Chris Matthews: Iran ‘Decapitated’ Jimmy Carter, Now They're Trying to ‘Decapitate’ Trump

On Thursday’s Morning Joe on MS NOW, Chris Matthews twice claimed that Iran “decapitated” President Jimmy Carter politically during the 1979–81 hostage crisis—and is now trying to “decapitate” President Trump.

Matthews worked as a speechwriter for Carter throughout the hostage crisis and recalled how the nightly drumbeat of coverage dominated television news and politically damaged the president.

“They knew exactly what they were doing,” Matthews said of Iran’s leaders at the time. “They were decapitating Jimmy Carter.”

Matthews described how the Iranian regime staged daily spectacles—from flag burnings to the blindfolded parading of American diplomats—to humiliate the United States and weaken Carter politically. “It was on our television, it was hurting Carter, and he ended up losing,” Matthews said.

Matthews then put the point in blunt terms. “Carter was screwed,” he said, asserting that Iran intentionally delayed releasing the hostages until after Carter lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan.

Matthews concluded by arguing that Iran is pursuing a similar strategy today against Donald Trump:

MATTHEWS: I gotta tell you, they're doing the same thing to Trump. They know exactly what the Strait of Hormuz is doing to the oil markets, to the markets generally. They know what we're up to because Trump is on television all the time. They see him. They know how he works and how to hurt him, and they're trying to decapitate him.

Matthews’ repeated invocation of “decapitation” was striking.

It recalls “comedian” Kathy Griffin’s infamous 2017 stunt in which she posed for a photo holding a mock severed head of Donald Trump—an image that sparked widespread backlash at the time.

What is it about liberals and their fascination with decapitation?

MS NOW
Morning Joe
3/12/26
6:05 a.m. EDT

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: President Trump yesterday seemed to both downplay the conflict while bragging about the success of the U.S. military. Here's what he said in both Ohio and Kentucky.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We did a little excursion. We had to take this little couple of weeks, few weeks of excursion, but it's been incredible.

Our military is unbelievable, the job they're doing. I would say, to put it mildly, way ahead of schedule. But 47 bad years we suffered with them, not only us, the rest of the world.

And we're doing our jobs. We had to take an excursion, but it's doing well. The market is holding up well. Prices are coming down very substantially. Oil will be coming down.

That's just a matter of war that happens very—you can almost predict it. I would say it went up a little bit less than we thought. It's going to come down more than anybody understands.

[...]

JONATHAN LEMIRE: So, Chris Matthews, you're also writing about the war in Iran for your Hardball Substack, and you say this.

"It's back at us, again, this deep-seated hatred for what we did in 1953 when the CIA overthrew their government and inserted the monarchy of the Shah.

"It has been this way ever since 1979. Expect the same persistent hatred this time around. It is consistent with our history, but more so. They will bomb their neighbors, choke the Strait of Hormuz, whack back at Israel.

"Most frightening, they know us. They know what hurts us most, what angers Donald Trump most—oil, the market generally—and they will play nasty."

And Chris, you write your own experience. Of course, you know 1979, what happened then, and it's a real warning, you say, for this president.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: It's amazing. David French said it so well. The enemy gets a vote. Back in '79 and '80, we spent a horrendous year of 1980. All those days and nights. Every time you turn on the television, it would be America Held Hostage at 11:30 at night on the East Coast.

It became Nightline, of course, later on. Cronkite would end his show with how many days they had been held. They knew exactly what they were doing. They were decapitating Jimmy Carter.

And so, the hostage taking. Watch how every day they had the flag burnings, every day they had the trooping of the diplomats, the 50 diplomats walking around blindfolded to humiliate them.

They were humiliating Carter every single day, and it was on our television, it was hurting Carter, and he ended up losing.

And finally, a couple days before the election, I was on Air Force One, and I gotta tell you, we get a word from Tehran, oh, the mullahs are meeting, they may be making ready for a deal.

So everybody flew back to Washington, and Carter finds out they weren't going to make a deal. They were just teasing just to humiliate him. He went on national television the Sunday before the election—I will never forget this—and said, I wish I could tell you when the hostages are home. I can't.

And by the way, on election eve, as we sat on Air Force One, we had to tell him on the Cronkite report that evening the next day's election was not the number one news story.

The number one news story right at the top of the news budget was the anniversary of the hostage taking. That was bigger news. Carter was screwed. They never sent the hostages back until after he'd been beat by Reagan. And then when he had left office, they knew exactly what they were doing. They decapitated Carter.

And I got to tell you, they're doing the same thing to Trump. They know exactly what the Strait of Hormuz is doing to the oil markets, to the markets generally. They know what we're up to because Trump is on television all the time.

They see him. They know how he works and how to hurt him, and they're trying to decapitate him.