What was Chris Matthews thinking about in the moments before the State of the Union? Politics? Policy? Nope. He was explaining to the MSNBC audience how Donald Trump was like Satan and Americans are making a “deal with the devil” if they reelected him. Referencing the temptation of Christ by Satan, Matthews said of Americans: “[Trump] will tell us why we should love him. He will promise us the world if we only bow down and worship him. If this sounds familiar, it's happened before. You may have read about it before, probably in church. It's the classic deal with the devil.”
Later, as Melania Trump walked in, just moments before the speech, Matthews was still fixated with Satan and Americans who might reelect the President: “I think the people that like him should consider the bargain they've made here. It is a diabolic bargain. They’re getting the worst with the good and they’ve chosen that, according to our latest number. We got something like over 50 percent — in fact high into the early, small 60s that they in fact love his economic stewardship. They love it.”
Host Brian Williams helpfully reminded Matthews: “In your remarks, you gave it a name. You said it’s something people have learned about in church.” The Hardball anchor reminded, “It’s called a deal with the devil.”
Earlier, Matthews downgraded Trump from Satan to just a dictator in the making:
He does seem to be a guy who doesn't like the good guys in the world. He wants to be in the gang. Look at the guys he's hung around with. He doesn't like Macron or Justin Trudeau, chancellor of Germany. They're all too regular for him. He likes the bad guys. He wants to be one of them.
A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more:
Hardball
2/4/2020
7:44 PM ET
CHRIS MATTHEWS: He seems to be -- I'm going to get to this in my close tonight. He does seem to be a guy who doesn't like the good guys in the world. He wants to be in the gang. Look at the guys he's hung around with. He doesn't like Macron or Justin Trudeau, chancellor of Germany. They're all too regular for him. He likes the bad guys. He wants to be one of them.
STEVE SCHMIDT: He has a fetish for autocrats and it's frightening. FDR, who conceived of the world we live in, what it would be like after the second World War was won, his great confidant was the Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King. And he would frequently have him in the White House. He said to Mackenzie King, he would have him in the White House, and he said to Mackenzie King as he was imagining the liberal global order we lived under, that was architected by FDR, built by Truman and maintenance from Eisenhower to Obama, he said his ambition wasn’t it would endure forever, just so long as every person who was alive on the day the war was won was still alive, and we're coming to the end of those long life-spans. And so we have an American president who has detached our liberal global values from the world, zero sum, might makes right, fetishizes the Putins, the Erdogans and the dictators.
MATTHEWS: Throw in Netanyahu sometimes.
SCHMIDT: Makes the world a more dangerous place.
....
7:55
MATTHEWS: Tonight, a man will stand in the well of the U.S. House of representatives and tell us our country has returned to greatness. He will cite numbers, numbers attached to dollar signs, and brag. What he will not cite is his own moral bankruptcy. But just as he can count the credits, we can count the deficits. And honesty, what price do we pay for what word the world knows is worthless. Asked those to give up their savings to something he called Trump University. And decency. What do we tell our children of a man who breaks every rule we try to teach them? Who makes fun of people's appearances.
Who mocks the handicapped. And disloyalty. What does it cost this country to have a leader who abuses our allies, who sidles up to the world's worst tyrants. Who shows every sign of wanting to join them? Tonight, the country enters the fourth quarter of the Trump reign. He will tell us why we should love him. He will promise us the world if we only bow down and worship him. If this sounds familiar, it's happened before. You may have read about it before, probably in church. It's the classic deal with the devil. And that's Hardball for now.
...
8:58
MATTHEWS: I think the people that like him should consider the bargain they've made here. It is a diabolic bargain. They’re getting the worst with the good and they’ve chosen that, according to our latest number. We got something like over 50 percent — in fact high into the early, small 60s that they in fact love his economic stewardship. They love it.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: In your remarks, you gave it a name. You said it’s something people have learned about in church.
MATTHEWS: It’s called a deal with the devil.
