Put Rick Tyler's picture next to "schadenfreude" in the dictionary . . .
As news broke during today's Morning Joe that Roger Stone had been arrested and charged with seven counts of obstruction and false statements and witness tampering, Tyler—a former Ted Cruz campaign aide turned MSNBC political analyst—took obvious delight in Stone's predicament:
RICK TYLER: Who is Roger Stone? Roger Stone, like Donald Trump, is a political con man whose showman shtick has finally caught up with him. He's a professional prevaricator. It shouldn't be surprising to anyone that he's now been indicted for perjury. He is a practitioner in the dark arts of -- in the political dark arts. He's known for dirty tricks, and I think a lifetime of this shtick has finally caught up with him.
View the video to understand the venom with which Tyler spoke as he savored Stone's arrest. Whatever Stone may have done, whoever he might be, for Tyler to take such manifest pleasure in another political operative's indictment is not a display of civility and compassion in politics. But it is pitch-perfect for MSNBC.
Like his old business partner Paul Manafort -- the young people don't recall the old firm "Black, Manafort & Stone" -- becoming an official or adviser of the Trump campaign in 2016 because most Republicans turned up their noses has not been a pleasant personal adventure since Trump won.
Note: Tyler is a quintessential "MSNBC Republican"—one who delights in trashing everything Trump. Another prime example of the genre is Nicolle Wallace, whom MSNBC has rewarded with her own show for her unrelenting condemnation of Trump. Watching her yesterday afternoon, I was tempted to put together of a mash-up of her countless insults of Trump, accompanied by an assortment of suitably grim facial expressions.
