On Tuesday's Hardball on MSNBC, host Chris Matthews and liberal contributor Eddie Glaude pushed the notion that President Donald Trump engages in "race-baiting" by criticizing former President Barack Obama, and that he envies the former President, viewing him as an "uppity black person that we need to put in his place."
At 7:11 p.m. Eastern, Matthews turned to Glaude and posed:
Let me ask you about this old refresher course in Obama hatred. What is that about? Is that just playing the race card? I mean, when he goes after Obama, it has nothing to do with the current conversation, and starts talking about "cheating Obama." Is that just playing the ethnic thing? Sometimes I wonder if that's just what he does to keep that base happy.
Glaude accused Trump of "race-baiting" as he began: "I think so, Chris. I think it is in part a part of the kind of race-baiting that is in some ways a feature of his invocation of the immigration question."
After accusing Trump of "appealing to the baser instincts of his base," he brought up Obama making fun of Trump one year at the White House Correspondents Dinner as he added: "The success of his administration over the eight years, the fact that Obama made fun of him or clowned him at the press club meeting, has made him the object of Trump's scorn. In other words, everything that Obama is, Trump desires to be. So he projects his failings --"
Matthews then jumped in to suggest Trump speaks negatively of Obama out of envy:
And what is that? I mean, I look at the outer aspects of what you might envy in Barack Obama. He's a cool guy -- I mean, cool in a Sinatra way, a positive Sinatra way -- unlike Trump, which is the bad Sinatra. In other words, you've really got to -- he's really got a successful marriage, great kids -- a first marriage, no disasters there, great marriage all these years, great partnership, Ivy League education -- a real one, by the way, a Harvard degree on top of it, a Harvard law degree. Are those the things that Trump -- despite his claim to billions -- is what what he really wants that Barack Obama has? Is that your suggestion?
Glaude escalated the charges of racism as he added:
I should just be as explicit as I could possibly be. There seems to be -- and I may be wrong here -- that there is a bit of "Obama is this uppity black person that we need to put in his place." And he takes at every turn -- he takes an opportunity to put Obama in his place.
Matthews responded: "Well, that is truly sad."
This conversation echoed comments made hours earlier on CNN's The Lead by former Obama communications director Jen Psaki.
“Given Trump’s history, you can guess that there might be racial undertones there. He was the founder of the birther movement. Perhaps I’m going to a very evil place with that but history tells us that’s a possibility,” Psaki complained.
The two MSNBC liberals saw racism in President Trump attacking Obama in spite of the many times Trump has attacked public figures who are white, as previously documented by NewsBusters.
