During live coverage of yet another indictment of former President Donald Trump, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow invited former First Lady, Secretary of State and two time presidential loser Hillary Clinton to smear Donald Trump and ironically whine about how denying the results of elections is bad for democracy.
“One of the things that we’ve learned by living it in these past few years is that democracy needs the trust of the people,” Maddow proclaimed.
Despite being one of the biggest Trump-Russia collusion hoaxers in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, Maddow lectured:
If we no longer believe that our will is effectuated through the system, if bad actors tell us falsely that every election is stolen and that the only way an election is trustworthy is if they come out on top of it. It tells you something not just about that person or that moment, it maybe wounds us as a democracy and in a way that's hard to repair.
“I think the truth matters,” Clinton said with a straight face. “I think having these cases be brought and be brought in such professional manners, we’ll see how they unfold.”
Later on in the interview, Maddow decided to suck up to President Joe Biden and misinform viewers about how well the economy is doing: “Joe Biden is overseeing an economy that’s had the lowest peacetime unemployment since World War II. The lowest levels of poverty, lowest levels of uninsured—people uninsured in terms of health insurance ever in the history of the country.”
She then fretted to Clinton that Biden’s “approval ratings aren't strong and his prospects for re-election are sort of middling at best.”
“What do you see as the disconnect there?” Maddow asked.
Clinton’s analysis of the problem is that not enough voters are watching conspiracy theorists like Rachel Maddow on MSNBC: “I think it is true that a lot of people in our country don't even know what he’s done. And part of that is they don't get their news from MSNBC,” Clinton fretted. “They get their news from social media, if they get any news at all.”
Then came one of the more dishonest moments where Maddow bemoaned that Trump dared to criticize the anti-American women in the U.S. World Cup team who refused to stand for the national anthem: “We have this weird spectacle during the women's World Cup where former President Trump with all of his problems took time out of his busy schedule and all his pending trials to root against the U.S. Women's national team and to single out individual players and sort of call in the two-minutes hate against them.”
“He said last week and in an apparently unscripted moment that would much prefer to live in France than to live in the United States,” Maddow continued.
“That can be arranged,” Clinton sneered.
“I don't know if France would take him, maybe Belarus?” Maddow responded.
Maddow and Clinton don’t seem to understand that it’s not unpatriotic to root for the U.S. Women’s soccer team to lose when they refuse to even stand for the national anthem. That is what’s unpatriotic. If you behave that way toward your own country overseas, then you deserve to lose.
Due to the breaking news coverage during the hour, there were no commercial breaks. Check out the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page to see frequent sponsors of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.
The transcript is below:
MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show
8/14/2023
9:37:18 p.m. EasternRACHEL MADDOW: One of the things that we’ve learned by living it in these past few years is that democracy needs the trust of the people.
HILLARY CLINTON: That’s right.
MADDOW: That the system of democracy at its heart is the idea that the people get to decide how we are governed. And if we no longer believe that our will is effectuated through the system, if bad actors tell us falsely that every election is stolen and that the only way an election is trustworthy is if they come out on top of it. It tells you something not just about that person or that moment, it maybe wounds us as a democracy and in a way that's hard to repair. What do you think about how we get better after the wounds that have been inflicted on us through this process?
CLINTON: Well, I think the truth matters. I think having these cases be brought and be brought in such professional manners, we’ll see how they unfold. Obviously, the trials, if there are trials, are gonna be critically important. But the article you mentioned that I published about the weaponization of loneliness really does in my view point to the larger cultural concerns.
[...]
MADDOW: Joe Biden is overseeing an economy that’s had the lowest peacetime unemployment since World War II. The lowest levels of poverty, lowest levels of uninsured—people uninsured in terms of health insurance ever in the history of the country. And you just said laudatory things about him in terms of the kinds of leadership he’s modeling. And yet, you know where this is going. His approval ratings aren't strong and his prospects for re-election are sort of middling at best. What do you see as the disconnect there?
CLINTON: Look, I think it is true that a lot of people in our country don't even know what he’s done. And part of that is they don't get their news from MSNBC, they get their news from social media, if they get any news at all. They don't have the kind of information that would give them confidence in knowing what their government is doing. We have this bizarre situation where bridges are built and roads are being fixed and people who didn't vote for the money to do that are claiming credit for it. And how are citizens supposed to make up their minds? So we have a splintered information ecosystem, which really works to the disadvantage of somebody who is not a performer in a political theater sense, but as a producer in a political results sense. You know, how long can you talk about infrastructure? It gets boring. Let's change and talk about Donald Trump or one of these other people who do nothing but give us negative messages, because that is so much more exciting.
[...]
MADDOW: We have this weird spectacle during the women's World Cup where former President Trump with all of his problems took time out of his busy schedule and all his pending trials to root against the U.S. Women's national team and to single out individual players and sort of call in the two-minutes hate against them. He said last week and in an apparently unscripted moment that would much prefer to live in France than to live in the United States.
CLINTON: That can be arranged.
MADDOW: I don't know if France would take him, maybe Belarus. But there is a sense where it is becoming this increasingly overt and non-ironic thing where he just talks about how much he hates America and how terrible America is. When you say rooting for America's adversaries, I know you’re thinking about geopolitical consequences, but I’m actually thinking about him rooting against American athletes in international competition.
