In advance of Tuesday’s State of the Union address, the White House told the press that President Trump wanted to use the occasion to hit the reset button on strained relationships in Washington, D.C. and to bring Americans to together. But liberal media folks like MSNBC’s Chuck Todd couldn’t believe it. During that evening’s MTP Daily, Todd denounced Trump’s second SOTU as “shaping up to be a night of absurdist theater”.
With the chyron obnoxiously reading, “‘Comity’ central: SOTU theater of the absurd?”, Todd lashed out the President for thinking he could bring the country together:
Absurd because the White House says the President’s address is going to be about bipartisanship, unity, compromise. They say it’s going to be a night of comity, with a T. They really used that word. Absurd because literally, as the White House is telling reporters about how the President is going to rise above partisanship tonight, the President is tweeting about a “human wall”. Then, he mocks Chuck Schumer. And, of course, Festivus begins and he airs grievances about the midterms.
In that quote, Todd took great umbrage with the White House’s use of the word comity. According to Merriam-Webster, comity means “friendly social atmosphere” or “social harmony”.
Todd proceeded to ramble on about how “absurd” the idea of unity was with this President and even claimed Trump “engineered” the government shutdown all by himself:
Absurd because tonight’s address was delayed because of an act of over partisanship, when the President himself decided to engineer a 35-day government shutdown over a border wall that he promised to his political base. Absurd because the backdrop of tonight’s address is his threat to end-run Congress and declare a national emergency, which is dividing Republicans. We will have more on that in a moment.
“Absurd because Nancy will be seated behind tonight. A constant reminder of his failed midterm message that Pelosi party of crime abetting arsonists,” Todd chided. “And absurd because the President is seemingly going to act like everything is normal, despite a cracked up cabinet, despite his ongoing feud with the intel community, countless investigations into him, his staff, his campaign, his business, and even now his inauguration.”
Doing little to hide his disgust, Todd ended his rant by huffing: “Still, the White House says it's going to be a, quote, ‘traditional State of the Union’. How is that for comity with a T?”
Todd was so obsessed with his “theater of the absurd” suggestion that he brought it up again two hours later during an appearance on NBC Nightly News. “I'm sorry, the phrase theater of the absurd is running through my head over and over again, if he is going to do this. It just isn't going to be credible,” he opined to anchor Lester Holt.
Nothing Trump did would make the liberal media happy. They’re acting in bad faith and seemed to want the divisions in America to continue.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s MTP Daily
February 5, 2019
5:00:30 p.m. EasternCHUCK TODD: If it's Tuesday, comity central.
(…)
TODD: Good evening, I’m Chuck Todd here in New York. And welcome to MTP Daily. Millions of people are going to watch tonight’s State of the Union, which is shaping up to be a night of absurdist theater.
Absurd because the White House says the President’s address is going to be about bipartisanship, unity, compromise. They say it’s going to be a night of comity, with a T. They really used that word. Absurd because literally, as the White House is telling reporters about how the President is going to rise above partisanship tonight, the President is tweeting about a “human wall”. Then, he mocks Chuck Schumer. And, of course, Festivus begins and he airs grievances about the midterms.
Absurd because tonight’s address was delayed because of an act of over partisanship, when the President himself decided to engineer a 35-day government shutdown over a border wall that he promised to his political base. Absurd because the backdrop of tonight’s address is his threat to end-run Congress and declare a national emerge, which is dividing Republicans. We will have more on that in a moment.
The White House also says President Trump is going to call on Congress to “reject the politics of resistance and retribution” tonight. Well, that's a bit absurd because, well, if you’ve been paying attention for two years, four years, six years, you get my drift. Absurd because Nancy will be seated behind tonight. A constant reminder of his failed mid-term message that Pelosi party of crime abetting arsonists.
And absurd because the President is seemingly going to act like everything is normal, despite a cracked up cabinet, despite his ongoing feud with the intel community, countless investigations into him, his staff, his campaign, his business, and even now his inauguration. Still, the White House says it's going to be a, quote, “traditional State of the Union”. How is that for comity with a T?
(…)
