On Wednesday, MSNBC’s Hardball continued the media’s push to diagnose President Trump as mentally ill, thanks to host Chris Matthews, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, and especially Ron Reagan, who declared Trump to be “a sociopathic, malignant narcissist” “vomited...up” by “the Electoral College.”
Without any psychological education, the panel deemed Trump to be suffering from a mental illness while Republican strategist Susan Del Percio later lamented that Republicans didn’t suffer enough after 2008 and their 2010 wins were seemingly undeserving.
The son of the former Republican President led the way, first noting that, after hearing a clip of Trump brag about his Ivy League education, he’s “known a few smart people in my life, and I’ve never known any of them to tell you how smart they were.”
Reagan added that “we get all outraged for a few days over the latest incivility, if you want, coming from Donald Trump, whatever tweet or remark he made about a Gold Star family and it’s fine.” But while they’re worth documenting, the real matter is Trump being “a deeply damaged human being.”
The stupid continued flowing, including a call for Trump to be removed from office:
He is a sociopathic, malignant narcissist, and he happens to be the — you know, the electoral system, not the American people, but the Electoral College has sort of vomited this thing up and it landed in the Oval Office and it needs to be removed. It’s a stain. It’s a big glob on the carpet there. It needs to be removed and that means impeachment or the 25th Amendment. This man is a danger to the world.
Matthews was quite amused, laughing hysterically before telling Robinson that, while he’s not Jewish, he enjoys invoking Yiddish from time to time and, in this case, the word “[m]ishegoss” because it “means absolute confusion, hell gone to earth, everything’s wrong.”
“This is the Republican Party. He’s their leader! They’re dropping off not like flies, but they’re flaking off, if you will, one at a time saying, This guy is not fit to serve, like Ron did,” Matthews added.
Building up to Reagan, Matthews and Robinson insinuated the claim about Trump’s health that Reagan would then directly address. The Hardball host explained to Robinson that he doesn’t “understand why a President of the United States, with a normal psychological condition, would brag in saying that, I went to an Ivy League school.”
“Here’s the guy that ran with the regular people, that didn’t like the academic, et cetera, elite. And there he is saying, Hey, I went to Penn! Hey, I’m civil. I was nice in school. I’m waiting for Amy Gutmann, the President of Penn, to just say, He didn’t really go here,” complained Matthews.
This teed up Robinson to respond:
ROBINSON: Well, you qualified those remarks, “with a normal psychological condition,” right? And I don’t think that’s what we’re dealing with here. I’m not sure he knows what the word “civil” means or “civility” is because clearly, that’s something he ain’t and —
MATTHEWS: He walks around with his tie hanging out four feet down, the coat open like he wants to look like a bully. He swaggers and then he says, of course, I’m a nice person who went to an Ivy League school.
As referenced earlier, Del Percio ended the A-block by arguing the Republicans should have spent more time in the proverbial wilderness after 2008 before winning the 2010 midterms:
There’s also another problem on hand is that a lot of donors and people don’t know where to go right now because they’re afraid to get behind any institutional person because they don’t know where the next tweet’s going to come because most of those donors have business in front of Washington. So it’s going to be — I think Eugene’s right. It’s going to come when they lose. In 2008, they took a thumping. And what happened was, is they almost got back too early. They didn’t have a long enough walk in the woods to really redefine themselves. And now we’re here. We went from the party to (ph) no to a party that’s in control, but not governing, which is almost worse than being the party of no.
The suggestions about Trump being a vomit stain on America and mentally challenged were brought to you by Hardball sponsors AARP, Capital One, The Hartford, and Walgreens.
Here’s the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on October 25:
MSNBC’s Hardball
October 25, 2017
7:03 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I want to talk with Gene, but first of all, I’ve got to show this because I think this has is the craziest thing I’ve heard a President say, which is saying something. President Trump, a man who has picked fights with war heroes, Gold Star families, disabled journalists, even beauty pageant contestants, said it was the media that created the narrative that he wasn’t civil.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: Should you be more civil as the leader of this country?
TRUMP: Well, I think the press makes me more uncivil than I am. You know, people don’t understand. I went to an Ivy League college. I was a nice student. I did very well. I’m a very intelligent person. I — you know, the fact is, I think — I really believe — I think the press creates a different image of Donald Trump than the real person.
HALLIE JACKSON: When is it okay for you to pull your punches? When will you not fight back?
TRUMP: Well, I think it’s always okay when somebody says something about you that’s false, I think it’s always okay to counterpunch or to fight back.
MATTHEWS: Gene, I do not understand why a President of the United States, with a normal psychological condition, would brag in saying that, I went to an Ivy League school. Here’s the guy that ran with the regular people, that didn’t like the academic, et cetera, elite. And there he is saying, Hey, I went to Penn!
EUGENE ROBINSON: Exactly.
MATTHEWS: Hey, I’m civil. I was nice in school. I’m waiting for Amy Gutmann, the President of Penn, to just say, He didn’t really go here.
MATTHEWS: I am tired of him saying — he went there for two years. I’m waiting for — Fordham never claims him, by the way. Fordham had him for two years. They never claim the guy. Your thoughts.
ROBINSON: Well, you qualified those remarks, “with a normal psychological condition,” right? And I don’t think that’s what we’re dealing with here. I’m not sure he knows what the word “civil” means or “civility” is because clearly, that’s something he ain’t and —
MATTHEWS: He walks around with his tie hanging out four feet down, the coat open like he wants to look like a bully. He swaggers and then he says, of course, I’m a nice person who went to an Ivy League school.
ROBINSON: Well —
MATTHEWS: I went to a beauty school or whatever the hell —
ROBINSON: It’s very weird to hear —
MATTHEWS: — finishing school.
ROBINSON: — the President of the United States talking like that, but it’s been weird since inauguration day. But so far, we got, what, three senators who have actually come out publicly? We’ve got Flake, we’ve got Corker, we’ve got John McCain most of the time, some of the time. Where are the others?
(....)
RON REAGAN: I’ve known a few smart people in my life, and I’ve never known any of them to tell you how smart they were. That just wasn’t necessary. Listen, all three of you have touched on something that I think is really central here. You know, we get all outraged for a few days over the latest incivility, if you want, coming from Donald Trump, whatever tweet or remark he made about a Gold Star family and it’s fine. We should note these things and catalog them, but you three have already touched on the central problem here and that is that Donald Trump is a deeply damaged human being. He is a sociopathic, malignant narcissist, and he happens to be the — you know, the electoral system, not the American people, but the Electoral College has sort of vomited this thing up and it landed in the Oval Office and it needs to be removed. It’s a stain. It’s a big glob on the carpet there. It needs to be removed and that means impeachment or the 25th Amendment. This man is a danger to the world.
MATTHEWS: Well, that brings me back, Gene, to my Yiddish as I began the show with. I’m not Jewish, but I am philo-Semitic and I don’t mind using the terminology because it’s a rich language. Mishegoss means absolute confusion, hell gone to earth, everything’s wrong. This is the Republican Party. He’s their leader! They’re dropping off not like flies, but they’re flaking off, if you will, one at a time saying, This guy is not fit to serve, like Ron did.
(....)
MATTHEWS: Explain the silence of the lambs, Ron.
REAGAN: Well, apparently —
MATTHEWS: Why? Why are they so silent?
REAGAN: Well, apparently, a lot of the country can get behind somebody who supports neo-Nazis. We’ve already seen that. Republicans in Congress are making two calculations. One involves a tax cut for the top 1 percent. This is their — they want this more than anything. If they think Trump can help them get there, they’ll stay with him and the other is simply their re-election as individuals. They’ve got a divided party now. Roughly half of their party is all-in on Trump and will crucify anybody who doesn’t take his side. The other half is, you know, the establishment party, but you can’t win with just half. You know, you’ve got to somehow put the two halves together there, and that’s the dilemma for all the Republicans now and why the party is coming apart, in what is really an historical moment here in this country.
(....)
SUSAN DEL PERCIO: There’s also another problem on hand is that a lot of donors and people don’t know where to go right now because they’re afraid to get behind any institutional person because they don’t know where the next tweet’s going to come because most of those donors have business in front of Washington. So it’s going to be — I think Eugene’s right. It’s going to come when they lose. In 2008, they took a thumping. And what happened was, is they almost got back too early. They didn’t have a long enough walk in the woods to really redefine themselves. And now we’re here. We went from the party to (ph) no to a party that’s in control, but not governing, which is almost worse than being the party of no.
MATTHEWS: I hope your party comes back some day.
DEL PERCIO: I do too, Chris. I really do.
