In the run-up to last year’s presidential election, MSNBC hosts and guests tirelessly claimed that re-electing Donald Trump would be the death of democracy in the United States. “What he is offering is strongman leadership, the end of politics, the end of elections,” Rachel Maddow fretfully told another MSNBC host, former Biden spokesperson Jen Psaki, a year ago.
Fast forward to 2025, and now the network is claiming Trump’s four-week-old administration is already dismantling the rule of law in America. On Saturday’s The Weekend, MSNBC brought aboard predictable Trump critic George Conway to insult the President as a “criminal sociopath,” his administration as “a criminal regime,” and his first administration as “Shitshow One.”
Analogizing Trump’s effect on the rule of law as an out-of-control cancer, Conway argued that the death of democracy, long foretold on MSNBC, was now inevitable: “Stage 4 is metastasis. Stage 4 is when democracy can die and the rule of law can die and constitutionalism can die. And we — unless something happens radically, I can’t see how we don’t get to Stage 4.”
Conway unleashed against Trump: “He is a lawless criminal. And we have, basically, a criminal regime. And if you believe that they are going to enforce, are going to abide by court orders, they’re not going to do it. They’re already probably trying to slide around the court orders, but they’re not quite yet in open defiance. But we will get there.”
Rather than push back against such alarmism, co-host Simone Sanders praised Conway for providing “the truth,” while another co-host, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, added his own snark: “And further to your cancer analogy, to think that Mitch McConnell and Merrick Garland each had an opportunity to put a little chemo on that bad boy.”
It’s probably no surprise that after months of “the sky will fall” doomsaying, MSNBC has begun searching for evidence that the sky has, indeed, come crashing to earth. But if this is how the leftist network is reacting to just the fourth week of Trump’s new administration, where will they be in a year?
Here’s video of Conway’s diatribe against Trump, followed by a transcript of the relevant portions of the show (click “expand” to read the whole thing).
MSNBC’s The Weekend
February 15, 2025 9:19am ETSYMONE SANDERS: As judges issue temporary rulings to pause Trump’s sweeping executive actions on constitutional grounds, Team Trump is working overtime to discredit America’s legal system, with Elon Musk and even JD Vance accusing judges of being secret Democratic activists — there is no evidence to support that, by the way — and suggesting the administration could ignore court rulings altogether.
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GEORGE CONWAY: The way I look at it is, Donald Trump is a criminal sociopath. You tick off the definition of a sociopath: They don’t want to obey laws; they don’t want to obey rules; they don’t think they apply to them; and Donald Trump has no moral conscience and no empathy. He does not care about anybody else other than Donald Trump, which is why in his first term, he said, ‘Article Two lets me do whatever I want,’ Article Two of the Constitution.
The first Trump term, which I call ‘Shitshow One,’ was an assault on the rule of law, but it was only — it was like cancer. It was like a Stage 1, maybe Stage 2. We got to Stage 2 right around January 6th. And he was a threat to the rule of law. And then he went into remission. Now he’s back. We’re at Stage 3. Stage 3 is basically where we are ignoring laws and running roughshod over laws. I mean, you know, they’re basically refusing to spend money appropriated by Congress, which is against the law. The law requires the President to spend money; a President can’t not spend the money that’s been allocated for particular subjects.
And you’ve got this guy who’s not been appointed lawfully under the Constitution, Musk. And so that’s Stage 3. Stage 4 is going to be, ‘Well, these courts are telling me not to obey orders. Why should I? I don’t want to obey the law, so why am I obeying the courts?’ And Stage 4 is metastasis. Stage 4 is when democracy can die and the rule of law can die and constitutionalism can die. And we — unless something happens radically, I can’t see how we don’t get to Stage 4, because the logical path that they are taking, which is, is that the law doesn’t apply to us and nobody can enforce the law against us.
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CONWAY: The only thing that stands between us and utter lawlessness is our willingness, and in particular, the willingness of government officials, including and especially the President of the United States, to obey the court orders even when they have good faith disagreements with those orders. And this President doesn’t have good faith disagreements and these orders, he does not care. He is a lawless criminal. And we have, basically, a criminal regime. And if you believe that they are going to enforce, are going to abide by court orders, they’re not going to do it. They’re already probably trying to slide around the court orders, but they’re not quite yet in open defiance. But we will get there.
