Okay, I know what you're thinking. Who gives a damn about MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, much less what she thinks? The same question applies to every host on far-left MSNBC, of course — along with the geniuses of "The View."
So here's the thing: Nobody with half an intelligent, reasonable brain cares what any of these clowns think.
Here's the other thing: As the late great Rush Limbaugh always said, the more we expose the left, the more they tell us exactly who they are. Moreover, their programmed audiences agree with them, so as Rush reasoned, it never hurts conservatism to expose the prevailing pablum of the left as often as possible. I couldn't agree more.
Anyway, on Monday night, Maddow — who took off most of the night because of hoarseness — managed to show up on her show for a bit to talk about the New Hampshire primary with former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki, now a proud-as-punch MSNBC-er, who was filling in for the acerbic host.
First, a bit of relevant background:
In New Hampshire on Saturday, Trump praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as "a great leader, a very strong man," and MSNBC thinks this is pro-dictator talk. But Orban was re-elected prime minister for a fourth time in 2022. Liberal media outlets call communist tyrants "presidents" and this man is classified as a tyrant.
You see where this is going, right?
Psaki eagerly delivered a suck-up softball question to Maddow, right down the middle of the left-wing plate.
You’ve studied authoritarians quite a bit, you’ve talked about them quite a bit, [and] you’ve educated all of us quite a bit on it. Is this really about winning votes in the New Hampshire primary?
Incidentally, it both amazes and amuses me that it doesn't seem to occur to pretend journalists like Psaki and Maddow that reasonable people see through their hopeless bias and ridiculous takes. Then again, consider the peanut gallery they're performing for.
Maddow replied (emphasis, mine):
On the Viktor Orbán thing, listen, I think there is a very simple reason that Donald Trump is making that closing argument, in what may be the last contested primary. And it’s because that’s what he’s offering. I mean, this is the special sauce.
Donald Trump is not leading the Republican field of candidates because of his youthful vigor [laughs] or because of his policy preferences or because of his eloquence. Right? None of that is going on.
What he’s offering is what, both sort of inherently offers [sic] and more and more explicitly offers. [sic] Which is: If you pick me, that’ll be the end of politics, and you won’t have to deal with politics anymore.
You won’t have to deal with contested elections, you won’t have to deal with contests or divisions when it comes to power, you’ll have a strongman leader, and I’ll just do what I want. And won’t that be a lot simpler? That’s what he’s offering. That strongman model is what the Republican base is enthused about.
Stop the tape.
Setting aside Maddow's wildly speculative bilge, when has Donald Trump come even close to threatening any of the above? Moreover, what— the Supreme Court, Congress, and whatever other necessary "resources" would just sit back and allow Trump to become a crazed dictator? Please, Rachel. This is bizarre — even for you.
Nevertheless, Maddow comically continued:
That is something that sets him apart from every other Republican candidate. I think we are naive to think he is tricking people into picking him and then surprise: he’s gonna act like a dictator.
What he is offering is strongman leadership, the end of politics, the end of elections, the domesticating ... of the Judiciary and Congress.
He will be the man in charge and he will get it done. That’s what he is selling, and that is what they are very eager to buy.
And the left thinks Trump's crazy. Go figure.
It got worse.
Maddow even accused Trump of "flirting with paramilitary violence."
These messages have appeal There's ways that you can drive a populace toward them. You can denigrate the government. You can say government itself is the problem.
You can make it so that the legislative branch never works, and is seen as an object of ridicule, pity, and hostility rather than as one of our three branches of government.
You can challenge the rule of law and say that judges are all biased against people like you, and that the legal system doesn't work for people like us, and that we should denigrate to the courts and the law, and the legal system in a way that falls down along partisan or identitarian lines.
All of these things help. Flirting with these kinds of conspiracy theories that have them looking to mythical fantasies for solving their problems instead of actual government work. That helps.
Flirting with paramilitary violence, where you bring violence into the political sphere, and people are too intimidated, normal people are too intimidated to engage in normal political behavior.
All of that helps, all of that sort of shunts a populace towards authoritarian messaging, as the only solution, as the only thing that will work.
Make no mistake: Leftists like Rachel Maddow either believe this crap or at least pretend to, to rile up their low-information audiences. Either way, MSNBC viewers eat it up — hook, line, and sinker.
The Bottom Line
It's truly amusing — to me, anyway — watching the Democrats' schizophrenic obsession with Donald Trump. On one hand, they all but wish he would catch on fire (hyperbole, of course) and never be seen again. On the other hand, they want him to win the Republican nomination because they think he'd be easier for Biden to beat than an alternative.
Either way, I don't see Biden as the Democrat nominee, but one thing appears certain: Trump looks unstoppable. At this point, anyway.
SEE MORE:
Dems Hoping for Trump GOP Nomination Should Be Careful What They Wish For
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