A-CHANGIN': Matthews hammered away at Trump!

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2025

But reached no useful end: On Tuesday, the language seemed to be a-changin' with respect to President Trump.

In the face of his constantly changing tariff threats, the markets had been crashing for two days. On CNBC, an exasperated Steve Liesman said he might end up losing his job, but he turned to a tricky set of words as he railed about the commander's behavior.

Liesman said it might cost him his job! But this was the language he chose:

The language Liesman chose:
"Insane." "Absolutely insane." "Insane." 

("There's no other way to describe it.") 

"Insanity." "Insanity."

That was the language the gentleman chose. To watch the videotape, click here. We offer this instant disclaimer:

Presumably, Liesman was speaking colloquially. He wasn't claiming that he had uncovered a clinical diagnosis of the commander's mental state. 

Also, words like "insane" and "insanity" aren't actual clinical terms! Still, the language almost seemed to be changing as the frustrated Liesman spoke. 

Perhaps a thousand years in the future—if we humans are still around—we'll be able to conduct intelligent, empathetic discussions of the possible mental health or mental disorder of major political figures.

Maybe then, but not today! That brings us to the salty new language selected by Chris Matthews.

Matthews wasn't discussing the emperor's new tariffs. He was discussing the apparently lunatic claims the commander had made on Tuesday, March 4 when he addressed a joint session of Congress.

Two days later, on Morning Joe, Matthews said the commander's claims were crazy—and he almost seemed to say or suggest that everybody knows it. 

Like Liesman, he chose some salty new language. Once again, here is a substantial chunk of what this gentleman said:

MATTHEWS (3/6/25): He’s doing all this on television. If you noticed, he calls the TV cameras in for the cabinet meetings he’s doing. He’s redirecting his cabinet officials, redirecting Musk.

I’ve watched this guy use television like nobody’s ever done. When he went up the other night, on Tuesday night, he talked to the American people and said, “We’re paying Social Security checks to people who are 160 years old.” 

Anybody who reads an obit page knows that’s not true. Anybody knows we’re not spending money on 20 million people out there getting free checks. That kind of fraudulence is unbelievable.

But he’s telling the MAGA people out there, "They’re stealing your money. Don’t trust these people in Washington. These are bad people. They are the deep state." He did it. 

You know, he talked about the election being stolen. Nobody in America will tell you which states were stolen from him. All the MAGA people—get them in a corner and say, "Tell me which states were stolen in 2020?"

They can’t tell you. He just told them that. He just said they were stolen.

And with Zelensky on television, he said it was "great television." I’ll never forget that. It was "great television," where he beat up this guy on television. He and JD Vance, and they just did it in public.

So we all know what Donald Trump thinks of Zelensky. He's teaching us.

He’s teaching us. Don’t trust Social Security, so he can go after it. Don’t trust Ukraine, because he’s going to go after Ukraine and diminish that country and its size and its importance. All because this is what Trump thinks and that’s what it’s about.

It is Mussolini. It’s about believing the leader in what he says verbatim. And that’s what Trump does on television. And he’s using us to do it, using the medium.

As before, to watch the videotape of what Chris said, you can just click here.

Matthews selected some new language too. "This is Mussolini," he said. But what did he mean by that?

For starters, credit where due! Chris didn't employ the verboten term, "Hitler."  He went all Mussolini instead! 

"This is Mussolini," he said. Here's what he seems to have meant:

The commander had made a set of lunatic claims when he spoke to the Congress. Again, here's the part of Christopher's presentation in which he basically says that:

On Tuesday night, he talked to the American people and said, “We’re paying Social Security checks to people who are 160 years old.” 

Anybody who reads an obit page knows that’s not true. Anybody knows we’re not spending money on 20 million people out there getting free checks. That kind of fraudulence is unbelievable.

Fuller disclosure! In his address, the commander had actually gone beyond that account. He actually said that we're "paying Social Security checks" to millions of people who are even older than that! 

(In yesterday morning's report, we posted the full text of the commander's presentation. To recall what the commander said, you can just click here.)

In fact, the commander had made an array of startling claims in that part of his address. Two days later—and using a somewhat salty term—Chris Matthews went on Morning Joe and described the commander's presentation as an act of "fraudulence."

In fact, he said it was an "unbelievable" act of fraudulence. He said the commander had committed an act of fraudulence which defies belief.

That language was already quite salty. "Mussolini" arrived a bit later—but at this point, let's take note of something else Chris said. 

Chris was hammering Donald Trump hard. Unfortunately, he also said this:

Anybody who reads an obit page knows that’s not true. Anybody knows we’re not spending money on 20 million people out there getting free checks. 

What did Christopher mean by that? We can't say that we actually know—but we're willing to venture a guess:

In that passage, Chris almost seemed to say or suggest that everybody knows it!  He seemed to suggest that everyone knows that the commander's fraudulent claims were untrue.

Is that what Christopher meant to say? The reason we ask is this:

Almost surely, many millions of people don't know that the commander's claims are crazily bogus. Almost surely, millions of people watching the speech assumed that, if the commander said it, what he    said was pretty much basically true.

Everyone knows it? Everyone knows that "we’re not spending money on 20 million people out there getting free checks?" 

We're sorry, but almost surely, tens of millions of neighbors and friends—tens of millions of us the people—are aware of no such thing! But when the commander made those "unbelievably fraudulent" claims, our biggest news orgs—the New York Times? the Washington Post?—simply yawned and averted their gaze.

These orgs have become quite good at that type of avoidance. In this way, "unbelievable fraudulence" on the part of our nobles and lords has become massively normalized.

Stop to think, for just one moment, about what Matthews said. He said the commander had gone before a joint session of Congress—had appeared before a TV audience of us the people—and he had made a series of claims which were "unbelievably fraudulent."

Within a few days, the very strange Elon Musk would be repeating those claims. But at our biggest mainstream news orgs, this astonishing fraudulence didn't produce a set of front-page reports.

The fraudulence has been normalized. When the fraudulence is performed on a massive scale, our biggest orgs yawn and snooze.

This is Mussolini, Matthews eventually said, avoiding the key word "Hitler." He said the commander is feeding this unbelievable fraudulence to "the MAGA people." 

(The commander is "teaching us" what to say or what to believe, Matthews later said. But he really seemed to mean that the commander is teaching them.)

This is what Mussolini did, Christopher now claimed. A charismatic strongman is schooling the masses in what they can say and believe.

Adolph Hitler schooled the masses in crazy beliefs. Mussolini did that too. Somewhat fuzzily, Matthews excitedly said that President Trump is doing the same thing.

That was a salty claim; it featured some striking new language. But along the way, Matthews created confusion with a murky claim or suggestion. He seemed to say that everyone knows that Trump and Musk are selling pure "fraudulence."

We think that's plainly untrue.

Two days after the commander's address, Chris Matthews was pounding away. We think of what Nestor told the headstrong Diomedes at a major moment of truth:

Nestor the old driver rose and spoke at once.

“Few can match your power in battle, Diomedes,
and in council you excel all men your age
But you don't press on and reach a useful end..."

In a furious address to the council, Diomedes had failed to "reach a useful end." In our view, the same is true of what Matthews said to the group on Morning Joe.

One night later, up jumped Bill Maher. We've long admired his remarkable skills.

He instantly cited those same crazy claims, then said that he no longer cares!

Tomorrow: What Bill said the very next day. Also:

What is a nation to do?