In the overnight hours of Tuesday into Wednesday, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews suggested that there’s a segment of Americans opposed to President Barack Obama who want him permanently wiped from U.S. history books and any list of American Presidents because of his race.
Right on the dot at 1:00 a.m. Eastern, Matthews also creepily complimented NBC News correspondent Hallie Jackson for having “definitely calmest voice out there” amidst the violence after a Donald Trump rally in New Mexico.
Tossing to Jackson, Matthews gushed that she “has definitely calmest voice out there, I must say” as “your voice is something.”
He added that Jackson’s voice was “so unmodulated” and watching her run amongst the protesters and escaping tear gas didn’t make her close her breath: “It's like I'm watching you run and you don't run out of breath and you run and stop and you start over again. You're quite calm in covering what could be a tricky situation, Hallie.”
Like most people would (and have over the years), Jackson seemed to be thrown off by Matthews’s confession and simply thanked him and stated she “appreciate[d] that” before reporting about how the violent anti-Trump protesters had largely left the scene.
A few minutes later, Matthews made the turn toward playing the race card concerning critics of President Obama by lamenting that, when it comes to his personal life, he’s done “everything that the most right wing white guy in the world said you should do” but still was questioned about whether he was born in the country:
If I were Barack Obama, first African-American president who went to Harvard Law and Columbia, did everything right in his life, raised his kids perfectly, was perfectly faithful husband and loving husband, did everything that the most right wing white guy in the world said you should do and done every one of those things perfectly his whole life then somebody says can I see your papers, Mr. President?....Can I see your reason, in fact, justification for being in this country? I want to see that. I would think he's going to remember that.
MSNBC national correspondent and AM Joy host Joy Reid added critics of the President dislike him due to his representing of “a fundamental demographic shift that made them angry, anxious and uncomfortable” with these feelings symbolized by Trump’s candidacy.
With that, Matthews was motivated to arrive at this conclusion about how some who don’t the President favorably want him censored from U.S. history books:
I may — we may disagree on the percentage. I think I’m a lower percentage who believe that. I think there's a percentage of our country, 10 percent, 15 percent, whatever, I'm not going to go any higher, who want to be able to bring those books out, you know to show the kids when they go to high school and grade school, here's a list of all our Presidents in the color pictures and there's no Obama there...or have an asterisk underneath, snuck in the country.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s The Place for Politics 2016 on May 25 can be found below.
MSNBC’s The Place for Politics 2016
May 25, 2016
1:00 a.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let's go live now to the scene and again to Hallie Jackson who has definitely calmest voice out there. I must say. Your voice is something. By the way, it’s so unmodulated. It's like I'm watching you run and you don't run out of breath and you run and stop and you start over again. You're quite calm in covering what could be a tricky situation, Hallie.
HALLIE JACKSON: Thank you, Chris. I appreciate that. We're back out on the street where the police have really quieted things down.
(....)
MATTHEWS: Let's talk personal politics, which is my absolute love.
JOAN WALSH: Okay.
MATTHEWS: If I were Barack Obama, first African-American president who went to Harvard Law and Columbia, did everything right in his life, raised his kids perfectly, was perfectly faithful husband and loving husband, did everything that the most right wing white guy in the world said you should do and done every one of those things perfectly his whole life then somebody says can I see your papers, Mr. President? Can I see your I.D.?
WALSH: Right and that's this guy.
MATTHEWS: Can I see your reason, in fact, justification for being in this country? I want to see that. I would think he's going to remember that.
(....)
JOY REID: He was voicing I think the anxiety who felt that Barack Obama, Barack Hussein Obama becoming President of the United States meant a fundamental demographic shift that made them angry, anxious and uncomfortable. He verbalized it, absorbed it and then he regurgitated it and now he's running for president.
MATTHEWS: You know, I agree with you. I may — we may disagree on the percentage. I think I’m a lower percentage who believe that. I think there's a percentage of our country, 10 percent, 15 percent, whatever, I'm not going to go any higher, who want to be able to bring those books out, you know to show the kids when they go to high school and grade school, here's a list of all our Presidents in the color pictures and there's no Obama there
WALSH: Right.
[PANEL LAUGHS]
MATTHEWS: Or have an asterisk underneath, snuck in the country.
