White House. Initially, O’Rourke seemed to want to rein in some of the rhetoric, but it just turned into another insult of Trump: “I think you’re elevating Trump to evil, whereas, having raised three kids, I just think he’s a giant toddler with no real connection to reality, and no sense of empathy or responsibility.”
Glaude complained: “And that’s really generous. I think toddlers that I know are empathetic....Some of them are self-centered, but they show the capacity to be empathetic. And I don’t think this – I don’t see this in Donald Trump.”
Minutes later, Glaude also seized on the media hype of alleged chaos in the Trump administration to further blast the President:
But one of the interesting things, I think that what’s underneath, our anxiety here, is that for the last couple of weeks we have been dealing with the Bob Woodward book, we have been dealing with the anonymous op-ed, we have been dealing with Omarosa’s book, we have been dealing with the flood of commentary....about how disorganized this White House is, how dysfunctional it is. And here we are in the midst of an impending crisis – a Category Four that’s about to hit the east coast, to hit the Carolinas, that’s going to impact Virginia and it’s going to go into Georgia perhaps – and we’re confronting that with the understanding that there is a gaggle of incompetence in the White House.
This is the kind of politically-charged coverage MSNBC is providing viewers as a potential catastrophe looms.
Here are excerpts of the September 12 discussion on MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle:
9:24 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Alright, I want to bring my panel in, it’s an excellent one. Eddie Glaude is a Princeton University Professor and MSNBC contributor. P.J. O’Rourke, an author with a new book out called None of My Business. Alright, P.J., the President – I want to go to Puerto Rico – says the administration does not get enough credit for their response to Hurricane Maria. Do you agree? I mean, it was a very complicated situation, and it is an island. But 3,000 people died.
P.J. O’ROURKE: I covered the Iraq war. Baghdad was put together – back together faster than Puerto Rico, you know, and they don’t even like us.
RUHLE: But then help me understand the President’s strategy here, right? 3,000 –
O’ROURKE: It’s called lying. There’s a technical term for it, it’s just called lying. You just stand up there and you lie, “We did a great job.” We did a terrible job.
RUHLE: If we did such a terrible job, and I would say we absolutely did, I was there just a few months ago, who do these lies work for? Why would the President have an unforced error like this and say, you know, when – and granted, he said it was an “A-plus in Florida and Texas, but we did the best job in Puerto Rico,” we didn’t.
EDDIE GLAUDE: He’s incapable of critical self-reflection, incapable of a kind of a self-assessment which will allow him to say, “We made mistakes.” What was interesting about that particular presser is that he didn’t mention one person who died, he didn’t say, “Our hearts go out to the 2,975 people who are dead.” We want – he didn’t show any sense of empathy. And that’s because in some significant way Donald Trump is a deeply, morally flawed human being. I’ve called him indecent. And so his response to the tragedy of Puerto Rico, and let’s remember, it’s not just simply Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Irma and Maria, what it did to the Virgin Islands, and St. Thomas is still struggling, and that they don’t come into view, it has something to do with the fact that he is such a narcissist, that in that moment he can’t think of anyone else.
RUHLE: He doesn’t view them as our family, he views them as our neighbors.
GLAUDE: Right, he views them as our neighbors. And, let’s be honest, these are islands populated by people of color.
RUHLE: Alright, we’re going to go right now, the FEMA briefing is starting.
(...)
9:39 AM ET
RUHLE: My panel still with me. You know, just yesterday, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy tweeted this, “I mean this seriously, not as a political dig. If you are in Florence’s path and considering riding it out, your President just said that a hurricane response where 3,000 people die is his measure of success. Get out of here.” Obviously Chris Murphy was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but in all seriousness, the President is saying “We got this, no problem, no one knows, but we know.” Do you think he does?
O’ROURKE: Oh, of course he doesn’t. You know, I was – before the FEMA came on the screen, I was about to say I think you’re elevating Trump to evil, whereas, having raised three kids, I just think he’s a giant toddler with no real connection to reality, and no sense of empathy or responsibility. I don’t think he even rises to the level of evil. I actually think if, left to his own devices, he’d go down to the Outer Banks and stand out there and turn that hurricane aside.
GLAUDE: And that’s really generous. I think toddlers that I know are empathetic, you see those viral videos of toddlers hugging and kissing and doing – and showing –
RUHLE: I don’t know, toddlers are pretty self-centered.
O’ROURKE: He must have better toddlers. He must have better toddlers than I do.
RUHLE: You must have better toddlers.
GLAUDE: Some of them are self-centered, but they show the capacity to be empathetic. And I don’t think this – I don’t see this in Donald Trump.
(...)
9:43 AM ET
GLAUDE: But one of the interesting things, I think that what’s underneath, our anxiety here, is that for the last couple of weeks we have been dealing with the Bob Woodward book, we have been dealing with the anonymous op-ed, we have been dealing with Omarosa’s book, we have been dealing with the flood of commentary about how this –
RUHLE: But it’s not a new flood. Before that, we were dealing with other things.
GLAUDE: Michael Wolff’s book. But the flood of commentary about how disorganized this White House is, how dysfunctional it is. And here we are in the midst of an impending crisis – a Category Four that’s about to hit the east coast, to hit the Carolinas, that’s going to impact Virginia and it’s going to go into Georgia perhaps – and we’re confronting that with the understanding that there is a gaggle of incompetence in the White House.
(...)
