The faux Republicans hired by MSNBC are known for their wild use of hyperbole during their anti-Trump screeds. But political analyst Steve Schmidt set a high bar for himself during Monday's 11th Hour when he went on a loud tirade slamming the President for how he responded to the news his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen was raided by the FBI.And he was so happy about the raid, he claimed: “you can hear the faint applause from heaven of this country's founding fathers.”
Fellow faux Republican Nicolle Wallace was filling in for disgraced anchor Brian Williams when she let Schmidt loose to unleash his smears. “Welcome back. Joining the conversation is Steve Schmidt, a veteran Republican strategist, and an MSNBC political analyst. Steve, go,” she exclaimed.
“Well, I thought what we saw today was extremely disturbing, Nicolle,” Schmidt began as he mocked Trump for having his arms crossed and for looking like a “dime store Mussolini.” “That the leader and the country are synonymous,” he continued, taking issue with Trump’s description of the raid as an attack on America. “And that just goes to show the degree to which Donald Trump doesn't understand the United States of America.”
Schmidt suggested that Trump set out to use the military generals he was meeting with to discuss the situation in Syria as “political props, while he goes on this disturbing rant.” And he worried for America’s service members because an “unhinged and off balance” president was looking to send them to war. “It was disturbing to watch him in action today. It was disturbing to see how he operates,” Schmidt opined.
The so-called Republican then chose to compare the Trump administration to a terminal cancer patient, but instead of tumors they found corruption:
It's a person who goes to the doctor and says I'm not feeling well, and I have some stomach pain. And the doctor does some tests and comes back and say, we have some bad news. We looked and what we see is cancer is everywhere. In the same way, I think what the prosecutors have done is the empowering of the special counsel that they've looked inside the Trump organization. They've looked at this collusion issue, but what they found is there is corruption everywhere.
Several minutes later, Wallace parroted a question to Schmidt that Williams usually asked to mock the Trump White House for being far normal. “We are light years from normal. We are outside of the galaxy from normal,” he declared.
And just as Schmidt was getting ready to launch into yet another anti-Trump screed, he proclaimed that the Founding Fathers were pleased with watching the special counsel put the screws to team Trump:
And I think if you listen closely tonight, you can hear the faint applause from heaven of this country's founding fathers, who bequeathed to us a nation where the rule of law is supreme. We are a nation of laws. We are not a banana republic.
This level of hyperventilation would be humorous if it wasn’t so sad.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC
The 11th Hour
April 9, 2018
11:25:07 PM EasternNICOLLE WALLACE: Welcome back. Joining the conversation is Steve Schmidt, a veteran Republican strategist and an MSNBC political analyst. Steve, go!
STEVE SCHMIDT: Well, I thought what we saw today was extremely disturbing, Nicolle. We see Donald Trump sitting there with his arms crossed like a dime store Mussolini saying that an attack on the country is the result of a legally executed search warrant on his private attorney. And what he really means there is that anything that endangers him politically or otherwise legally is, in fact, an attack on the country. That the leader and the country are synonymous. And that just goes to show the degree to which Donald Trump doesn't understand the United States of America. It is because the United States of America is a nation of laws, where the rule of law prevails, and no person, even the president, is above the law.
And so what we saw of him today is using the senior military uniform leadership of the country as political props, while he goes on this disturbing rant, while at the same time speculating about the use of military force and sending America's fighting men and women into harm's way. It was a very, very disturbing performance, and per The Washington Post reporting, and I think as evidenced by his comments today, he seems unhinged. He seems off balance, and he seems unhinged and off balance at an exact moment in time where he appears to be contemplating military action. It was disturbing to watch him in action today. It was disturbing to see how he operates. But his reaction is obvious because this scandal has moved another giant step closer to the Oval Office.
(…)
11:31:39 PM Eastern
SCHMIDT: Here's the analogy I would use, Nicolle. It's a person who goes to the doctor and says I'm not feeling well, and I have some stomach pain. And the doctor does some tests and comes back and say, we have some bad news. We looked and what we see is cancer is everywhere. In the same way, I think what the prosecutors have done is the empowering of the special counsel that they've looked inside the Trump organization. They've looked at this collusion issue, but what they found is there is corruption everywhere.
(…)
11:46:34 PM Eastern
SCHMIDT: We are light years from normal. We are outside of the galaxy from normal. This is unprecedented. What we saw today was an American president say essentially, “I am the state. I am the country.” And that is simply not the case in the United States of America. And I think if you listen closely tonight, you can hear the faint applause from heaven of this country's founding fathers, who bequeathed to us a nation where the rule of law is supreme. We are a nation of laws. We are not a banana republic.
(…)
