MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews is notorious for saying stupid things, but salty language is not usually associated with him. While trashing President Trump and his criticism of President Obama, Matthews whined to his panelists that all Trump does is “bitch, bitch.”
“Well, what’s this bitch, bitch. He’s supposed to be a positive, Make America Great guy and it's all this whining about the job he took. Hey look, he knew Obama was the last president. He knew he was coming in after Obama, who was actually quite successful and now he blames it all on the conditions of the job,” Matthews complained.
Matthews set himself up with his previous comments that Obama is “almost like a disease — like it’s a tick” in Trump’s ear to which New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters agreed.
“It’s the same thing with Hillary too. I mean, the grievance list that Trump has and the grudges that he holds, I mean he makes the Clintons look magnanimous. He is just — holds grudge after grudge after grudge. But I think it’s more than that,” argued Peters.
After Matthews offered his “bitch, bitch” aside, Peters continued by parroting Democratic talk points and forgetting that this point applied to Barack Obama:
Sure, but it's two things there. One, nothing is ever Trump's fault, ever. Number two, it is hard to overstate his desire for validation and affirmation. So, therefore, if he's criticizing how horrible Obama has done, by extension, he's doing a much better job[.]
The admirably even-keeled Molly Ball of The Atlantic tried to inject some reason into this liberal lovefest, reminding everyone how “Republicans would always make fun of Obama for still blaming the Bush administration for Iraq and the state of the economy years after he took office.”
Not surprisingly, Matthews and Peters didn’t allow that to claim to stand:
MATTHEWS: Well, he had a right to do that. He inherited crapola.
PETERS: He actually did inherit it.
MATTHEWS: Come on, he really did inherit The greatest recession in history and two unpopular wars. These are facts.
If Matthews, Peters, and The Guardian’s Sabrina Siddiqui wanted to knock Trump for complaining too much, they picked the wrong segment. Moments later, Matthews bemoaned how “[w]e used to have grown-up presidents” that “came in and actually served with honor and pride and they didn't have to trash their opponents.”
“I doubt if Eisenhower ever mentioned Truman's name. I don’t think Jack Kennedy ever trashed Eisenhower ever and there was a long period of presidencies who were like that. They just didn't do that,” Matthews added before Siddiqui falsely claimed that “Obama didn’t trash Bush.”
Matthews’s breathless diatribe then dragged on:
Jimmy Carter didn't run around trashing Jerry Ford all day. It isn't what you did. And Bill Clinton never trashed George Herbert Walker Bush once he got to be President. They were all positive president. Whatever their limits were, they didn't spend all day trashing their predecessor. They just didn’t.
Here’s the relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on April 18:
MSNBC’s Hardball
April 18, 2017
7:33 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: Jeremy, I have a thing — it's almost like a disease — like it's a tick. When he's talking about almost nothing else, Obama come in his ear and he starts talking about Obama being — you know?
JEREMY PETERS: It's the same thing with Hillary too. I mean, the grievance list that Trump has and the grudges that he holds, I mean he makes the Clintons look magnanimous. He is just — holds grudge after grudge after grudge. But I think it’s more than that.
MATTHEWS: Well, what’s this bitch, bitch. He’s supposed to be a positive, Make America Great guy and it's all this whining about the job he took. Hey look, he knew Obama was the last president. He knew he was coming in after Obama, who was actually quite successful and now he blames it all on the conditions of the job.
PETERS: Sure, but it's two things there. One, nothing is ever Trump's fault, ever. Number two, it is hard to overstate his desire for validation and affirmation. So, therefore, if he's criticizing how horrible Obama has done, by extension, he's doing a much better job.
MATTHEWS: Molly.
MOLLY BALL: Well and Trump is someone who needs an enemy. He needs a foil. So during the campaign, it was just as much as a tick for him to talk about crooked Hillary, and you actually didn't hear him talk about Obama so much. But now that he's beaten Hillary, now that the Democrats are so powerless as to be almost irrelevant, now that he's not supposed to pick on Paul Ryan anymore, who can he possibly have as his foil? Because he doesn't know what the dimensions of the fight are if he doesn't have someone to square off against and I would say too that it's still early days. You know, Republicans would always make fun of Obama for still blaming the Bush administration for Iraq and the state of the economy years after he took office.
MATTHEWS: Well, he had a right to do that. He inherited crapola.
PETERS: He actually did inherit it.
MATTHEWS: Come on, he really did inherit The greatest recession in history and two unpopular wars. These are facts.
BALL: It's also true that an incumbent president is not responsible for the conditions that he faces immediately coming in.
MATTHEWS: Well, let me make a bet. Trump is lucky if the unemployment rate is as low as it is now when he leaves after four years and he runs for reelection. That’s what I think he's definitely afraid of, the numbers won't be better than they were under Obama.
(....)
MATTHEWS: We used to have grown-up presidents, okay. I can remember them. Maybe because I’m the oldest person here, but I remember they came in and actually served with honor and pride and they didn't have to trash their opponents. I doubt if Eisenhower ever mentioned Truman's name. I don’t think Jack Kennedy ever trashed Eisenhower ever and there was a long period of presidencies who were like that. They just didn't do that.
SIDDIQUI: Right and Obama didn’t trash Bush. He didn’t trash –
MATTHEWS: Jimmy Carter didn't run around trashing Jerry Ford all day. It isn't what you did. And Bill Clinton never trashed George Herbert Walker Bush once he got to be President. They were all positive president. Whatever their limits were, they didn't spend all day trashing their predecessor. They just didn’t.
BALL: Well, and one thing —
PETERS: We've never had a president with the temperament of Donald Trump.
MATTHEWS: Well I just want to point it out. It's not normal.
BALL: Obama also has been more critical of Donald Trump since he took office than George W. Bush was of Obama.
PETERS: That’s fair.
BALL: George W. Bush famously retreated —
MATTHEWS: Well, self defense.
BALL: — from the spotlight and never said a word in criticism of Obama.
