Disgraced former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was startled by Donald Trump’s State of the Union call for a culture of life and end to late term abortion. Seemingly out of the blue, Williams on Tuesday night interjected, “Graphic language on abortion, a first for a national speech in my time.” Chris Matthews described it as “[sticking] it to the governor of Virginia, tied it into his scandal.” Ralph Northam’s scandal, of course, was seeming to support infanticide.
Here’s some of the “graphic” language from the address: “To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb.”
Matthews blanched at Trump’s mocking of socialism, complaining about the President connecting it to Venezuela: “[Bernie Sanders’s] version of socialism is, of course, Northern Europe. It’s Denmark. He said, ‘No, no, your version of socialism is Venezuela.’ It was pretty strong right-wing stuff.”
Later, Matthews introduced socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez by praising her: “Congratulations, by the way. We've never met but congratulations by your upset victory in the primary.” He offered this softball to the socialist: “What did you make of, I thought, the president’s pretty aggressive statement about Venezuela tonight?”
A partial transcript is below:
MSNBC Live coverage
2/5/19
10:37CHRIS MATTHEWS: That chunk about illegal immigration was so directed to the people who elected him, it was powerful. And it added a little bit of neo-con in there, the Iranian thing, the Venezuelan thing, and then tying Bernie Sanders to Venezuela. His version of socialism is, of course, Northern Europe. It’s Denmark. He said, “No, no, your version of socialism is Venezuela.” It was pretty strong right-wing stuff.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Graphic language on abortion, a first for a national speech in my time.
MATTHEWS: That was powerful. And he stuck it to the governor of Virginia, tied it into his scandal.
...
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Ana Maria, it's Brian Williams in New York. I have to ask you because I was wondering this in realtime what it was like to be in the same chamber tonight as now justice Kavanaugh, because we all came to know you in that videotaped moment as emotional as it was in the argument in real time.
ANA MARIA ARCHILA (Confronted Sen. Flake over Kavanaugh nomination): It was sad. I was sad that the Supreme Court is tainted by a process that put someone accused of sexual assault in the highest court of the land.
...
MATTHEWS: Congresswoman, thank you. Congratulations, by the way. We've never met but congratulations by your upset victory in the primary. What did you make of, I thought, the president’s pretty aggressive statement about Venezuela tonight? And he talked about being a socialist country and how we'll never be a socialist country. It was pretty truculent. But it tied the notion of socialism to that particular regime. What do you think about the president, why he did that?
