MSNBC Urges Cancelling State of the Union Amid Impeachment

January 27th, 2020 5:43 PM

In the 9:00 a.m. ET hour on Monday, hours before the Senate impeachment trial resumed, MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd led a panel discussion about the possibility of President Trump’s State of the Union address being cancelled to prevent the President from having a platform to promote his agenda.

“And you know, one of the things that I really worry about is that we’re going to have a State of the Union very shortly, while all of this is going on,” fretted former CIA Director turned NBC News analyst John Brennan. Todd derisively chimed in: “‘State of our union is strong,’ who the hell is going to say that?”

 

 

Brennan sneered: “I just cannot imagine. It’s not just embarrassing, but also I think it’s very destructive to the image of the United States worldwide to have this going on and have Mr. Trump up there.” The anti-Trump hack continued to push his partisan hope of shutting down the annual address:

And you can imagine he’s going to use that State of the Union address not to address the state of the union, but to address the state of Donald Trump. And he is going to, I think, be on the offensive there. So I question whether or not it makes sense to hold that at this point.

Rather than challenge the ludicrous suggestion or point out that Bill Clinton delivered a State of the Union address in the midst of his Senate impeachment trial in 1999, Todd actually took Brennan’s idea seriously. The Meet the Press moderator turned to former Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards and wondered:

That’s interesting. Donna, do you think there’s any way that Speaker Pelosi would rescind that invitation? Because I take his – I get that that would be a fear of some. Do you want to see the House chamber used that way?

Edwards actually threw some cold water on the notion: “I don’t know, I think it’s possible, but it’s hard to rescind those things.”

It’s not enough that Trump be impeached, the liberal media don’t even want him to have a chance to address the nation during the proceeding.

Here is a transcript of the January 27 discussion:

9:53 AM ET

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JOHN BRENNAN: I think Donald Trump has debased the office of the presidency so much that it is just expected of him to continue these bullying and intimidation tactics. And so I think he’s going to continue that. And you know, one of the things that I really worry about is that we’re going to have a State of the Union very shortly, while all of this is going on, and you know, putting us forward, you know –  

CHUCK TODD: “State of our union is strong,” who the hell is going to say that?

BRENNAN: I just cannot imagine. It’s not just embarrassing, but also I think it’s very destructive to the image of the United States worldwide to have this going on and have Mr. Trump up there. And you can imagine he’s going to use that State of the Union address not to address the state of the union, but to address the state of Donald Trump. And he is going to, I think, be on the offensive there. So I question whether or not it makes sense to hold that at this point.

TODD: That’s interesting. Donna, do you think there’s any way that Speaker Pelosi would rescind that invitation? Because I take his – I get that that would be a fear of some. Do you want to see the House chamber used that way?

FMR. REP. DONNA EDWARDS [D-MD]: I don’t know, I think it’s possible, but it’s hard to rescind those things. And it’s hard then for the President to say, “I’m not going to be there,” because he wants the forum, he wants the stage to do that.

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