On Thursday’s ReidOut, MSNBC host Joy Reid continued what’s been years of shameful behavior by some in the liberal media to treat mental health as something to joke about in context of President Trump, with journalists playing the role of doctor, pharmacist, and psychologist.
Regarding Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis, Reid asserted Trump went on a “roid-rant” Thursday morning and “not a man who sounds well” that shouldn’t be trusted with children, let alone the country. Throughout the first segment, she continued to ostracize the use of steroids (something people dealing with chemotherapy take) and asserted Trump wasn’t “in control of his emotions.”
The ever-hateful and miserable Reid stated in the show’s first two minutes (click “expand”):
The Donald Trump presidency has been an excuse in smoke and mirrors. Nearly four years in the making, it's facade that is crumbling as we speak. Donald Trump isn't rich, according to the tax returns he's long fought to keep private. He isn’t winning. According to every single poll. And now, he isn't healthy and he’s contagious. Because the coronavirus crisis the one thing he tried to mute and downplay and essentially abandon ship on for nine months has finally caught up to him, infecting him and his wife, making their residence, aka our White House, a coronavirus hot spot with 27 people connected to the White House now testing positive. As for Trump's present health status and the trajectory of his illness, we don't even know as the White House is saying it will not reveal the date of his last negative test for the coronavirus, saying it's a private medical history.
The pandemic is now the central issue in the election. There is no way out for Donald Trump, literally. He is stuck in the White House, quarantining with a deadly virus and unable to do his favorite things, like super-spreader rallies and super-spreader White House pep rallies and super-spreader fundraiser and, you know, he gets the point. He likes to spread. Instead, like a wannabe TikTok celebrity, he's bored at home churning out videos where he appears to be hiding his COVID with lots of make up. This morning, he dialed into fox business, one of the few remaining networks that will still broadcast his lies, for a one hour roid rant that included the comedic.
After a clip of Trump’s Fox Business hit, Reid asserted that he’s “not a man who sounds well, guys — seriously — and yet, he still has control of the nuclear codes.”
“Just for a second, if this was the principal of your kids school, let’s say, would you be sending your kids to school? Do you trust someone who sounds like that to get the pandemic under control and return the country to stability? I mean, if you do I may need to check your vitals,” she added.
Speaking to Dr. Zeke Emanuel, Reid surmised that she had to “be blunt about it” in that “Trump doesn’t seem like a well man” who’s not “in control of his emotions” and his “loony rants and raves.”
She continued: “Is this steroids? Is this a psychological issue? What do you see and hear when you hear that? Maria Bartiromo looked like she wanted to leave her body, by the way.”
To Emanuel’s credit, he focused on not having Trump’s full medical records and he shouldn’t be diagnosing anyone without having seen them, but that wasn’t enough for Reid, who compared Trump to an airline pilot unfit to fly.
Reid didn’t have the same apprehension with her other panelist as, for Ben Rhodes, far-left punditry and amateur psychology wasn’t an issue. And a few minutes after Rhodes’s shameless analysis, Reid herself donned another rhetorical tin-foil hat to suggest doctors are being (unfairly) kept from leaking Trump’s medical history (which she makes clear would hopefully be dire).
Click “expand” to those hot takes:
REID: You have the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, now talking 25th Amendment. She has suggested Trump may not be thinking clearly because of the drugs he's taking. She’s saying he's in an altered state. “I don't know how else to answer for that behavior.” You have worked in a presidential administration. Do you feel comfortable with the fact that Donald Trump, right now, has the nuclear codes and behaving the way we saw him behave or heard him behave for a full hour of ranting and raving on Fox Business this morning?
RHODES: No, Joy, I don't at all. Let's be clear. The office of the presidency is the most powerful office in the world and it’s vested with enormous responsibility to deal with all manner of crises around the world. That could be a war, that could be some other flash, but frankly, it could also be a pandemic. And I think the important point from the clip is what's been clear to the American people from the beginning of this outbreak is this is a President who has refused to listen to experts, refused to listen to scientists in a way — in a way that led to over 200,000 death and his White House being infected with more cases than the entire country of Vietnam. And Zeke will appreciate that, you know, when Ebola happened, President Obama didn't turn to even people like me. He turned to doctors. He turned to scientists. He turned to Dr. Fauci to formulate a response and he mobilized the resources of the government to deal with it, overseas and in the country. This president is completely incapable of doing that. He was incapable of doing that before he got sick and now it's more concerning because of his own mental state. And frankly, the ultimate judgment before we get into a discussion of 25th Amendment is going to be before voters, right now, frankly, where you can vote early, but in a few weeks. And the reality is the President of the United States since the beginning of the outbreak has not only not done what's necessary, he has been an active danger to the health of the American people. A spreader of disinformation and now a spreader of COVID itself. And I think that just highlights the stakes that is in front of the country.
(....)
REID: And is it — is it — I mean, we now know through NBC News reporting that his actual doctors when he visited the hospital for this mysterious visit that he turned up at Walter Reed in 2018, we still don't know why, had to sign NDAs...You have NDAs, which may excuse the weird behavior of Donald Trump’s doctors. Maybe they’ve had to sign NDAs and that’s why they can’t tell us what’s going on with him.You have him ranting and raving about arresting President Obama. That isn’t going to happen. Even Bill Barr isn't going to do that. I mean, it's disturbing, I think, for the American people to hear this — the President of the United States acting like this. It's Loony Tunes.
And that was only part of the nonsense in the A-block. As always, the full transcript is below the ads for you, the readers, to gouge your eyes out while scanning.
Reid’s repugnant mockery of the mental health profession was made possible by advertisers such as ClearChoice and Farmer’s Insurance. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from October 8, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
October 8, 2020
7:00 p.m. EasterJOY REID: The Donald Trump presidency has been an excuse in smoke and mirrors. Nearly four years in the making, it's facade that is crumbling as we speak. Donald Trump isn't rich, according to the tax returns he's long fought to keep private. He isn’t winning. According to every single poll. And now, he isn't healthy and he’s contagious. Because the coronavirus crisis the one thing he tried to mute and downplay and essentially abandon ship on for nine months has finally caught up to him, infecting him and his wife, making their residence, aka our White House, a coronavirus hot spot with 27 people connected to the White House now testing positive. As for Trump's present health status and the trajectory of his illness, we don't even know as the White House is saying it will not reveal the date of his last negative test for the coronavirus, saying it's a private medical history. The pandemic is now the central issue in the election. There is no way out for Donald Trump, literally. He is stuck in the White House, quarantining with a deadly virus and unable to do his favorite things, like super-spreader rallies and super-spreader White House pep rallies and super-spreader fundraiser and, you know, he gets the point. He likes to spread. Instead, like a wannabe TikTok celebrity, he's bored at home churning out videos where he appears to be hiding his COVID with lots of make up. This morning, he dialed into fox business, one of the few remaining networks that will still broadcast his lies, for a one hour roid rant that included the comedic.
[TRUMP CLIPS]
REID: Okay, this is not a man who sounds well, guys. Seriously. And yet, he still has control of the nuclear codes. Just for a second, if this was the principal of your kids school, let’s say, would you be sending your kids to school? Do you trust someone who sounds like that to get the pandemic under control and return the country to stability? I mean, if you do I may need to check your vitals. And Trump’s utter failure to plan or even consider making a plan to control the virus to the point where the virus eventually got him and his wife and now threatens damn near his whole White House and campaign staff led to one of the most powerful moments in last night’s vice president debate.
[HARRIS CLIPS]
REID: Trump's comeback, again on Fox Business, revealed once again his nasty little problem with women and particularly women of color who dare to challenge him.
[TRUMP CLIP]
REID: [INTRODUCES PANEL] I'll start with you, Doctor Emanuel, Donald Trump doesn't seem like a well man. I'm just going to be blunt about it. He doesn't seem in control of his emotions. He's ranting and raving. Just loony rants and raves for an hour on Fox News. Is this steroids? Is this a psychological issue? What do you see and hear when you hear that? Maria Bartiromo looked like she wanted to leave her body, by the way.
ZEKE EMANUEL: Joy, I'm not going to make a diagnosis without examining the patient amd without having a full history available to me. And the White House has made sure that we don't have the full medical information and so, it's hard to say. We have had a president in Donald Trump who has sounded a little unhinged before, I would say. And, you know, it is, I think, your point at the start, it's very worrisome, given the fact we know COVID-19 can affect cognition. We know steroids can affect cognition and it's a worrisome situation for the country, as many people said a national security threat and we need to take that seriously.
REID: Well, can I just ask a question if an airline pilot came in acting like that, would you let him fly?
EMANUEL: And I was there. Well, then I could see him and test the mental status. Part of what you're asking me to do, I can't actually test anything here. What we’re doing —
REID: Done. I hear you.
EMANUEL: — and I'm sorry. I’m not trying to be evasive here, but I know, you know, good medical judgment.
REID: I get it.
EMANUEL: Don't make a diagnosis on the basis of a video. You may remember one Senator Frist did that to no avail with the Terri Schiavo case. You don't do that and I’m not going to do that.
REID: Yeah.
EMANUEL: I think we know enough about steroids, we know enough about COVID-19, that we have to be prudent as a country. There are 330 million Americans. There are many hot spots around the globe and Ben Rhodes will be able to tell you a lot about the serious threats to the country and, you know, even if — even if Joe Biden wins we have three and a half months of this.
(....)
7:08 p.m. Eastern
REID: I mean, at this point, Ben Rhodes, you have this gentleman, Mr. Bright saying that there are people who are terrified, they are afraid of this President, essentially. And these are the people who are involved in trying to develop a vaccine, trying to protect the country. You have the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, now talking 25th Amendment. She has suggested Trump may not be thinking clearly because of the drugs he's taking. She’s saying he's in an altered state. “I don't know how else to answer for that behavior.” You have worked in a presidential administration. Do you feel comfortable with the fact that Donald Trump, right now, has the nuclear codes and behaving the way we saw him behave or heard him behave for a full hour of ranting and raving on Fox Business this morning?
BEN RHODES: No, Joy, I don't at all. Let's be clear. The office of the presidency is the most powerful office in the world and it’s vested with enormous responsibility to deal with all manner of crises around the world. That could be a war, that could be some other flash, but frankly, it could also be a pandemic. And I think the important point from the clip is what's been clear to the American people from the beginning of this outbreak is this is a President who has refused to listen to experts, refused to listen to scientists in a way — in a way that led to over 200,000 death and his White House being infected with more cases than the entire country of Vietnam. And Zeke will appreciate that, you know, when Ebola happened, President Obama didn't turn to even people like me. He turned to doctors. He turned to scientists. He turned to Dr. Fauci to formulate a response and he mobilized the resources of the government to deal with it, overseas and in the country. This president is completely incapable of doing that. He was incapable of doing that before he got sick and now it's more concerning because of his own mental state. And frankly, the ultimate judgment before we get into a discussion of 25th Amendment is going to be before voters, right now, frankly, where you can vote early, but in a few weeks. And the reality is the President of the United States since the beginning of the outbreak has not only not done what's necessary, he has been an active danger to the health of the American people. A spreader of disinformation and now a spreader of COVID itself. And I think that just highlights the stakes that is in front of the country.
(....)
7:11 p.m. Eastern
REID: We now know through NBC News reporting that his actual doctors when he visited the hospital for this mysterious visit that he turned up at Walter Reed in 2018, we still don't know why, had to sign NDAs. Very quickly, before we go, let me just let you listen one little of — of him. This is cut two, please.
[TRUMP CLIP]
REID: You know, and last question to you on this, Ben. You have NDAs, which may excuse the weird behavior of Donald Trump’s doctors. Maybe they’ve had to sign NDAs and that’s why they can’t tell us what’s going on with him.You have him ranting and raving about arresting President Obama. That isn’t going to happen. Even Bill Barr isn't going to do that. I mean, it's disturbing, I think, for the American people to hear this — the President of the United States acting like this. It's Loony Tunes. I’ll give you the last word.
RHODES: Yeah, no, Joy. Look, this is the logical end point, though, of what we have been through for four years. This is who Donald Trump is. Here we are, in a massive pandemic crisis, an economic crisis and he's ranting and raving about a conspiracy theory that nobody understands, that you’d to go to the darkest corner of the internet to understand what he's referring to. And he's doing that while Americans are at risk. And I can tell you from being there, and Zeke can too, the office of the presidency there's an enormous responsibility on that person. There's literally life and death decisions that run through that office. The people he chooses to listen to. The people he chooses to — to empower. The way he chooses to spend his time. And let’s — we're not even commenting he's spending his time calling a Fox Business anchor for one hour on the phone during a pandemic. If any other president did anything like that, our heads would fall off our bodies here. That is where we are and we’ve been conditioned to think it's normal. He's turned the presidency into a bad reality show. And frankly, this is just too important and too dangerous to continue.
