After the horrific news broke that a politically motivated gunman opened fire on Congressional Republicans Wednesday, there was a collective call from politicos to be more responsible with the rhetoric they use as so not to promote hate. Apparently, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews didn’t get the memo as he took to his show, Hardball and proceeded to smear Republicans. “Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews in Washington. Donald Trump and his ties with Moscow remain the big story here even on a day struck by violence,” he announced as he started his show.
Matthews was quite giddy as he read from a Washington Post article that claimed an anonymous source told them that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was now investigating Trump for obstruction of Justice. He then demonstrated how amazingly tone deaf he was by callously declaring that Mueller had Trump “in the crosshairs.”
A few minutes later, Mathews went on a diatribe about how much the President was used to controlling everything in his life, including poking at Trump’s marriage:
This Trump determination to control all things on the planet, we know that part. You know, he changes wives, he changes—he doesn’t like this, he moves here, he stays there, he owns things, he buys things. The guy basically controls the universe that he's in tangible touch with.
“And they're not weasels, these guys. These are men—particularly they are men in this case who have proud careers behind them, and they'd like to have proud legacies,” Matthews said as he was championing the investigators looking into Trump. He then used those compliments to trash Trump’s accomplished team of department heads, saying: “They're not like the weaselly people running around that table with him in that cabinet room the other day.”
Matthews spent the first 15 minutes of his show railing against Trump and talking about the Russia investigation. As he was going to the first commercial break, after that time, he kicked Congressional Republicans while they were suffering:
Coming up, the latest on that shooting in Virginia this morning that left four injured, including U.S. Congressman Steve Scalise, all while they were practicing for a congressional baseball game. There's something I didn't know. How many weeks of practice go into this? Can't they pass a health care bill while they're practicing?
Later on in the program, Matthews politicized the attack on Republicans and made the whole thing about gun control. “Well America, we do have a lot of guns and we have a lot of people with strong passions politically, and this was a frightening, tragic confluence of the two,” he told NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams.
This kind of flippant attitude towards attacks against conservatives is just a part of who he is. For example: When the conservative Family Research Council was attacked by a gunman in 2012, Matthews completely ignored the incident. But when it came to the attack on Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords in 2011, Matthews flew off the handle and blamed Republicans for it.
Transcript below:
MSNBC
Hardball
June 14, 2017
7:00:30 PM EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews in Washington. Donald Trump and his ties with Moscow remain the big story here even on a day struck by violence. Late this evening, another bombshell from The Washington Post. Quote, “The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice.” So he's in the crosshairs.
“Although former Director Comey assured President Trump he was not under investigation, officials now say that changed shortly after Comey's firing.” This comes after The New York Times reported that the President has been considering firing Mr. Mueller himself, but someone on his staff waved him off the idea warning this would make a bad situation worse. We'll see about that.
(…)
MATTHEWS: Let's talk to Ashley. You guys who report these great stories every day in this great rivalry between the Times and the Post. Give me a little context here. This Trump determination to control all things on the planet, we know that part. You know, he changes wives, he changes—he doesn’t like this, he moves here, he stays there, he owns things, he buys things. The guy basically controls the universe that he's in tangible touch with. Now he finds himself in a situation where there's such a thing as a Justice Department and there’s such a thing as an FBI director, and ultimately because of his behavior and manhandling of this home, there's a special counsel looking at him.
It seems to me it makes perfect sense according to the reporting that we’re getting that he will try to get rid of this guy. Now we find out the guy has him in the crosshairs, that he's, in fact, the target—the subject of an objection of justice violation here.
(…)
MATTHEWS: And they're not weasels, these guys. These are men—particularly they are men in this case who have proud careers behind them, and they'd like to have proud legacies. They're not like the weaselly people running around that table with him in that cabinet room the other day.
(…)
MATTHEWS: Coming up, the latest on that shooting in Virginia this morning that left four injured, including U.S. Congressman Steve Scalise, all while they were practicing for a congressional baseball game. There's something I didn't know. How many weeks of practice go into this? Can't they pass a health care bill while they're practicing?
(…)
MATTHEWS: I'm joined right now by Pete Williams, justice correspondent with NBC News. Well America, we do have a lot of guns and we have a lot of people with strong passions politically, and this was a frightening, tragic confluence of the two.
