MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews and New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg dredged up the drumbeat of presidential impeachment on Tuesday night, declaring that the contents of a Washington Post about tension within the Trump White House warrants “near-edge impeachment territory” if it weren’t for the “unbelievable cowardice” by Republicans.
Also during the show, Matthews reintroduced his descriptions of the Trump family resembling the Romanovs with Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump being the U.S. version of Saddam Hussein’s murderous children Qusay and Uday.
Going even further, he reacted to an NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll by declaring that Trump’s support among his base is North Korean-like in nature, so there’s that level of nuttiness too.
First, the impeachment talk. Matthews declared to Goldberg that, upon hearing a story that was co-authored by The Post’s Phil Rucker:
I hear about this wacky, erratic behavior, the President described by top, pretty sober people like Bob Corker of Tennessee, the chairman of Foreign Relations, I begin to sound — to hear this sounds that Oliver Stone would have given to the script of the Nixon movie, the latter days — the very last days of the Nixon presidency when he was drinking too much, a little crazy. In fact, isolated in his room, and just angry at the world. It sounds like near-edge impeachment territory that's being described here.
Goldberg obviously agreed, ruling “that if we had a sane and rational and decent Congress, it would be near-edge impeachment territory and even Nixon in his darkest days was not as erratic, unstable and didn't pose as much as a danger to his country as Trump poses.”
The far-left writer lamented that “[i]t’s breathtaking what we've become accustomed to, the level of dysfunction we've become accustomed to” and instead of “doing everything that they can to get between him and the nuclear codes....we just see this unbelievable cowardice.”
As for the nicknames, Matthews wondered how awful it must be to work in the White House (which he repeated at the end of the show):
All the time, you’ve the Romanovs you’ve got to worry about offending, the Uday and Qusay crowd of Jared and his wife and all and you don’t want to offend anybody. You’ve got these true, full mooners like Kellyanne who will buy anything the guy says, you know, like Sarah. How do you live in that environment? It's like playing Bobby Riggs with chairs all around you. You’re playing tennis.
I’ve dedicated extensive time and effort to chronicling all of these mentions, but it’s only cemented the belief of how absurd these comparisons are between the Trumps, a royal family that was decapitated, and Saddam’s sons who were ruthless in their own rights.
Matthews asserted that he recognized the U.S. is not North Korea, but he still felt like the comparison was worthwhile in their devotions to Kim Jong-un and Trump:
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Chris, here is a sobering reality, though. This is why there is so much extreme baby-sitting, as Bret just said. The NBC News/Surveymonkey poll last month had a statistic in it that has haunted me since I've seen it. The poll pulled out Trump supporters versus GOP supporters. The President's approval rating among GOP supporters, this is just last month, 84 percent. The President's approval rating among his supporters, 99%. For a President who lives for applause, who lives for applause from the people who support him, that is the number to keep in mind.
MATTHEWS: Wait a minute. 99% of the people who like him, like him?
CAPEHART: They approve of his job performance.
MATTHEWS: Oh, so far?
CAPEHART: They approve of his job performance.
MATTHEWS: Oh so far. It's like North Korea. I'm not saying they're left wing or crazy ideologically. But that sense of regimentation of: “Yes sir. I smile when you smile. I cry when you cry.” You know?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: But these are — well, it's because they are the people who are his hard-core base and again, for a person who loves the applause, that's the number that he is going to focus on.
MATTHEWS: Well, I tell you, I would never think to compare Republican conservatives with North Koreans because they're not ideologically at all synonymous, but that behavior, that lockstep, yes, sir, look at me, I agree with everything you said, it's like the dittoheads from the days of, rush-bo. Well, the trouble is we still live in the days of rush-bo.
Tuesday night’s Hardball craziness was brought to you by MSNBC advertisers Discover, Farmers Insurance, Panera Bread, and Square.com.
Here’s the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on October 10:
MSNBC’s Hardball
October 10, 2017
7:03 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Michelle, when I listen to this description by top reporters like Phil, and I hear about this wacky, erratic behavior, the President described by top, pretty sober people like Bob Corker of Tennessee, the chairman of Foreign Relations, I begin to sound — to hear this sounds that Oliver Stone would have given to the script of the Nixon movie, the latter days — the very last days of the Nixon presidency when he was drinking too much, a little crazy. In fact, isolated in his room, and just angry at the world. It sounds like near-edge impeachment territory that's being described here. Your thoughts.
MICHELLE GOLDBERG: I mean, I think that if we had a sane and rational and decent Congress, it would be near-edge impeachment territory and even Nixon in his darkest days was not as erratic, unstable and didn't pose as much as a danger to his country as Trump poses. It's breathtaking what we've become accustomed to, the level of dysfunction we've become accustomed to and every single — I mean, good for Bob Corker for speaking out, but every Congressman, you know, Senator or Congressman who agrees with him who thinks that the president cannot be trusted with a Blackberry should be doing everything that they can to get between him and the nuclear codes and instead we just see this unbelievable cowardice.
(....)
7:11 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: I finished the show tonight by asking what would it be like to work in the White house. A regular man or woman, say 35, 40 years old, trying to do their best for the country. It may be a clerical job. It may be a professional and intellectual, policy job or press job or whatever and every day, you're surrounded by this Romper Room of behavior, this craziness running around. All the time, you’ve the Romanovs you’ve got to worry about offending, the Uday and Qusay crowd of Jared and his wife and all and you don’t want to offend anybody. You’ve got these true, full mooners like Kellyanne who will buy anything the guy says, you know, like Sarah. How do you live in that environment? It's like playing Bobby Riggs with chairs all around you. You’re playing tennis.
(....)
7:58 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Did you ever wonder what it's like inside Trump world? I mean really inside? You know, the hallways and offices of the West Wing, the White House, and national security staff sitting at the big table in the White House mess, driving home together after work, meeting at bars. Did you ever wonder what it's like up close and personal with Donald Trump and the Romanovs, Jared and Ivanka, and the true believers like Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders?
