MSNBC’s Hardball often levels outrageous and conspiracy driven attacks against President Donald Trump, but on top of the usual assault, things got rather personal during Wednesday’s edition. “Now I'm starting to think that attributing anything as intelligent as a plan to Donald Trump is just unnecessary, I'm overegging the pudding,” mocked author P. J. O’Rourke when asked about Trump dubious claims of wiretapping, “This guy is just -- he's a giant toddler and there's nothing going around inside his head except, you know, when do I get to suck my thumb next?”
“How do you write news for a news organization like Bloomberg which deals in numbers and facts, not a lot of thrills, just facts? What is the fact here,” host Chris Mathews then asked to Margaret Talev of Bloomberg, a chide aimed at the White House. It’s hypocritical for Matthews to chastise someone for not sticking to the facts when he pushed a conspiracy theory where he claimed Trump’s smile meant he was indeed in league with the Russians.
Matthews then turned his ire onto Press Secretary Sean Spicer for defending Trump’s claim by pointing out that the President’s use of quotation marks meant general forms of surveillance. “And then the other guy, Spicer's got the toughest guy in the world. I don't like what he's doing. This lobster thing he's doing,” mocked Matthews as he performed exaggerated air quotes and made a goofy face.
Seemingly following O-Rourke’s lead, Matthews joined in on the attack of Trump’s intelligence:
Could you teach that to a 4-year-old? Cause that sounded like normal intelligent thinking. I'm sorry. I'm not being condescending. You try this. If you talked to Trump like that, like she just did like an intelligent -- well, if there was anything there, it would have come out from the FBI director. Nunes, head of House Intelligence, would not be knocking it down if there were anything there. Logical deduction. What would Trump do with a logical deduction like that?
This coming from the guy that blamed a lack of ‘straight lines’ for a train disaster back in 2015.
O’Rourke had, even more, jabs to throw at the President during the “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” segment. “There's hope for the Trump administration. There’s something you didn't know,” He declared.
“What I hope for the Trump administration is going to do is build hotels and resorts and casinos in Russia, in China, in Raqqa, in Gaza,” he stated, building the tension, “And they will all collapse in bankruptcy and it's going to leave Russia trying to pass off eastern Ukraine on bond holders and trying to sell the Spratly islands distressed property.”
It’s difficult to determine what’s worse: their raging disdain for the President of the United States or their utter lack of creatively in their jokes. Trump has been called a toddler many times in the past. Back in November, The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah mocked Trump, saying “He loves the same things toddlers do.” And early last month, wacky Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson described Trump as a “toddler” on ABC’s The View. There’s nothing original there, it’s low hanging fruit.
Transcript below:
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MSNBC
Hardball
March 15, 2017
7:44:56 PM EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about this weird thing of the President saying something, gets up at dawn. He doesn't like what's being said about whatever, he says I'll make some news. The President, sick President Obama, ordered a wiretap on me. And now he's trying to say something like, well, there's a lot of definitions of that, no, he said a sick president did it to me. Then all his people have to flak for him.
P. J. O’ROURKE: You know, first I thought it was like an old magician trick, you know, just diversion. You know? Don't look here. Look over here. Get the rabbit and put it in the hat. Now I'm starting to think that attributing anything as intelligent as a plan to Donald Trump is just unnecessary, I'm overegging the pudding, you know? This guy is just -- he's a giant toddler and there's nothing going around inside his head except, you know, when do I get to suck my thumb next?
MATTHEWS: Margaret [Talev], how do you write news for a news organization like Bloomberg which deals in numbers and facts, not a lot of thrills, just facts? What is the fact here? There is no wiretapping evidence at all so he says today something, well, it means a lot of things. And then the other guy, Spicer's got the toughest guy in the world. I don't like what he's doing. This lobster thing he's doing. [Air quotes]
…
MATTHEWS: Could you teach that to a 4-year-old? Cause that sounded like normal intelligent thinking. I'm sorry. I'm not being condescending. You try this. If you talked to Trump like that, like she just did like an intelligent -- well, if there was anything there, it would have come out from the FBI director. Nunes, head of House Intelligence, would not be knocking it down if there were anything there. Logical deduction. What would Trump do with a logical deduction like that?
…
7:54:56 PM Eastern
O’ROURKE: There's hope for the Trump administration. There’s something you didn't know. I've got hope for the Trump administration. What I hope for the Trump administration is going to do is build hotels and resorts and casinos in Russia, in China, in Raqqa, in Gaza and they will all collapse in bankruptcy and it's going to leave Russia trying to pass off eastern Ukraine on bond holders and trying to sell the Spratly islands distressed property.
