It was quite the bizarre combination of insults on Thursday’s Hardball as MSNBC host Chris Matthews not only called President Trump a “claptrap” and resurrected an old take about Trump resembling Benito Mussolini, but offered an even crazier take that Trump claps for himself like Chinese people supposedly do.
Speaking early in the A-Block to SiriusXM’s Zerlina Maxwell, Matthews decried Trump’s “rampage ranting, attacking everyone” as a “stream of consciousness” with “[a]ny name that comes to his mind that bothers him at all, he accuses of the worst, they should be in jail and anybody who likes him like Kanye West should getting the civilian highest award in history.”
“It’s like an 8-year-old talking,” Matthews added.
Matthews and Maxwell then blasted the assertion that Hillary Clinton should have been charged or jailed for having her own server, which led to Maxwell insinuating that the phrase “lock her up” itself is sexist because it shifted at a recent Trump rally from Clinton to California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.
The MSNBC pundit replied by wondering “who’s the audience” for Trump “listening to this claptrap and saying, ‘oh, that's pretty smart. He’s got something going here.’”
Maxwell responded by lampooning and pigeonholing Trump supporters as “the people at his rallies and the people that listen to Alex Jones and watch Fox News on a loop and those folks in the base.”
Fast-forwarding past anti-Trump hot takes from cable news Republican Mike Murphy, Matthews came unglued with the Mussolini comparison plus a new one that’s — dare I say — racist:
You know, there's a taste of Mussolini here with a guy walking around with a tie that’s eight-feet-long, coat open, making — clapping for himself. I know the Chinese do this, you clap for yourself in that culture, but he’s clapping away about a — is he applauding himself and his presentation here?
As for two other wacky statements from the show, Matthews reacted to a clip of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Today appearance by stating what must be a personal fantasy of his: “You know, I think — I think she could play Wonder Woman sometime — someday.”
Later in the show, Matthews spoke to Politico’s Michael Caputo and compared Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum to one of the Kennedy brothers:
What’s it about Gillum? I’ve only talked to him on the phone a couple times and what strikes me is something that once somebody said about Kennedy years ago, no b.s. You can actually talk turkey to the guy and he doesn’t put on frills or rhetoric or whatever. He just talks to you. I mean, is that the appeal, the regularness of the guy or what? What would you say?
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on October 11, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Hardball
October 11, 2018
7:03 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: I want to start with Zerlina because maybe you're the youngest here. This isn't the way we live.
ZERLINA MAXWELL: Right.
MATTHEWS: This is rampage ranting, attacking everyone that comes — it’s all stream of consciousness.
MAXWELL: Right.
MATTHEWS: Any name that comes to his mind that bothers him at all, he accuses of the worst, they should be in jail and anybody who likes him like Kanye West should getting the civilian highest award in history. It’s like an 8-year-old talking.
MAXWELL: Yes and I am the youngest person here, I think, but I’m old enough to know what's normal and what is not and so what's happening now is absolutely abnormal in some ways, normalizing Trump. The rhetoric, and exaggerations, and lies every single day, we get exhausted from it, Chris, and get to the point we don't get as outraged as we probably should be when he is saying that Hillary Clinton should have been taken off the campaign trail and put into jail, for what crime? For what crime, Chris?
MATTHEWS: Well, he doesn't think he needs one. Running — having her own server?
MAXWELL: She's going to go to jail for a server.
MATTHEWS: And then he’s going to put DiFi in prison the other day for leaking.
MAXWELL: Right and so, to that point, the “lock her up chants,” they started out being about Hillary Clinton. Now they're just about — the, you know, any girl —
MATTHEWS: Who’s the audience, Zerlina? Who’s listening to this claptrap and saying: “oh, that's pretty smart. He’s got something going here.”
MAXWELL: Well, clearly the people at his rallies and the people that listen to Alex Jones and watch Fox News on a loop and —
MATTHEWS: Well, that’s bad.
MAXWELL: Those folks in the base. But I think there's a really an ugly underbelly and a misogyny there when he saying “lock her up” and encouraging people say that about any woman, just insert the name and they’re saying that they should be incarcerated.
MATTHEWS: Mike Murphy, for example, that Ted Cruz’s had a hand in killing Jack Kennedy, now he’s down there campaigning for Ted. Does anything he say — says mean anything to anybody? We’ll translate. What's he saying when he says things like The New York Times made up the op-ed, like a newspaper that openly admits its mistakes day after day on the corrections page, admits mistakes, would lie about something like who wrote a column and say we drafted that ourselves in the back room. He wants to go into The Washington — into The New York Times. He wants to go into the paper and look around and ask and find this person that wrote this op-ed.
MIKE MURPHY: Yeah, look, there's no fact standard and none of the standards we’re used to in an American president. What we have here, I think, is two things going on. These rallies are not really about the campaign. They're not about swing voters in a state or doing something to hold a congressional seat, they're just therapy for the President, and it’s the same thing when he calls into a friendly show on Fox News. He’s — he’s — it’s his own way to relax and unload this stuff. I guess the only good thing you can say is he’s the most unfiltered president we ever had. The problem is we look through the filter and we see somebody who lies all the time, is in an alternate reality and who acts a little, well, crazy. He does basically the drunk uncle at the wedding toast in speech or interview. I think the only other ray of some light in this is he doesn't believe any of it either, but he doesn't understand what a President says is very, very important. He just does this sweat act stuff where he throws out things to voters he's already got, alienating ones he needs and makes himself feel good. It is very bizarre.
MATTHEWS: You know, there's a taste of Mussolini here with a guy walking around with a tie that’s eight-feet-long, coat open, making — clapping for himself. I know the Chinese do this, you clap for yourself in that culture, but he’s clapping away about a — is he applauding himself and his presentation here? Susan. You're the cold-minded, absolute straight journalist in the room here. What are we looking at here objectively?
SUSAN PAGE: I think we're looking at the 2020 re-election campaign. I think that's what these rallies are about. I think that's the message of the rallies. I think that's the reason for the location of the rallies. Why is he going to places like Pennsylvania? Because he’ll need Pennsylvania in the re-election battle. I think he is testing how to come out against a Republican Party. You see him testing lines against particular Republican presidential contenders, so I think it is less about the vote on November 6th and more about the vote on November 2020.
(....)
7:18 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Meanwhile, former First Lady Michelle Obama appeared on Today. Let's watch her.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: You were famous at the Democratic Convention for saying “when they go low, we go high.” And just this week, the former attorney general Eric Holder who worked for your husband said the Democrats should have a new motto, when they go low, we should kick them. [SCREEN WIPE] Do you think it still stands “when they go low, we go high?”
MICHELLE OBAMA: Absolutely — fear is — is not a — it’s not a proper motivator. Hope wins out.
MATTHEWS: You know, I think — I think she could play Wonder Woman sometime — someday. We'll be right back.
(....)
7:34 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: What’s it about Gillum? I’ve only talked to him on the phone a couple times and what strikes me is something that once somebody said about Kennedy years ago, no b.s. You can actually talk turkey to the guy and he doesn’t put on frills or rhetoric or whatever. He just talks to you. I mean, is that the appeal, the regularness of the guy or what? What would you say?
