After the 2016 New Hampshire primaries called Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders the winners, Steve Schmidt came on MSNBC to lend his expert political analysis to explain how this happened. Unfortunately, the former senior John McCain campaign advisor confused Trump's campaign beliefs with Marco Rubio's and Rachel Maddow immediately pounced to correct his very flawed opinions.
Schmidt started off by saying "you just saw the outsiders take the hill, a rejection of the establishment by the political parties of the country." You could make a case for this if you wanted, however, he got in trouble when he discussed Trump's political philosophy. I know we've spent a lot of time on Marco Rubot's recent failings, but apparently his repeated robotic line readings actually creeped into Schmidt's psyche and he applied it to Trump. Maybe there is something to Marco's robotic act in the way it infects Republicans?
Schmidt: When Donald Trump entered this race he was dismissed as a clown, as a joke. His slogan "Make America Great Again" has tapped into something deep in the American psyche.
The Republican voters believe to their core that the country is not great anymore. That Obama has succeeded . That he has changed America. That he has won...he has done it over a complicit corrupt Republican congress.
(mumbling)Trump is speaking to those voters has captured...
(talking over)MADDOW: So it was Obama's goal to make America not great?
Schmidt: (mumbling) he has succeeded.
MADDOW: In what? In ruining America?
Schmidt: That he has wrecked it
MADDOW: That he was deliberately trying to wreck it?
Schmidt: Whether his motive is good or not...they believe that these 7 years have transformed America, have changed the country, have wrecked it, that this country is off the edge, that 3 out of 4 tires are hanging over the cliff.
MADDOW: Donald Trump is saying that George W Bush also ruined the country and that when he is talking about what's wrong, he is talking about the Iraq war. Thing's that happened preceding Obama
(overtalk)MADDOW: It is not an anti Obama message in the way say Marco Rubio has an anti Obama message
Schmidt: These voters believe to their core that the country is on the edge. He has captured their imagination for a long time. People in Washington scratched their heads, tried to figure out his message, the power of his message "make america great again"
The 3 parts of it:
1. we were once a great country. 2. we are not anymore 3. we are at our last hour to be one again
Has captured the imagination of millions of Republican voters. This nationalism that Chris is talking about it spot on.
Trump is an american nationalist. Ted Cruz is an American Ideological Conservative. Now we wait to see who the 3rd candidate will be, an establishment candidate?
Thank you, Rachel.
I loved how she spun back the idea that Obama's goal was to destroy America all along. What creeps.
