This is what having an awful, no good, very bad day looks like. MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews unleashed two separate tirades against the U.S. Supreme Court and decisions of theirs he doesn’t like in light of their decision to give President Trump “[t]he Good Housekeeping seal on his campaign to divide the country and approving his travel ban crudely aimed at Muslims.”
Of course, Matthews didn’t acknowledge the instances in which the Court made liberal decisions within the last few decades, such as the various ObamaCare rulings, halting the Arizona immigration law, keeping affirmative action in place, striking down DOMA, and then legalizing same-sex marriage. But he couldn’t let that get in the way of his fear-mongering.
After the opening credits and tag, here’s how Matthews opened the show:
They've done it again. The usual suspects the five-man Republican majority on the Supreme Court today gave President Trump what he wanted most: The Good Housekeeping seal on his campaign to divide the country and approving his travel ban crudely aimed at Muslims, the Republican-controlled highest court has shined up the entire Trump offensive on Muslims, Latinos and, let's not kid ourselves, Democrats.
Matthews then bemoaned how the Court, in three separate cases, “gave us W.,” “gave us guns for everyone in the Heller case,” and “with Citizens United, new power for the wealthy to drive our elections” before arriving at Tuesday’s move by the Court in Trump v. Hawaii.
“As I said, Donald Trump's dark brand of politics received the Supreme Court's seal of approval today. Five justices reviewed in favor of president trump's travel ban, the cleaned up version of his Muslim ban. The court chose to focus on the text of the policy rather than Trump's prior inflammatory tweets and public comments,” Matthews screeched.
As for the end of the show, Matthews started by blasting the Republican Justices as just “the usual suspects” who stole the presidency from Al Gore and, in the Heller case, “trashed the wording of the Constitution about arms being needed for militias to say that the Second Amendment meant that any individual had a right to a gun of any size, bullets firing at any speed, mounted with a lifetime supply of ammo” to satisfy the National Rifle Association.
The MSNBC pundit then somehow connected the Iraq War to the Citizens United ruling:
And then ten years after making W. President and repowering the country's war machine into Iraq, the Supreme Court put the cherry on the top giving total political power to the one force the highest court favors even more Republicans, money. The Citizens United case gave those with big money the unlimited license to change the course of elections. Embraced and beloved by Republicans, the Citizens United ruling brought down the last barrier between those with money and the power to direct the country's affairs. No wonder so many people are telling pollsters now how little they care about a democracy so increasingly run by the Republican dollar.
Circling back to the travel ban ruling, Matthews demeaned the position of Supreme Court justices by insinuating that the five Republican-appointed justices were merely doing the bidding of puppetmaster Trump to give him “a slap on the back, a loud cheer from the high bench” and akin to the Court saying: “Good work, Mr. President. That travel ban of yours is a dandy. Keep up the good work.”
Matthews concluded by invoking Merrick Garland as he’s become quite the be-all, end-all rallying cry for the left and, of course, again mentioning the 2000 election.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on June 26, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Hardball
June 26, 2018
7:00 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: The usual suspects. Let's play Hardball. [HARDBALL OPENING CREDITS] They've done it again. The usual suspects the five-man Republican majority on the Supreme Court today gave President Trump what he wanted most: The Good Housekeeping seal on his campaign to divide the country and approving his travel ban crudely aimed at Muslims, the Republican-controlled highest court has shined up the entire Trump offensive on Muslims, Latinos and, let's not kid ourselves, Democrats. First, the Supreme Court gave us W. by ending the Florida recount in 2000. Then, they gave us guns for everyone in the Heller case. Then, with Citizens United, new power for the wealthy to drive our elections and today, it's Trump to do what he wants targeting Muslims. Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews down in Washington. As I said, Donald Trump's dark brand of politics received the Supreme Court's seal of approval today. Five justices reviewed in favor of president trump's travel ban, the cleaned up version of his Muslim ban. The court chose to focus on the text of the policy rather than Trump's prior inflammatory tweets and public comments. Justice Anthony Kennedy, however, backed the President’s ban along with the four conservative judge, but he added a note of caution: “An anxious world must know that our Government remains committed always to the liberties the Constitution seeks to preserve and protect.” That's what Kennedy said.
(....)
7:57 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with the usual suspects. By that I mean the five-man Republican-picked majority on Supreme Court. It was a five-person Republican majority that intervened in the electoral process to give us the presidency of George W. Bush. They stopped the Florida recount with a vote of their own, 5-4 for the Republican presidential candidate. Oh, how they’re full of surprises. Then the 5-4 Republican Supreme Court trashed the wording of the Constitution about arms being needed for militias to say that the Second Amendment meant that any individual had a right to a gun of any size, bullets firing at any speed, mounted with a lifetime supply of ammo. Another bull's eye gift. This time to the Republican-allied National Riffle Association. And then ten years after making W. President and repowering the country's war machine into Iraq, the Supreme Court put the cherry on the top giving total political power to the one force the highest court favors even more Republicans, money. The Citizens United case gave those with big money the unlimited license to change the course of elections. Embraced and beloved by Republicans, the Citizens United ruling brought down the last barrier between those with money and the power to direct the country's affairs. No wonder so many people are telling pollsters now how little they care about a democracy so increasingly run by the Republican dollar. And then news broke today that the usual five suspects on the Supreme Court, this time with Neil Gorsuch as the newest member, awarded Trump what he most wanted a slap on the back, a loud cheer from the high bench. Good work, Mr. President. That travel ban of yours is a dandy. Keep up the good work. So the republic rolls on with Trump in the White House controlling the puppet strings on the House and the Senate with the ringing endorsement of a Republican-controlled Supreme Court that he and Mitch McConnell kept that way by making sure the Democratic nominee for an open seat on that bench Merrick Garland never came up for a vote, just as the Republican-controlled House never allowed a vote on that bipartisan, comprehensive bill on immigration just as the Supreme Court — just the Supreme Court prevented Florida from counting the ballots back in that Florida electus interuptus that gave us W. and with it the war on which he had set his heart.
