On Friday, MSNBC host Joy Reid, the woman who hailed Hillary Clinton as the most qualified presidential candidate since the founding fathers and served as a reliable cheerleader for Barack Obama, threw aside any sense of irony as she accused Republicans of being “sycophants” for President Trump.
Raising the question of whether Trump was in any “political jeopardy” following James Comey’s testimony in the Russia investigation, Reid surprisingly declared: “I would argue no.” However, she launched her attack on the GOP while explaining her opinion: “...he has a party that is so supine, that are such sycophants. You saw Marco Rubio do the dance yesterday. They’re all in his service, they’re his stewards. So he isn’t in any political jeopardy at the moment.”
She went on to claim that all of the President’s tweets and public statements on the matter were placing him in legal jeopardy: “But listening to all of this...what he’s actually doing, reading what he’s actually tweeting is a guy named Robert Mueller....He isn’t blind to what Trump is doing. So Trump needs to be careful that he’s not digging himself a legal hole by continuing to speak.”
Earlier in the segment, anchor Katy Tur openly mocked Trump: “Joy, how long is this argument that the President is just new to this gonna last?...this is not as a bank teller, it’s not a job as a – you know, even a cub reporter in a small local station. This is – this is the President of the United States...”
Reid sneered: “Yeah, and Fifth Avenue has no pumpkin trucks....And so the idea that he’s now essentially reduced to a child-like state because he doesn’t understand right from wrong and he doesn’t know when he’s doing obstruction, is absurd.”
Here is a transcript of the June 9 exchange:
2:12 PM ET
(...)
KATY TUR: On that point, Joy, how long is this argument that the President is just new to this gonna last? I mean, this is not – this is not a job – I mean I don’t wanna – this is not as a bank teller, it’s not a job as a – you know, even a cub reporter in a small local station. This is – this is the President of the United States, it’s the leader of the free world.
JOY REID: Yeah, and Fifth Avenue has no pumpkin trucks. So it is not gonna fly that somebody who said, “I alone can fix it,” who ran on the idea that because he’s a businessman he can come into Washington, drain the swamp, that he knows more about ISIS than the generals. You know, Donald Trump has always represented himself as smarter, better, brighter, faster than anyone alive. And so the idea that he’s now essentially reduced to a child-like state because he doesn’t understand right from wrong and he doesn’t know when he’s doing obstruction, is absurd.
But I think the other big thing is there are two compartmentalized pieces. One is the political piece and whether or not Donald Trump is in real political jeopardy. And I would argue no, because he has such – he has a party that is so supine, that are such sycophants. You saw Marco Rubio do the dance yesterday. They’re all in his service, they’re his stewards. So he isn’t in any political jeopardy at the moment.
But listening to all of this and what we are – not just we are saying on television, but what he’s actually doing, reading what he’s actually tweeting is a guy named Robert Mueller. And Robert Mueller’s scope of his investigation potentially doesn’t have to be limited to directly Russia-gate-related matters. It also could go to post-Russia-gate obstruction. When you are denigrating the former director of the FBI who also happens to be a very good friend of Robert Mueller, and somebody Robert Mueller implicitly trusts, when you’re calling him a liar and also claiming he vindicated you and putting yourself on the record on Twitter, Robert Mueller can see that. He isn’t blind to what Trump is doing. So Trump needs to be careful that he’s not digging himself a legal hole by continuing to speak.
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