On Tuesday night, MSNBC host Chris Matthews spent the duration of Hardball going after his fellow lefties from their own even more fanatical flank, pushing impeachment because America has “a President who broke his oath” who’s illegitimate on similar footing with disputed home run king Barry Bonds due to his reported use of steroids.
Matthews was immediately put in that mood thanks to the cartoonish Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), who informed him that “[w]e’re in a fight with a President who has no respect for the Congress of the United States of America” and that “[w]e’re going to have to impeach” even though she “wish[es] it was sooner than later.”
Waters went even as far as to conclude her hit by telling Matthews she would “love to see a town hall on impeachment.”
Using that (plus Waters’s claim that 90 percent of her office phone calls are pro-impeachment), Matthews brought on loyal liberal journalist Jonathan Lemire of the AP and Jill Wine-Banks, who’s still trying to relive her glory days from Watergate.
Matthews went first to Wine-Banks, lamenting how “snooty” the Trump administration has been with subpoena requests, “act[ing] like they are the boss...and they act like they’re above the Democrats and it seems to be working.”
She the replied (click “expand”):
It’s working from a public relations standpoint. It is legally incorrect. Let me just say that there is enough evidence in the Mueller report to draw a conclusion that there are indictable offenses. That means there are impeachable offenses. That means that we could proceed right now with impeachment in terms of the moral imperative of Congress to protect America and in terms of their constitutional responsibility. Now, they also have a political responsibility to make sure that they can win the election in 2020 and defeat him at the polls, because they are being realistic that the Senate will not remove him from office and if the goal is to remove him from office that’s going to have to be through the election. But I think if there are political fact-finding hearings, if there are facts that are presented to the public, that even the Republicans who are now defending the President will see the truth.
When he got his chance, Lemire absurdly suggested that Trump “has played a large role” in people not trusting the federal government anymore with his administration “displaying a lack of respect for the Congress’ constitutional responsibility to play oversight over the executive branch.”
Later, Lemire fretted that Republicans haven’t joined Democrats in “finally stand[ing] up to” Trump (read: impeachment), blasting Mitt Romney for having “condemned the President’s behavior,” but not pushing “for action, and none of his colleagues backed him up.”
Moments later, Wine-Banks and Matthews responded with more unhinged nonsense (click “expand”):
WINE-BANKS: The hypocrisy of the Republicans is appalling, and that’s what it is. And the lawsuit that was filed yesterday for the President saying that they should not be able to get his records...I think that all of the stonewalling really does hark back to the Watergate case, when the President was the chief stonewaller, and they have taken stonewalling to a whole new level....I am a little bit of a Pollyanna when I say that I hope that Republicans will pay attention to facts, even though to this moment, they have totally ignored reality and have accepted an alternative version of reality, which to me, is lies.
(....)
MATTHEWS: [F]rom the beginning, we could see that they were playing footsie with the Russians. They were taking advantage of all the Russian effort to destroy our democracy, and they took full advantage of it....He did everything he could to obstruct this thing and by the way, all the time he was guilty because they were working with the Russians, and I’m telling you. I thought all that was obvious up front and it still is; waiting for more information and more witnesses I think it’d be nice, but I think the Democrats know what they’re facing here right now, a President who broke his oath.
In the next block, Matthews screeched about “when are Republicans going to join” the impeachment crowd like Waters has.
Collusion delusionist Natasha Bertrand Bertrand replied that demands “to see the full, unredacted version of the Mueller report” won’t give Democrats “any brand-new information about Trump’s conduct” while Republicans have shown no signs of joining the left on impeachment.
Matthews concluded with this bizarre take: “It's like third world people. The British use to just yell a little louder so they’ll understand them. They speak a different language. That’s the problem. They speak a different language, the Republicans, than the Democrats.”
In the last segment, Matthews had this exchange about Trump being an illegitimate President with Democratic strategist Aisha Moodie-Mills (click “expand”):
MATTHEWS: It seems to me that we’ve got enough in our face right now. We’ve — the headlines are enough for me. The Russians in a sweeping effort to destroy our electoral process gave it to Trump. They wanted to screw Hillary first and they gave it to Trump. That’s all fact. It’s all there, 17 agencies of intelligence all gave that to us a long time ago. That’s all been confirmed by this report. That they did. They did that to help Trump win.....If that was Hillary Clinton, Aisha, I’m sorry. I don’t know what punishment they would have thought of, but it wouldn’t be just kicking her out of office and yet —
AISHA MOODIE-MILLS: Thank you, yes.
MATTHEWS: — the Democrats are schmoozed about this. “Oh, well, I don’t know.” Your thoughts?
MOODIE-MILLS: I mean, thank you so much, Chris for making that plain. These folks are hypocrites. First of all, the Republicans are absolute hypocrites, because if we were under attack and under assault with a Democrat that got elected president by the Russians, by outside agitators whomever it would be, certainly they would be saying that that president is not legitimate.
“And now, you can thank uncle — what’s his name over there — Putin and that’s it. He’s president. Remember Barry Bonds with the asterisk because of the drugs. I mean, Trump doesn’t even get the asterisk,” Matthews later complained as he made the Bonds-Trump comparison.
As one might recall, Matthews suggested without evidence that Republicans thought of Obama as illegitimate and wanted him wiped from history books. But Trump? Matthews seems to have a different take on the 45th President.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on April 23, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Hardball
April 23, 2019
7:05 p.m. EasternCONGRESSWOMAN MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): We’re in a fight with a President who has no respect for the Congress of the United States of America.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, what are you going to do about it? I mean, I’m not being sarcastic because the Speaker Pelosi says, I know that impeachment is the one weapon that the legislative branch, the U.S. Congress, has to use against the President. I think it’s the one weapon; otherwise, you’ve got to rely on him going along with you or the courts, the five to four Republican Supreme Court to back you up and not him?
WATERS: Well, we’re going to keep going and we’re going to issue the subpoenas and in issuing those subpoenas, we’re going to have to fight in the court and so we’re up against him. It is a fight, but don’t forget, you know, better than anybody else that the Constitution of the United States of America places a responsibility on Congress to determine when a President is unfit for office and in the final analysis, that’s where the responsibility lies. It lies with us and impeachment is the tool by which the Constitution has given us to make that decision and to protect the American people.
MATTHEWS: Well, earlier today, you tweeted: “Mueller kicked the impeachment ball to the Congress. The Constitution gives the responsibility to Congress to impeach an unfit president - “high crimes and misdemeanors.” What more do we need?” I guess I’m asking you the dynamic question, because as this goes on, and this President and his Treasury Secretary and the rest of this bunch, simply thumb their nose at Congress and say, “forget your subpoenas.” “Go to hell” basically, is what they’re saying all the time. At what point does it change? And people like Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, the Majority Leader of the Democrats, when do they say, this guy is really acting like he is King? And we’ve got to impeach him.
WATERS: Well, you know, I don’t know when the will come to that conclusion. This is what I know. I know that as leaders, they have the responsibility to try and hold our caucus together, and to try and do and lead in the best way that they think will help us to be successful and so they’re going to try and do everything that they can. If they believe that now is not the time for impeachment, they’ll keep trying, and they’ll go down that road. The American people in the final analysis is going to push on the Congress to do the impeachment. My calls are overwhelming in my office about impeachment. I have so many calls. Ninety percent of all the calls that I’m getting, people see me on the street, and they’re talking about impeachment. “When are you going to impeach?” And so I think as the level of interest and the level of, you know, not putting up with this President any longer comes to the forefront and lays on and leans on and pressures the Congress of the United States, we’re going to have to do it. We’re going to have to impeach. I just wish it was sooner than later.
(....)
7:08 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: People change these rules. They get in there and they get some power and all of a sudden, rules you’re playing by, they’re not obeying anymore, and they think they can change them, so they get away with anything. Anyway, thank you so much, Congresswoman.
WATERS: Absolutely. Well, you’re so welcome and thank you. Let’s keep going and don’t forget, I’d love to see a town hall on impeachment.
MATTHEWS: Okay. Thank you very much. Maxine Waters from California. Thank you.
(....)
7:09 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Jill, I have to ask this question when is it enough because the Congresswoman — because it looks to me like these guys are so — I don’t know a better word for it, snooty. They say well, “We’ll think about it on May 6,” or “you’re premature” like their daddy asking for an ice cream cone. “Well, that’s too early in the day to get an ice cream.” They act like they are the boss. They say things like, “Oh, that’s political. You can’t subpoena our tax returns.” And they act like they’re above the Democrats and it seems to be working.
JILL WINE-BANKS: It’s working from a public relations standpoint. It is legally incorrect. Let me just say that there is enough evidence in the Mueller report to draw a conclusion that there are indictable offenses. That means there are impeachable offenses. That means that we could proceed right now with impeachment in terms of the moral imperative of Congress to protect America and in terms of their constitutional responsibility. Now, they also have a political responsibility to make sure that they can win the election in 2020 and defeat him at the polls, because they are being realistic that the Senate will not remove him from office and if the goal is to remove him from office that’s going to have to be through the election. But I think if there are political fact-finding hearings, if there are facts that are presented to the public, that even the Republicans who are now defending the President will see the truth.
(....)
7:12 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: I get the feeling the President, this one, is taking advantage of the lack of respect for Washington institutions and it’s flouting them, just ignoring them and telling them to go to hell, basically and he seems to, as Jill just said, winning the PR battle.
JONATHAN LEMIRE: Well, certainly the President has played a large role in these Washington institutions losing that respect from the public. He attacks them all the time from the Department of Justice on and there’s no question the White House is displaying a lack of respect for the Congress’ constitutional responsibility to play oversight over the executive branch. They’re basically saying no. Their strategy is “just say no,” at this moment.
(....)
7:14 p.m. Eastern
LEMIRE: And I respectfully disagree with Jill’s assessment. I’m not convinced that Republicans will have a breaking point that they will finally stand up to him. Even this last couple of days, Senator Romney, you know, condemned the President’s behavior in the Mueller report. He only condemned, though. He didn’t call for action, and none of his colleagues backed him up.
(....)
7:15 p.m. Eastern
WINE-BANKS: I’m not cautioning too much. I am saying that there’s a process that I think will get us to where we need to go. The hypocrisy of the Republicans is appalling, and that’s what it is. And the lawsuit that was filed yesterday for the President saying that they should not be able to get his records and that there has to be a legislative purpose is based on a case called Eastland, which I read completely different than they are citing it for. That case said, no, Congress had a right to get the records and I think that all of the stonewalling really does hark back to the Watergate case, when the President was the chief stonewaller, and they have taken stonewalling to a whole new level. I’m just saying, let’s get some facts out there. Let’s try to educate the public so that we have public support and Republican support and I sort of agree with Jonathan, I am a little bit of a Pollyanna when I say that I hope that Republicans will pay attention to facts, even though to this moment, they have totally ignored reality and have accepted an alternative version of reality, which to me, is lies. But I think at some point, there are reasonable Republicans who are going to go: “Whoa, these are lies. I see what the report says. I can see the evidence.” I think we need to synthesize what the report should have been summarized as instead of how Barr summarized it, which was completely false. We need to have people see a short version that they can absorb. But I do think seeing witnesses is the best way to do that.
MATTHEWS: Well, I’ll just say that from the beginning, we could see that they were playing footsie with the Russians. They were taking advantage of all the Russian effort to destroy our democracy, and they took full advantage of it and then when they were caught, he fired his FBI Director, then he tried to fire the man who assigned Robert Mueller to investigate this. He did everything he could to obstruct this thing and by the way, all the time he was guilty because they were working with the Russians, and I’m telling you. I thought all that was obvious up front and it still is; waiting for more information and more witnesses I think it’d be nice, but I think the Democrats know what they’re facing here right now, a President who broke his oath.
(....)
7:29 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: When are the Republicans going to join that? I mean, Maxine Waters, I think, has a realistic view. I think Jill Wine- Banks, somewhat unrealistic, thinking that, a little more evidence, another set of hearings, another testify — testimony by somebody, and, all of a sudden, Mitch McConnell is going to say, the sky has cleared for me, I see Jesus, I see — what — do they really think is going to happen?
NATASHA BERTRAND: Well, this is the thing, Chris and the repeated talking point that we’re hearing is that they want to see the full unredacted version of the Mueller report, but that is not going to tell them any brand-new information about Trump’s conduct.
MATTHEWS: Well, why do they think that Republicans are going to switch?
BERTRAND: That's a great question. I think we’ve been asking that question for the last two years as more and more has come out about the white house's misconduct on various issues, but the Republicans have seemed to really stay firm on the president.
MATTHEWS: It's like third world people. The British use to just yell a little louder so they’ll understand them. They speak a different language. That’s the problem. They speak a different language, the Republicans, than the Democrats.
(....)
7:51 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: It seems to me that we’ve got enough in our face right now. We’ve — the headlines are enough for me. The Russians in a sweeping effort to destroy our electoral process gave it to Trump. They wanted to screw Hillary first and they gave it to Trump. That’s all fact. It’s all there, 17 agencies of intelligence all gave that to us a long time ago. That’s all been confirmed by this report. That they did. They did that to help Trump win. Had that been the case, they tried to find — help Hillary win and she won, this would have been a national frickin’ unbelievable explosion in the Republican Party. You mean the reds in Moscow, those people, the KGB, got that other person elected? That’s why she won? That’s how it happened? I’m sorry, I’m just mimicking what they’d be doing. It’s unbeli — then she tried to fire the FBI, the Republican of the FBI, she tried to fire the good old southern boy who was an honest guy in terms of going after the investigation because he recused himself? Any sign of honesty was not there. If that was Hillary Clinton, Aisha, I’m sorry. I don’t know what punishment they would have thought of, but it wouldn’t be just kicking her out of office and yet —
AISHA MOODIE-MILLS: Thank you, yes.
MATTHEWS: — the Democrats are schmoozed about this. “Oh, well, I don’t know.” Your thoughts?
MOODIE-MILLS: I mean, thank you so much, Chris for making that plain. These folks are hypocrites. First of all, the Republicans are absolute hypocrites, because if we were under attack and under assault with a Democrat that got elected president by the Russians, by outside agitators whomever it would be, certainly they would be saying that that president is not legitimate.
(....)
7:54 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Well, Nikita Khrushchev didn’t endorse Jack Kennedy in the ‘60s because he knew it would kill him.
STEELE: Right.
MATTHEWS: So, I mean, how would times change like this.
STEELE: Yes, well —
MATTHEWS: And now, you can thank uncle — what’s his name over there — Putin and that’s it.
STEELE: Yeah, well, Khrushchev looked at Kennedy — well —
MATTHEWS: He’s president. Remember Barry Bonds with the asterisk because of the drugs. I mean, Trump doesn’t even get the asterisk.
STEELE: — right. Well, Khrushchev looked at Kennedy and, yes, he was a neophyte, but he knew he wasn’t a push over and Putin looked at Trump and came to a different conclusion and that — and for what he figured out was, for Trump and his team, the desperation of winning that election meant more than anything else and that has been the narrative that’s played out in this administration.
