Coming off a two-hour Hardball on Wednesday, MSNBC brought suffering viewers back to just one hour on Thursday, but host Chris Matthews made sure they got their money’s worth by presenting his closing Let Me Finish segment as “a Shakespearean choice facing Republicans this year” in “[t]o be a Republican or not to be” with presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Matthews teased viewers of this line going to the first commercial break when he provided a rundown of the show: “And finally, Let Me Finish with a Shakespearean choice facing Republicans this year. To be or not to be, a Republican, that is.”
He followed up with one addition tease of “a Shakespearean choice” before the last break and made good on his promise in the final two minutes before MSNBC’s All In.
Sure enough, Matthews delivered after hitting Trump for wearing a miner’s helmet at his West Virginia rally and thus showing he didn’t learn from Michael Dukakis when it came to wearing large hats (in the famous tank ad):
Anyway, Let Me Finish tonight with a big Republican question: To be or not to be? Should you be a Republican in this presidential year of 2016 or not be? If you choose to be a Republican this year you have to link yourself to the candidacy of Donald Trump. What else does it mean to be a member of the political party if not to back the party’s candidate for president?
Acting as though he’s the Republican gatekeeper, he ruled that any right-leaning voter who doesn’t back Trump in November should “mark yourself as personally and politically accountable for Trump's defeat in November.”
Matthews wound down by playing the role of Captain Obvious in stating that “it’s quite a predicament for Republicans right now” and especially those who didn’t back the billionaire in the primary:
Stick with the party's presidential nominee, or stick it to Donald Trump personally. From now to the convention, it's going to be open season for this choice, but one thing is certain, the certitude of intention. If you refuse to back the party nominee, Donald Trump, to the best of your ability, you will be accorded nothing, the party owe you nothing, Trump willow you nothing, if he win without you will be as dead as far as either is concerned. If you stick with the party and Trump through the rest of this election season, one benefit will be a reputation for party loyalty.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on May 5 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
May 5, 2016
7:15 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]CHRIS MATTHEWS: And finally, Let Me Finish with a Shakespearean choice facing Republicans this year. To be or not to be, a Republican, that is.
(....)
7:54 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]
MATTHEWS: When we return, Let Me Finish with a Shakespearean choice facing Republicans this year. To be — a Republican or not to be.
(....)
7:58 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Anyway, Let Me Finish tonight with a big Republican question: To be or not to be? Should you be a Republican in this presidential year of 2016 or not be? If you choose to be a Republican this year you have to link yourself to the candidacy of Donald Trump. What else does it mean to be a member of the political party if not to bact part candidate for president? If you choose to bolt the party or sit it out electorally, refusing to endorse your party’s standard-bearer or more radically, endorsing a third-party candidate, or more radically still, backing Hillary, then you mark yourself as personally and politically accountable for Trump's defeat in November. So, as President Obama put it at last Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner, it's steak or fish. Either you're helping the guy or you're helping to beat the guy, steak or fish. So, it’s quite a predicament for Republicans right now. Don’t you think? You've got to make a big decision and make it soon. Stick with the party's presidential nominee, or stick it to Donald Trump personally. From now to the convention, it's going to be open season for this choice, but one thing is certain, the certitude of intention. If you refuse to back the party nominee, Donald Trump, to the best of your ability, you will be accorded nothing, the party owe you nothing, Trump willow you nothing, if he win without you will be as dead as far as either is concerned. If you stick with the party and Trump through the rest of this election season, one benefit will be a reputation for party loyalty. We'll see between now and July now much this claim will count of party loyalty.
