On Wednesday night in the world of The Last Word’s Lawrence O’Donnell, the MS NOW nighttime host went after Republican Senator Eric Schmitt after Tuesday’s Jack Smith hearing and compared the senator, “at best,” to the “equivalent of a Drunk Joe McCarthy.” He did not stop there, and later insisted President Trump had dementia.
O’Donnell began by mocking Schmitt for his now-viral questioning of former special counsel Jack Smith: “In my years working in the Senate on two different Senate committees and observing the Senate, I have never seen a humiliation like this.”
He then connected back to former Senator Joe McCarthy, who he insisted was “generations before my time,” and said, “No one ever expected to see that kind of thing in the Senate again”
On Wednesday night in Lawrence O’Donnell land, the MS NOW host yelled at GOP Senator Eric Schmitt and insinuated he was drunk at the Jack Smith hearing, as O'Donnell called him “the equivalent of a drunk Joe McCarthy."
O’Donnell then moved to declare Trump has dementia before he… pic.twitter.com/xjygFENzy6— Nick (@nspin310) October 1, 2026
Furthermore, he declared, “But Eric Schmitt is the Senate's new Joe McCarthy.”
O’Donnell added, “Joe McCarthy was drunk. What is Eric Schmitt’s excuse?” He then insisted Schmitt might have been drunk while preparing for the hearing:
When did he make the decision to use this unvetted material? Was it after dinner the night before the hearing? What did he have to drink at dinner? How much did he have to drink at dinner, if anything? And I ask this question, mindful of the Senate precedent that such stupidity and lies and poison were only pushed by a drunk, out-of-control Republican senator in the 1950s whose life then drowned and ended in his own alcoholism.
He stopped himself and said, “Eric Schmitt didn't look drunk in that hearing,” before he added, “so maybe that was Eric Schmitt at his very best, meaning Eric Schmitt at his very best is the equivalent of a drunk Joe McCarthy at his worst.”
O’Donnell turned away from his Schmitt attacks to target instead President Trump, and insisted Trump comments suggesting Republican “numbers are through the roof” and they “should win” the midterms, meant he had Dementia:
We know Eric Schmitt’s boss, Donald Trump, was not drunk today because we know he's never been drunk. So, something else would have to explain why he said this today.
For context, in 2018, Trump jokingly said he’s never drunk alcohol, as he stated, “I can honestly say I’ve not had a beer in my life. That's one of my only good traits. I don’t drink.”
Nevertheless, O’Donnell continued and exclaimed that Trump must be either a pathological liar or have dementia:
That could just be his lifelong pathological lying. It could be dementia. And he might believe it completely in dementia. I leave it to you to decide which is worse: pathological lying or dementia at this point in Donald Trump's case.
A reminder that MS NOW featured O’Donnell in an advertisement earlier this year, where they claim to “deliver journalism” that “strengthens our democracy.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s The Last Word
October 1, 2026
10:05:37 PM Eastern
(...)
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: In my years working in the Senate on two different Senate committees and observing the Senate, I have never seen a humiliation like this. The ravings of Senator Joe McCarthy were long before my time, generations before my time. No one ever expected to see that kind of thing in the Senate again. But Eric Schmitt is the Senate's new Joe McCarthy.
Joe McCarthy was drunk. What is Eric Schmitt’s excuse? When did he make the decision to use this unvetted material? Was it after dinner the night before the hearing? What did he have to drink at dinner? How much did he have to drink at dinner, if anything? And I ask this question, mindful of the Senate precedent that such stupidity and lies and poison were only pushed by a drunk, out-of-control Republican senator in the 1950s whose life then drowned and ended in his own alcoholism.
Eric Schmitt didn't look drunk in that hearing, so maybe that was Eric Schmitt at his very best, meaning Eric Schmitt at his very best is the equivalent of a drunk Joe McCarthy at his worst.
We know Eric Schmitt’s boss, Donald Trump, was not drunk today because we know he's never been drunk. So, something else would have to explain why he said this today.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I mean, our numbers are through the roof. We've never had - The best numbers in the history of our country. We should win.
O’DONNELL: That could just be his lifelong pathological lying. It could be dementia. And he might believe it completely in dementia. I leave it to you to decide which is worse: pathological lying or dementia at this point in Donald Trump's case.
(...)
