Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews lit into “bored” Democratic leaders on Wednesday for not attacking President Donald Trump over his rally remarks about Los Angeles and San Diego. Matthews named the party’s top lawmakers, and the outburst prompted “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire to note the White House’s pushback on how the comments were framed.
At a Monday night rally in Nebraska, Trump was discussing higher prices linked to the Iran war. He described them as “a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe” and for stopping Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
“They could take out a city,” Trump warned. “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
The remarks drew angry condemnation from top California lawmakers on Tuesday. The White House hit back sharply, arguing that the “media freakout” was over comments stripped of their context. Even CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale cautioned that critics had misread the president’s “TrumpRallySpeak.”
Matthews appeared on Wednesday’s “Morning Joe” for a segment with Democratic strategist Rahm Emanuel. He embraced the critics’ interpretation anyway. He called Trump’s comments “unbelievable” and accused the president of going so far as to “join terrorism in the message.”
“Why would the president do that?” Matthews said. “Why would he join in the Iranian terror tactics? Why would he talk about scaring American citizens in their homes, in our homeland? Why would he do that? Why would he engage in something like that as an election tactic? It’s awful. It’s awful behavior by anybody, including a president!”
He then turned to heaping praise on Emanuel, calling him “the best person” and “probably the smartest guy getting people to think in this coming season.”
“I’m not sure he’s going to win, but he’s going to stir things up,” Matthews said. “Rahm Emanuel, he surely will do that.”
From there, he trained his fire on his own party’s leadership.
“But the question is, can’t [Chuck] Schumer wake up?” Matthews asked. “Why aren’t all the Democratic leaders saying, ‘You cannot talk about joining the terrorists and scaring the American people? Mr. President, you’re our commander in chief, defend us! You’re not defending us!'”
He kept going.
“Why don’t Democrats say – why don’t they wake up?” Matthews said. “Hakeem Jeffries, wake up. Why don’t the leaders of the Democratic Party act like leaders who are against this poisoning effect of Donald Trump? It seems like they’re bored. I don’t know what it is.”
Lemire answered the rant with a joke, saying Emanuel was getting “compliments” from Matthews that he wouldn’t “be getting from his siblings.”
He then pointed out that the White House had rejected the way Trump’s remarks were being portrayed. Lemire explained that the administration said the president meant “that’s what would happen if we did not prevent them from getting nuclear.”
“Clean up crew,” Emanuel quipped.
“We should just say that because there was a lot of pushback yesterday to that story,” Lemire said.
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