One can almost count on MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews to make an eyebrow-raising statement on a given night. Thursday night saw Matthews up his game with a stream of fake news, fearmongering, and liberal talk points on gun control a day after the Parkland, Florida high school massacre.
Right off the top, Matthews declared that he’s hosting the show (as usual) from Washington D.C., but he added that it’s “occupied territory of the American gun lobby” one day after a mass shooting caused by “a mass inaction by our politicians.”
Matthews continued with mouth fulls of hyperbole:
And once again, someone's taken a battlefield weapon — the AR-15 — into an American school and opened fire. And once again, we are told to shut up about it. We are asked not to — we're not to do ask why this battlefield weapon designed for the single person of killing lots of humans quickly has once again been about put to its designed purpose of killing lots of humans fast.
He then turned to a strawman argument, alleging that “[t]here is no time for politics, those in the pocket of the National Rifle Association tell us” and that NRA supporters don’t want anyone to “mention stopping this open traffic this to teenagers in semi-automatic combat guns.”
Emphasizing that “we are going to talk about” gun control, Matthews recapped what we know about what transpired then shifted back to irresponsibly touting an outright falsehood about mass shootings from the far-left gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety:
And since Sandy Hook by the way, where 20 children were murdered, there have been roughly 1600 mass shootings in this country. So far, there have been 18 school shootings in this new year alone and with all the grief and chaos, it's been the voices of the NRA funded politicians. Let me say that again. The NRA-funded politicians rising above the din.
For a thorough debunking of this 2018 stat, check out posts here and here (plus the original piece debunking Everytown from the Washington Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski).
Matthews played clips of three prominent Republicans commenting on the massacre followed by their NRA donation totals and knocked President Trump for making “zero mention of the battlefield weapon the suspect used in the mass shooting.”
Speaking later to the Democratic Florida State Representative Jared Moskowitz, Matthews urged Matthews to “deal with the repercussions down there” and stand up to Rubio who’s “getting the money to fight people talking gun control.”
Matthews also rephrased the false Everytown stat later on, fretting that “[t]here’s about one [school shooting] a week now.”
He then continued:
This guy had a plan, smoke bombs, turn on the alarm, get people in the hallways and start mowing it people down. He had a plan. What's the plan of those who are playing defense? My question — let me go to Kurt on that. What is the defensive plan? Anybody got one? What's the NRA plan to protect our schools?
Former Breitbart spokesman, former House Republican aide, and current liberal commentator Kurt Bardella spewed venom at his former comrades, falsely claiming that the NRA has “no plan” to help protect people because they murderously want people “to be helpless.” I bet the folks that NRA training courses and Eddie Eagle programs would disagree.
The liberal media darling continued, demonically stating that the NRA’s “plan is to continue to feed the people that have been giving you money and to turn a blind eye to tragedy” but propose immediate policy solutions if a crime is committed by an illegal immigrant.
“When it involves a gun, well, need to take a step back, we need to wait and see and we need to get all the facts. Why is there a double standard on tragedy with Donald Trump and Republicans,” he added.
What’s ironic about the fake news from Matthews was that, later in the show, he touted a Nicholas Kristof New York Times column and paraphrased its message to the White House that “lying is bad” and “[w]hen you lie a lot, it's really bad.” Lying certainly “is bad,” Chris. It is indeed.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on February 15, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Hardball
February 15, 2018
7:00 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Frozen in the headlights. Let's play Hardball. [HARDBALL OPENING CREDITS] Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews in Washington, D.C., occupied territory of the American gun lobby. So, here we go again. Once again a mass shooting and, once again, a mass inaction by our politicians. And once again, someone's taken a battlefield weapon — the AR-15 — into an American school and opened fire. And once again, we are told to shut up about it. We are asked not to — we're not to do ask why this battlefield weapon designed for the single person of killing lots of humans quickly has once again been about put to its designed purpose of killing lots of humans fast. This is no time for politics those in the pocket of the National Rifle Association tell us. We are not to even mention stopping this open traffic this to teenagers in semi-automatic combat guns. Well, here tonight, like last night, we are going to talk about it. It's been a little over 24 hours since Nikolas Cruz barged into his old high school in Parkland, Florida opening fire on hundreds of terrified students and teachers, ultimately murdering 17 and wounding 14 others. And since Sandy Hook by the way, where 20 children were murdered, there have been roughly 1600 mass shootings in this country. So far, there have been 18 school shootings in this new year alone and with all the grief and chaos, it's been the voices of the NRA funded politicians. Let me say that again. The NRA-funded politicians rising above the din.
(....)
MATTHEWS: Let’s just follow the money. Marco Rubio received $3.3 million from the NRA. Notice how he commented today. Ted Cruz has received $77,000, Paul Ryan another $61,000. President Trump today addressed the country calling the suspect mentally disturbed but the President made zero mention of the battlefield weapon the suspect used in the mass shooting. The weapon he bought at the age of 19. Instead, he urged citizens to reach out to faith leaders in their community for help.
(....)
MATTHEWS: Representative Moskowitz, you're down there. You’re down there. It's your responsibility to deal with the repercussions down there. What do we do with people who go on television with $3 million behind them like your senator down there who say we shouldn't talk politics because I'm getting $3 million from the NRA. Of course I don’t want to talk politics. I'm getting the money to fight people talking gun control.
(....)
MATTHEWS: I'm just wondering about the disproportion of concern that you hear in these hours since this tragedy and all the tradition since. There's about one a week now, a school tragedy. Eric is right. It is partially focused just on schools, this mass shooting and I will say again, bringing these semi-automatic weapons to the schools, how do you keep them out of the door. This guy had a plan, smoke bombs, turn on the alarm, get people in the hallways and start mowing it people down. He had a plan. What's the plan of those who are playing defense? My question — let me go to Kurt on that. What is the defensive plan? Anybody got one? What's the NRA plan to protect our schools?
KURT BARDELLA: There is no plan. The plan is to be helpless. The plan is to continue to feed the people that have been giving you money and to turn a blind eye to tragedy. You know, I like how when it's an illegal immigrant that commits a crime, we need new policy. We need to do something because our safety is at risk. When it involves a gun, well, need to take a step back, we need to wait and see and we need to get all the facts. Why is there a double standard on tragedy with Donald Trump and Republicans?
(....)
MATTHEWS: Well, the interesting thing, I'll start with Kurt on this one, is that the absence of conversation is mandatory now. You must not talk about it. That’s to politicize it and then two weeks from now, we're not talking about this. That’s when they'll say, okay, you can talk about it but nobody wants to talk about it. You can't talk any policy. I don't want to hear from policymakers except about policy. I don’t really hear —
BARDELLA: That's why they exist.
MATTHEWS: — the President about how to contact my faith leader. I don't need Trump to tell me how to find my church. I know where it is. I go there on my own. I need him to lead this country in doing something about gun safety and he refuses to do anything.
(....)
MATTHEWS: I love Nicholas Kristof in The Times today. Lying is bad, you know? When you lie a lot, it's really bad.
