It might be hard to definitively say what the number one example of Trump Derangement Syndrome is, but MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart’s Thursday meltdown on Chris Jansing Reports that alleged President Trump and his administration are shredding the constitution with federal law enforcement operations in Memphis, Tennessee, is certainly a top contender. What made Capehart’s descent into madness more noteworthy is that back on August 22, in his role as a PBS contributor, Capehart wondered why Trump and Republican governors were sending the National Guard to Washington, D.C. when Memphis’s crime problem is much worse.
Alluding to something Trump advisor Stephen Miller had said, Jansing began by wondering, “So, Jonathan, it's not just that they're sending people in where they've been told they aren't wanted or needed, but what do you make of the use of the word “unleashed?”
Capehart wasted no time with his bad faith arguments, “Yeah, I—‘unleashed’ and also the other word, I think it was Secretary Hegseth who said ‘the handcuffs are off.’ You know what the handcuffs are, Chris? It’s called the Constitution. It’s called due process. It’s called the presumption of innocence, and so when you have the Deputy White House Chief of Staff tell law enforcement officers that they are, quote, ‘unleashed,’ unleashed to do what?”
Enforce the law?
As it was, Capehart kept going, “It is, one, disturbing that the president of the United States is using National Guard folks and threatening military—put the military on American streets to police Americans, but it's also troubling that you have a high-ranking White House official who is basically telling law enforcement officers that they don't have to pay attention to or follow the Constitution when exercising their duties.”
He concluded by warning, “I hear, you know, the number of arrests that have been made. Well, what kinds of arrests are these, and who are the people who are being arrested? I saw one story this morning, Chris, where a member of the National Guard said that they're basically figuring out who to stop, pullover, search, arrest based on what they look like. And we know that that is now permissible given what the Supreme Court ruled over the summer, if not last month, in terms of what the National Guard can do. I believe it was in Los Angeles, that case.”
Without the actual quote, it is hard to take such warnings seriously because that is not what the Supreme Court ruled. Additionally, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican who supports the efforts, has stated that National Guard troops will not be armed or make arrests without the request of local law enforcement.
Capehart’s apocalyptic ramblings stand in stark contrast to what he said not even a month-and-a-half ago on PBS News Hour. Back then, Capehart was one of many liberals trolling Trump and Republicans for picking on D.C. instead of crime in red states, “Now, there are National Guard troops here from West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee. According to a story in Newsweek last week, the top 30 cities of 100,000-plus with the most crimes of the population, Memphis, Tennessee; Cleveland, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio, are one, two, and three.”
He added, “Why aren't the National Guard troops, the 150 from Ohio, the 160 from Tennessee, why aren't they spread out all over the streets of Memphis, Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Nashville? If these governors, Republican governors, are serious about fighting crime, maybe they should look in their own backyard, and maybe the president should be working with the mayor and give her the 500 police officers she's been demanding.”
Now, the administration has gone to Memphis, and it is working with the governor, and Capehart thinks the world is ending.
Here are transcripts for the October 2 and August 22 shows:
MSNBC Chris Jansing Reports
10/2/2025
1:31 PM ET
CHRIS JANSING: So, Jonathan, it's not just that they're sending people in where they've been told they aren't wanted or needed, but what do you make of the use of the word “unleashed?”
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yeah, I—“unleashed” and also the other word, I think it was Secretary Hegseth who said “the handcuffs are off.”
You know what the handcuffs are, Chris? It’s called the Constitution. It’s called due process. It’s called the presumption of innocence, and so when you have the Deputy White House Chief of Staff tell law enforcement officers that they are, quote, “unleashed,” unleashed to do what?
It is, one, disturbing that the president of the United States is using National Guard folks and threatening military—put the military on American streets to police Americans, but it's also troubling that you have a high-ranking White House official who is basically telling law enforcement officers that they don't have to pay attention to or follow the Constitution when exercising their duties.
And so, you know, I hear, you know, the number of arrests that have been made. Well, what kinds of arrests are these, and who are the people who are being arrested? I saw one story this morning, Chris, where a member of the National Guard said that they're basically figuring out who to stop, pullover, search, arrest based on what they look like. And we know that that is now permissible given what the Supreme Court ruled over the summer, if not last month, in terms of what the National Guard can do. I believe it was in Los Angeles, that case.
***
PBS News Hour
8/22/2025
7:49 PM ET
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Now, there are National Guard troops here from West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee. According to a story in Newsweek last week, the top 30 cities of 100,000-plus with the most crimes of the population, Memphis, Tennessee; Cleveland, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio, are one, two, and three.
Why aren't the National Guard troops, the 150 from Ohio, the 160 from Tennessee, why aren't they spread out all over the streets of Memphis, Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Nashville? If these governors, Republican governors, are serious about fighting crime, maybe they should look in their own backyard, and maybe the president should be working with the mayor and give her the 500 police officers she's been demanding.
