Reacting to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announcing his retirement on Wednesday, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews suffered a total meltdown. The Hardball host went into full panic at the prospect of President Trump being able to make a second nomination to the high court and declared that Democrats “cannot let this happen.” He even demanded that liberal lawmakers exact “vengeance” against Republicans for opposing Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland to replace Justice Scalia in 2016.
Appearing in the 2:00 p.m. ET hour with fill-in anchor Steve Kornacki, Matthews immediately proclaimed: “Well, I don’t think the Democrats should allow even meetings to occur with Trump’s nominee to fill this vacancy by Justice Kennedy. I think they have to fight eye for an eye for what happened in ’16, where the Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, refused to even consider or even meet with Merrick Garland.”
Continuing his tirade, the liberal host urged Senate Democratic leaders to somehow stop the president and the Republican majority from naming and confirming a nominee:
There’s no way politically the Democratic base will stand for any kind of hearings or vote on a Trump nominee for the Supreme Court before the election. We’ve got an election in four and a half months. There’s no reason to consider a replacement on the Supreme Court in that time. No reason given the history of what happened. Let’s watch McConnell now – I’m telling you, they have no right to bring this up after what they did in ’16.
Kornacki was perplexed by how that could possibly happen: “I guess the practical question is, if that’s the approach Democrats want to take, how do they do it? Because....they tried to filibuster the Gorsuch nomination, Republicans just did away with the filibuster....If Republicans stay together, is there anything Democrats can do?”
Matthews promptly rejected that reality and insisted: “Well, there’s a lot of dilatory tactics they can use on every other bill before the Congress between now and November. If they [Democrats] don’t use everything they’ve got, if they don’t play hardball, I think they’re through.” He added: “I know the Democratic base, they are very angry about this leadership. They feel it has not fought hard enough against Trump.”
The unhinged diatribe kept going:
They cannot let this happen. They have to play hardball. They’ve got to do exactly to the other side what Mitch McConnell did to them, play hardball and win. They must prevent the Republican-controlled Senate to pick another justice on this hard-right court....The Democrats have got to fight for that fifth seat with everything they’ve got. If they allow this to proceed, they’re gonna look stupid, they’re gonna look weak, and they’re gonna be overthrown. I tell you, the Democratic base is wired now for a revolt, this will be the trigger for it, if they allow this. They shouldn’t have a meeting with any of his nominees. They shouldn’t have any hearings, they shouldn’t show up for any hearings. They should fight this tooth and nail. I’m telling you, I know politics. And right now, this is the time for the Democratic base to roar up and say no more of this crap! It’s not gonna happen.
At that point, Kornacki interrupted him in order to go to live coverage of the president at the White House talking about Kennedy’s retirement. Matthews couldn’t resist getting in a jab: “Well, he’s not going to decide this thing.”
After Trump’s remarks, Matthews resumed his stream of consciousness, wailing:
I think the Democrats, as I said a few moments ago, have to fight this tooth and nail. They have to use every process, opportunity, they have to stop this until next year....Because this is time for vengeance for what happened two years ago. And if they don’t wreak the vengeance now, with four and a half weeks – four and a half months to go before the election, they will not look very strong to their base and I think they’ll be under attack...
Here are excerpts of Matthews coming unglued during MSNBC’s June 27 coverage:
2:34 PM ET
(...)
STEVE KORNACKI: Bring into the coverage, Chris Matthews, our own MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. And, Chris, you know, we had a Supreme Court fight last year over Neil Gorsuch and really in the 2016 campaign as well over Merrick Garland. The filibuster’s gone now. And yet, politically, this seems like it’s going to be a more intense fight we’re in store for here.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, I don’t think the Democrats should allow even meetings to occur with Trump’s nominee to fill this vacancy by Justice Kennedy. I think they have to fight eye for an eye for what happened in ’16, where the Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, refused to even consider or even meet with Merrick Garland. I think if the Democratic leadership under Schumer allows this to go forward, they’re going to have a huge problem with the Democratic base. We saw Joe Crowley get beaten up in New York, up in Queens yesterday. You can tell that this leadership will be tottering on edge if they allow this to proceed.
There’s no way politically the Democratic base will stand for any kind of hearings or vote on a Trump nominee for the Supreme Court before the election. We’ve got an election in four and a half months. There’s no reason to consider a replacement on the Supreme Court in that time. No reason given the history of what happened. Let’s watch McConnell now – I’m telling you, they have no right to bring this up after what they did in ’16.
KORNACKI: I guess the practical question is, if that’s the approach Democrats want to take, how do they do it? Because they tried to filibuster the Garland – excuse me, they tried to filibuster the Gorsuch nomination, Republicans just did away with the filibuster. Republicans have 51 votes right now, 50 if McCain is sidelined. Still enough with Pence sitting there. If Republicans stay together, is there anything Democrats can do?
MATTHEWS: Well, there’s a lot of dilatory tactics they can use on every other bill before the Congress between now and November. If they don’t use everything they’ve got, if they don’t play hardball, I think they’re through. I know the Democratic base, they are very angry about this leadership. They feel it has not fought hard enough against Trump.
And if they allow Trump to fill the Supreme Court with another conservative who will not share Justice Anthony Kennedy’s views on social issues like marriage equality – I mean Judge Kennedy deserves a lot of credit from the gay community, and I think all Americans, for marriage equality and for the Liberty – the Lawrence case before that, his belief in the Liberty Clause and equality, and based upon the original Constitution. He is a great justice when it comes to these social gender issues.
But if he gets replaced by a hardline social conservative, it is – the Democratic leadership will have hell to pay. They cannot let this happen. They have to play hardball. They’ve got to do exactly to the other side what Mitch McConnell did to them, play hardball and win. They must prevent the Republican-controlled Senate to pick another justice on this hard-right court. Look at the decision starting with Bush-Gore. Look at the decision starting, going on to the Heller case, where everybody in the country can have the biggest gun they can buy. Look at the case on Citizens United, where the people with the most money win all the elections. Then that God-awful decision yesterday, which is basically an anti-Muslim bill. They voted right down the line 5-4 in every case.
The Democrats have got to fight for that fifth seat with everything they’ve got. If they allow this to proceed, they’re gonna look stupid, they’re gonna look weak, and they’re gonna be overthrown. I tell you, the Democratic base is wired now for a revolt, this will be the trigger for it, if they allow this. They shouldn’t have a meeting with any of his nominees. They shouldn’t have any hearings, they shouldn’t show up for any hearings. They should fight this tooth and nail. I’m telling you, I know politics. And right now, this is the time for the Democratic base to roar up and say no more of this crap! It’s not gonna happen. I’m telling you, Steve...
KORNACKI: Alright, Chris Matthews –
MATTHEWS: ...this is not a time for divining the nuances of what this justice has to look at. There’s not going to be any nuance.
KORNACKI: Chris, I don’t mean to interrupt, but we actually – we are hearing from the president on this issue and I want to listen to his comment.
MATTHEWS: Well, he’s not going to decide this thing.
(...)
2:56 PM ET
MATTHEWS: I think the Democrats, as I said a few moments ago, have to fight this tooth and nail. They have to use every process, opportunity, they have to stop this until next year, when we have a new Senate. We don’t know whether the Senate will be Republican or Democratic-dominated. But to give this to the Republicans when they control this Senate basically 51, or 50 to 49 really, with John McCain perhaps not voting again – to give them this last chance to pack the court 5-4 again, hard conservative. I again, I say this, the base will attack the leadership for this if they allow it to happen and they should. Because this is time for vengeance for what happened two years ago. And if they don’t wreak the vengeance now, with four and a half weeks – four and a half months to go before the election, they will not look very strong to their base and I think they’ll be under attack and you’ll see more Joe Crowley’s go down.
(...)
