Far-left filmmaker Michael Moore joined MSNBC’s Hardball and host Chris Matthews on Tuesday to not only trumpet his endorsement of Bernie Sanders (despite previous skepticism about the 2020 field) but offer the hideous claim that white Trump voters of all economic stripes are racist on the level of pro-apartheid South Africans.
This ugly comparison came about part way through the block thanks to Matthews pondering “why” working class white voters like those Moore knows from his native Michigan “stick with” President Trump through all the controversies and now impeachment.
Despite having family members who are still outside the bubble of media and political elites, the pair engaged in a classic liberal media trope, seeking to analyze Trump voters as if they’re zoo animals behind glass.
Moore immediately played the race card:
Well, you said the keyword, white. Sadly, I think it is a racial thing on some level for a lot of people. But here — let me say it in a different way, I think that white guys, the lunch bucket Joes from Macomb County...They can see the writing on the wall. The women are coming. They've arrived last November. We are now — this is the eighth September in a row where the majority of first graders in this country last month were not white.
With that said, Moore argued that since “white people will be the minority” in roughly two decades, “there's some level of fear about that probably in the way that — that white people in South Africa were afraid what's going to happen with Mandela and the black majority.”
After three utterances of “yeah” in agreement, Matthews tried to push back by claiming that those in South Africa had “really earned the trouble they got” with their systematic racism.
Alas, it was all for naught as Moore continued on and Matthews went back to muttering “yeah” over and over in agreement (click “expand”):
MOORE: But here we have African-Americans who are still on the bottom rung of the ladder —
MATTHEWS: yeah.
MOORE: — after all these years and those of us who are white especially white guys still having that door opened just a little bit easier for us and we know it.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
MOORE: We know we're not followed around when we go to the department store. We know that, you know, listen — we just —
MATTHEWS: Look, I know what you're talking about.
MOORE: Yeah, we’re not being pulled over by cops.
MATTHEWS: Nobody's looking at you in the restaurant. Nobody's looking at you.
MOORE: No. That's correct. So — so black Americans still have it pretty damn rough, and —
MATTHEWS: So that spreads into a white voter and he votes white.
MOORE: — yes, yes, because some white voters are afraid that — when you're in power you don't want to lose what you have[.]
Matthews again interjected to ask if he’d still say that about white, working class men “who are struggling along” and living paycheck-to-paycheck, but again Moore knocked them: “No, but they don’t — they've been told to fear the other. The other is coming to take it from you and that’s not true.”
The interview ended with Matthews promising to “be positive” by gushing about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Matthews proclaimed that “I have a new hero in life” while Moore quipped that “there should be a statue already made to her because regardless of what say my political differences might be with her, she has played this masterfully.”
Not to be outdone, Moore added to Matthews’s approval that October 22, 2019 will go down as a monumental day that will be remembered in American history due to acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor’s House testimony.
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To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on October 22, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Hardball
October 22, 2019
7:42 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: An new CNN poll shows that 41 percent of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of his job. I just want to talk you about that because you are a man of the people ever since Roger and Me and Flint, Michigan, well before the water problem and everything else, you were looking out for people like yourself, your father worked in the factories, Your mother was working out there just trying to make it. You're a real person. Who — why do people like you except for your politics stick with his guy? Because 41 — who are these people? I got a brother like this. I love my brother, but he talks to me like Trump is triumphant right now?
MICHAEL MOORE: Why do people I think I know back home stay with him?
MATTHEWS: Yeah, who grew up with the same background you is [sic] — you had stick with Trump? Working class white people, if you will. White, working class people, generally.
MOORE: Well, you said the keyword, white. Sadly, I think it is a racial thing on some level for a lot of people. But here — let me say it in a different way, I think that white guys, the lunch bucket Joes from Macomb County —
MATTHEWS: Outside of Detroit.
MOORE: — yes. They can see the writing on the wall. The women are coming. They've arrived last November. We are now — this is the eighth September in a row where the majority of first graders in this country last month were not white.
MATTHEWS: Majority.
MOORE: Majority were not white.
MATTHEWS: Meaning Hispanic or African-American or Asian.
MOORE: Correct. So we now see the demographic shift that, by the 2040s, this — white people will be the minority, and I think that there's some level of fear about that probably in the way that — that white people in South Africa were afraid what's going to happen
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
MOORE: — with Mandela and the black majority. But of course what happens is — what history shows —
MATTHEWS: But the white people of South Africa really earned the trouble they got.
MOORE: Yeah, yeah.
MATTHEWS: They were running for years. Really bad.
MOORE: But here we have African-Americans who are still on the bottom rung of the ladder —
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
MOORE: — after all these years and those of us who are white especially white guys still having that door opened just a little bit easier for us and we know it.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
MOORE: We know we're not followed around when we go to the department store. We know that, you know, listen — we just —
MATTHEWS: Look, I know what you're talking about.
MOORE: Yeah, we’re not being pulled over by cops.
MATTHEWS: Nobody's looking at you in the restaurant. Nobody's looking at you.
MOORE: No. That's correct. So — so black Americans still have it pretty damn rough, and —
MATTHEWS: So that spreads into a white voter and he votes white.
MOORE: — yes, yes, because some white voters are afraid that — when you're in power you don't want to lose what you have and let's face it. White guys have been —
MATTHEWS: Yeah, but working class guys who are struggling along, they’re struggling class [sic], you know, working paycheck —
MOORE: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: — they don't think they're elite. They don't think of themselves as privileged.
MOORE: No, but they don’t — they've been told to fear the other.
MATTHEWS: I know. That’s horrible.
MOORE: The other is coming to take it from you and that’s not true.
MATTHEW: Okay, let’s be positive.
MOORE: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Let's be positive. I agree with you.
MOORE: Good. I like that.
MATTHEWS: because I'd like to hear from you on this because I think the culture is so powerful. We're NOT just economics. Pelosi, I’m a hero — I have a new hero in life and I resisted her because she resisted. But I’ve got the feeling that she’s got her eye on the prize. Your thoughts?
MOORE: Absolutely. I want somebody — there should be a statue already made to her because regardless of what say my political differences might be with her, she has played this masterfully, and you — and — and even her opponents have to admit that. What happened today I think Jon Meacham just said it in the last break there that this is — this is the moment today. Today. You and I are sitting here —
MATTHEWS: Hang onto it.
MOORE: — the Alexander Butterfield day.
MATTHEWS: Exactly when we got about the tapes, when we found out about the tapes.
MOORE: Yes, yes.
MATTHEWS: I just hope they can stay focused for a couple of weeks and do it.
