During the same show that MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and David Corn denounced the Susan Rice controversy as racist and sexist, Tuesday’s Hardball featured Matthews and MSNBC Live host Stephanie Ruhle imploring Ivanka Trump to defend Planned Parenthood while smearing her White House job as “un-American” and the Trump family as modern-day Romanovs.
Matthews fretted about her father and President “roll[ing] back the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Order, a regulation that ensured federal contractors were paying women equal to their male counterparts” (an issue which, as conservatives know, is a complete hoax).
Once Matthews welcomed on Ruhle, she blasted Ivanka for having “an extraordinary message,” but hasn’t done enough to, in her opinion, speak out enough about the pay gap and the benefits of the country’s abortion factory.
Here’s Ruhle:
But now she’s got to walk the walk. And she can no longer be part of this fine line, well, I’m just my father’s daughter....Well, now she truly is one of the most powerful women in the world. So, while Planned Parenthood is being defunded, so while policies that Obama put in place to protect women in the work force are being rolled back, the U.N. Health Fund, which helps women and girls, is no longer being funded, the question is, Ivanka Trump, when are you going to support your message with some actual action?
Matthews agreed, screaming about whether she’s “an independent principal, political principal...or is she a staffer for her father.”
Moments later, Matthews’s boorish rhetoric toward the Trump family continued:
You know, history shows that nepotism doesn’t work. It works for the sovereign, as I said last night, but it doesn’t work for the people and that’s why, over time, no matter how many door this guy smashes through, that has been the practice...She’s a newbie. Her husband is a son-in-law. It is like the Romanovs. He is distributing the -- he is — he is distributing the wealth among his family members, power.
Amidst this temper tantrum, Matthews praised Robert F. Kennedy as an exception because “he knew what he was doing” after being his brother’s campaign chair followed by Attorney General and “chief counsel to the Rackets Investigating Committee for three years.”
Interestingly, this marked a huge inconsistency based on what Matthews previously said about the arrangement. In this book Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero, Matthews conceded that RFK’s appointment to AG was “sheer, unadulterated nepotism.” (h/t: my colleague Tim Graham)
Here’s the relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on April 4:
MSNBC’s Hardball
April 4, 2017
7:34 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Last month, President Trump rolled back the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Order, a regulation that ensured federal contractors were paying women equal to their male counterparts. Well, fast-forward to today, Equal Pay Day, when first daughter and assistant to the President Ivanka Trump tweeted: "Equal Pay Day is a reminder that women deserve equal pay for equal work. We must work to close the gender pay gap.” Well said. But during a business leaders town hall today, Ivanka wasn’t clear on how her own proposed work force initiatives would empower women.
(....)
MATTHEWS: Well, the question put to her is where she stands and where does the President stand on getting equal pay for women. She talked about a number of issues related to women, but we have yet to see any action there. For more, I’m joined by MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle. Stephanie, this is an unusual situation. She is a well-placed White House official with an office and a retinue and all the perks that go with it. She has power. We know that.
MATTHEWS: And the question is, does she have power to use for women?
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Well, there’s one more thing that goes with it, and that’s accountability. Ivanka Trump has an extraordinary message, to wake up today and say it is time to address this gender pay gap and do something about it. But now she’s got to walk the walk. And she can no longer be part of this fine line, well, I’m just my father’s daughter. Remember, when President Trump sent the tweet out attacking Nordstrom for pulling her clothing line, he said, this is just my daughter. She’s not part of the administration. Well, now she truly is one of the most powerful women in the world. So, while Planned Parenthood is being defunded, so while policies that Obama put in place to protect women in the work force are being rolled back, the U.N. Health Fund, which helps women and girls, is no longer being funded, the question is, Ivanka Trump, when are you going to support your message with some actual action?
MATTHEWS: Well, when is she? You act like she’s an independent principal, political principal. Is she, or is she a staffer for her father? It sounds like she’s a staffer, which means you do what the boss wants, not a person with an individual voice and point of view. You suggests she should have a point of view.
RUHLE: She does have a point of view.
MATTHEWS: I mean effect a point of view.
RUHLE: People will say — I mean, just today, I did a panel with Chris Liddell, who is a senior White House adviser, and he said, Ivanka and Jared are the two people to bet on. On the Sunday shows, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said we should be celebrating that Ivanka and Jared are there. So, let’s have an open mind and an open heart. Ivanka, to Gayle King, said, if being complicit is being a force for good, then I’m complicit. Well, guess what? There’s a huge lane to do good. Giddy up.
(....)
MATTHEWS: You know, history shows that nepotism doesn’t work. It works for the sovereign, as I said last night, but it doesn’t work for the people and that’s why, over time, no matter how many door this guy smashes through, that has been the practice. Now, there have been exceptions, like Bobby Kennedy, who spent three years while he ran his brother’s Presidential campaign, his Senate campaign. He was head of the -- he was chief counsel to the Rackets Investigating Committee for three years. He knew what he was doing in Washington politics. She’s a newbie. Her husband is a son-in-law. It is like the Romanovs. He is distributing the -- he is — he is distributing the wealth among his family members, power.
RUHLE: Well, what doesn’t –
MATTHEWS: It’s an unusual, un-American thing to be doing.
RUHLE: Well, what doesn’t line up is the messaging and the policy. If you think about Jared Kushner for a moment, he’s now charged with leading innovation. What’s tied to innovation? Science, technology, research. Well, NIH? No funding there.
MATTHEWS: Oh, yes.
RUHLE: Research? No funding there.
MATTHEWS: Well, this is a broader —
RUHLE: So, how are you going to do it?
MATTHEWS: This is a broader attack.
RUHLE: It’s not an attack.
MATTHEWS: Yes?
RUHLE: We’re saying, listen, if Ivanka and Jared want to choose a lane, and that lane is to be senior White House advisers, well, that’s a fast lane, and you’re going to be held accountable.
MATTHEWS: Do you think they should be independent in their voice or subservient to the President?
RUHLE: I don’t think anything, Chris. I’m just here to observe.
MATTHEWS: Okay, thank you, Stephanie. I think I know.
