A quick flashback to election night of 2016 would bring to the forefront memories of an earth shattering defeat for the liberal media and an ensuing shock. There is no need to reminisce on this moment if you are an avid viewer of Hardball with Chris Matthews where the meltdown over President Trump’s occupancy in office persists on a nightly basis. Monday night’s episode was no different.
Matthews devoted his allotted time slot to thrashing President Trump as a racist for his recent “if you don’t like this country, you can leave” comments directed towards freshmen congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley. He began with this monologue:
American blasphemy. Let's play Hardball.....Good evening, I’m Chris Matthews in Washington. When an American President spoke of welfare queens, we knew what he meant. When that same American President spoke of the young buck who bought gin with his food stamps, we got the point. When his successor exploited the angry portrait of Willie Horton, we got that again and when his successor went after Sister Souljah, we saw him working the same racial wedge. But not since Woodrow Wilson showed Birth of a Nation in the White House has an American President been so flagrant in his racial messaging as this one. Today, President Trump amplified his language on race from a dog whistle to a bugle call, driving home his inflammatory and racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color.
Later he offered, heaping praise for the Congresswomen who were subject to President Trump’s comments were coupled with more inflammatory racial remarks. A few examples are listed below (click “expand”:
It's possible, I guess, we saw today that a President can say something that is not only evil but also dumb. What did he accomplish today in American history?
(…)
I think it is front-page news. I think every newspaper in the country is going to put it top of the fold tomorrow. These four impressive women who were attacked by the President. I think it is history-making. The language he used. As she said, Christina, I think the language was direct and racist, unlike the dog whistles we've been getting from previous presidents.
(…)
Nobody says love it or leave it to some ticked off white guy. Nobody ever says that....I've never heard that used. Some guy from West Virginia, someone from western Pennsylvania, who's angry about the liberal nation, the big cities and everything. You don't say, “well get out of here.”
To close out the night, Matthews drooled over media darling President Obama in an effort to prove America was more civilized when he was in the Oval Office while slamming President Trump’s diplomatic skills:
An American President is a Head of State. He or someday she is more than a Chief Executive or Head of Government or even less a leader of a political party. A Head of State represents this country, its values, its history, its national purpose. Here is a President, a very recent one, who knew and embraced his duty well before he was given it. Here’s Barack Obama introducing himself to the country four years before his election. Well it's been said his predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt's idea of being President was simply being Franklin Roosevelt. Unfortunately for us and our country's history, Donald Trump's idea of being President is being Donald Trump.
It is difficult to imagine what topics Chris Matthews would cover if someone other than Donald Trump was the president.
Transcript below:
MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews
7/15/19
7:00 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: American blasphemy. Let's play Hardball. [HARDBALL OPENING CREDITS] Good evening, I’m Chris Matthews in Washington. When an American President spoke of welfare queens, we knew what he meant. When that same American President spoke of the young buck who bought gin with his food stamps, we got the point. When his successor exploited the angry portrait of Willie Horton, we got that again and when his successor went after Sister Souljah, we saw him working the same racial wedge. But not since Woodrow Wilson showed Birth of a Nation in the White House has an American President been so flagrant in his racial messaging as this one. Today, President Trump amplified his language on race from a dog whistle to a bugle call, driving home his inflammatory and racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color.
(....)
It's possible, I guess, we saw today that a President can say something that is not only evil but also dumb. What did he accomplish today in American history?
(....)
I think it is front-page news. I think every newspaper in the country is going to put it top of the fold tomorrow. These four impressive women who were attacked by the President. I think it is history-making. The language he used. As she said, Christina, I think the language was direct and racist, unlike the dog whistles we've been getting from previous presidents.
(....)
JON MEACHAM: He has joined Andrew Johnson as the most racist President in American history. Johnson in a state message said that African- Americans were incapable of self- government and relapsed into barbarism if they weren’t closely supervised. Eric Foner, the great historian of reconstruction time, says that was the single most racist statement by a President in a public paper.”
MATTHEWS: But what about the more recent ones? What about presidents who have used the wedge? George Bush Sr. who talked about Willie Horton, that portrait of him? The horrific picture of him they put all over the place. Reagan talking about young bucks, talking about welfare queens. Bill Clinton with Sister Souljah and these little nuance things like people who work hard and play by the rules. These are — it seems like that wedge is very useful politically to get white voters to say, ‘yeah I'm with them, I'm not with the others.’
(....)
MATTHEWS: Is he un-American?
(....)
MATTHEWS: What do you make of your party and why the ex-party you were in, why they are such toadies? I do not understand Lindsay Graham. Is he that worried about his primary that he has to do this stuff?
DAVID JOLLY: Yeah he’s getting worse. And he’s in cycle. You know, Chris, I find myself and I think a lot of Americans do 24 hours into this you’re kind of moving from outrage to heart break. You’re really wrestling with the fact that the President of the United States engaged in this racist narrative, this racist dialogue and then doubled down today. I think for Republicans we know they are acting through enlightened self-interest, right, their own reelection, Lindsay Graham is being a perfect example. I think the only way to get to them is for them to understand that through their own enlightened self- interest, their legacy is on the line. In their silence, they normalize Donald Trump and we haven’t talked about that. We’ve talked about the fact that Donald Trump gives permission to these racist elements that were already out there, right. Republican elected officials on Capitol Hill through their silence are giving Donald Trump permission. This is their legacy and they need to understand in their own self- interest this is what they’ll be remembered for. They will be remembered for normalizing racism in the national political dialogue in 2019. This is on them. Just as much as it’s on Donald Trump. This is on the likes of Lindsay Graham and Mitt Romney and Mitch McConnell, every single Republican out there. Kevin McCarthy who refuses to condemn racism for racism, this is their legacy more than it is Donald Trump’s.
(....)
MATTHEWS: Nobody says love it or leave it to some ticked off white guy. Nobody ever says that....I've never heard that used. Some guy from West Virginia, someone from western Pennsylvania, who's angry about the liberal nation, the big cities and everything. You don't say, ‘well get out of here.’
JOLLY: No, you know the constituency that’s gonna respond to this and frankly it is populist throughout the Electoral College key swing states. It’s the same constituency that responded to Toby Keith after 9/11 when he wrote that song we’ll put a boot in your ass. It speaks to the spirit of nativism that we are strong and if you disagree with it, then get out.
(....)
MATTHEWS: An American President is a Head of State. He or someday she is more than a Chief Executive or Head of Government or even less a leader of a political party. A Head of State represents this country, its values, its history, its national purpose. Here is a President, a very recent one, who knew and embraced his duty well before he was given it. Here’s Barack Obama introducing himself to the country four years before his election. “Well it's been said his predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt's idea of being President was simply being Franklin Roosevelt. Unfortunately for us and our country's history, Donald Trump's idea of being President is being Donald Trump.
