Trump unleashes weekend tweet tirade. TRANSCRIPT: 3/18/19, Hardball w/ Chris Matthews.
Senator Cory Booker is up next.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: Have you no decency? Let`s play HARDBALL.
Arizona Senator John McCain succumbed to brain cancer.
passing the Christopher Steele dossier along to the FBI back in 2016.
working together failed as usual. Even the fake news refused this garbage.
dossier to the FBI in December of 2016, after the presidential election.
And there`s no evidence whatever he ever gave the dossier to the media.
Cory Booker, who spoke with me this morning in Iowa.
MATTHEWS: What was your instinctive reaction when you heard that?
vandalism and him just tearing at the fabric of this country.
the book to silence the majority of our country. Wow.
with his weird sort of attempt to assassinate a guy who`s already gone?
chance to undo Obamacare. I`m sure he`s never forgiven McCain for that.
back. That`s perfect for Trump. He loves a target that can`t fight back.
It really is low. It doesn`t get much lower than this.
important to me. I get the sense that he feels that something is coming.
that. And I think this is what is happening now.
the body. Nothing about his service will ever be changed or diminished.
here is Meghan today on The View.
you everything you needed to know about his pathetic life right now.
this kind of stuff? Your thoughts?
that do that when they get anxious, when they`re worried, they talk a lot.
It seems like that is what the President was doing over the weekend.
here, that combination, that mixture of feelings.
don`t want to play one on TV.
MATTHEWS: But you`re pretty good. You`re pretty good at it.
comedy show or another politician. It`s born of insecurity, not strength.
but. He`s a bully and he`s a coward.
spooking the hell out of our president. I mean, he is spooked by this guy.
Anyway, Trump has been fixated on McCain way back since the summer of 2015.
Let`s watch him back then.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: He`s not a war hero.
TRUMP: He is a war hero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 5.5 years in PW camp.
weren`t captured, okay? I hate to tell you.
reason to worry about just a little update on the court, on Robert Mueller?
weekend, he won`t take a day off.
the meantime, he has plenty to worry about without anything else.
a thief. That`s how they talk about him.
enough that it will cost you too much to sue. You`re not going to sue us.
It`s not worth it to you.
WINE-BANKS: Exactly. It`s a deliberate ploy.
so much of a mention of the other side, same with the late night shows.
One thing, Congresswoman, I know that democrats aren`t so good at is jokes.
KELLY: And he`s a gift that keeps on giving so they don`t need to call us.
have? Or would you investigate Fox for getting calls from the White House?
can`t beat you, you can only beat yourself.
want more of you in my pocket.
REAGAN: Well, there`s a couple of aspects to this that`s really scary.
anymore then. Then things get serious in a hurry.
CURBELO: Ron is absolutely right, Chris.
will not take a shot at Trump.
to have parties that organize based on ideas for the future of the country.
And I really hope more republicans would stand up and do that.
would put at the top five of the best presidents in our country.
psychoanalysis of this particular guy. Carlos Curbelo, thank you for that.
open guy. I mean, I hate to sound na‹ve but I think he`s an open person.
President Trump`s attack on the late Senator McCain, he`s got one too.
a few minutes. Stick with us, a lot of Cory coming up. Stick with us.
voters as a uniter for the country.
President`s rough talk about his deceased former colleague.
women that are serving this nation? So I found it repulsive.
try to pits us against each other, now, pitting us against a dead American.
republicans you like in the Senate.
MATTHEWS: Name them. There`s 53 to go through.
BOOKER: Look, I have friends on the other side of the aisle.
BOOKER: I just told you one. Tim Scott is a friend.
BOOKER: Mike Lee is a friend from Utah.
MATTHEWS: You agree with him on nothing.
BOOKER: We are Americans. Sincerely, we`re Americans.
to do Bible study, I saw his black grandchildren, adopted grandchildren.
and you meet them over prayer, you meet them in the gym working out.
begin to see them first as human beings, in common cause.
BOOKER: It`s what the military does as well.
you don`t love the people and all the people.
MATTHEWS: OK, let`s talk about the other end of the spectrum, hate.
language from the time of the campaign – talk about pulling the race card.
Muslims, started talking about our – the divisions in America.
MATTHEWS: Is he a racist?
BOOKER: Racists thinks he`s racist. And his language hurts people.
BOOKER: In South Carolina, where there was a hate crime.
MATTHEWS: How do we stop this world market, this global market for hatred?
on Inter – on the social media.
can – can stop the social media from being the traffic for that?
a toxic spiritual state. I think cynicism is a refuge for cowards.
racist. That`s not enough. Racism exists. You have to be anti-racist.
decency and to try to revive civic grace.
two or three degrees of separation.
MATTHEWS: How did – how did – President Obama tried to do that, right?
BOOKER: Of course he – of course he tried to do it, yes.
revival of civic grace in our civic spaces.
what we`re against. We need to talk about what we`re for.
BOOKER: … the loopholes to get around Davis-Bacon, attacks on farmers.
rivers rising, historic floods happening year after year after year.
to have a politics where we say, hey, we`re – we have got common cause.
We definitely have common pain.
Let me ask you about some of these current debates.
least for now, not to talk about it. Where are you on that?
finish his work and then make our determinations after that.
would consider pardoning Donald Trump once he got into office.
if he got into office.
MATTHEWS: You went to Yale, the best law school. Everybody knows that.
No, I mean it. Everybody – everybody knows it is the best law school.
about the service you give.
MATTHEWS: OK. Well, let`s talk about a couple of them.
MATTHEWS: Well, you`re pushing me into my areas here, OK.
if he took the presidency?
BOOKER: What`s he been – what has he been convicted of?
MATTHEWS: Well, let`s start with obstruction of justice.
You got to you got to believe that is in play here.
MATTHEWS: … that he`s being investigated on.
on the issues he`s being investigated on.
better if you`re rich and guilty than if you`re poor and innocent.
pardon or who are being punished unjustly in this country.
BOOKER: And you know who doesn`t get arrested from smoking marijuana?
now we`re talking about a billionaire getting another pardon.
you don`t – you`re not willing to say he obstructed justice yet?
BOOKER: I`m going to wait for the Mueller report.
Let me ask you about a couple economic issues.
discouraged it from doing that.
Where would you have been on that one?
MATTHEWS: OK. You would support that now?
MATTHEWS: So, New York, you think, was wrong to run them out?
Where are you standing on that?
BOOKER: And so we just need to use our antitrust laws.
chemicals used, two-thirds of the seeds you use.
BOOKER: Driving up farmer prices.
companies to sell to. Now he`s have got one.
MATTHEWS: Where are you on this discussion about socialism now?
What`s wrong with being for capitalism?
MATTHEWS: It`s always been part of our growth.
MATTHEWS: OK, all right, that is – that is – OK, I agree.
MATTHEWS: I know. That`s a good rhetorical flourish.
BOOKER: … onto society. It`s not rhetorical flourish. It`s true.
BOOKER: I live in Jersey. I live in Jersey.
businesses, you might get half of the people starting.
Small businesses are the ones that are creating jobs in this country.
BOOKER: And so we don`t have competition anymore.
MATTHEWS: OK, how about the word socialist, and where are you on that?
BOOKER: I am not a socialist.
MATTHEWS: Well, you have got people in the party who are.
BOOKER: I am a Democrat. I believe in fundamental democratic principles.
in politics is anti-democratic. I think gerrymandering is anti-democratic.
MATTHEWS: Do you think voter suppression is immoral?
MATTHEWS: I do. I think so.
progressives on there. Where are you on that?
MATTHEWS: Can we keep it at nine? Should we keep it at nine?
MATTHEWS: OK. Voter suppression, I asked you about.
BOOKER: God, I would be a hypocrite.
BOOKER: I was a high school All-American football player.
MATTHEWS: No, but you played for a really great school.
BOOKER: And I played for some great coaches, like Denny Green.
the show tonight, and 81.
MATTHEWS: And I was asking you.
MATTHEWS: And you catch that ball right there on the sidelines.
MATTHEWS: You know who I was rooting for?
BOOKER: I`m sure you were rooting for Notre Dame.
BOOKER: But anybody – that is the mecca of football.
that end zone himself, had me turn around. I don`t care what.
touchdown in that end zone.
MATTHEWS: You could have been Rudy.
American cornerback, comes up. He falls for my fake. He falls down.
end zone. But you`re right. I got hit really hard, dragged out of bounds.
It takes your wind away, but the adrenaline`s running.
MATTHEWS: Should kids 12 years old play?
BOOKER: And “Touchdown Tommy” Vardell, you remember him?
MATTHEWS: Should they go into football?
you make helmets safer to absorb more?
things is, to me, unconscionable.
That`s straight ahead. Stay tuned.
president might do with that additional executive power.
was murdered at the top of my block where I live.
are afraid of their houses of worship, they feel a sense of emergency.
MATTHEWS: So, you would consider it as a national emergency, declaring it?
sense gun safety laws to stop the carnage we`re seeing.
America is not a war zone.
BOOKER: We should not have this level of violence.
sort of what we`re looking at, we like?
MATTHEWS: The chancellor of Germany, yes.
MATTHEWS: Why does he go that?
Netanyahu? He likes all these tough guys.
BOOKER: You know, the way he talked about it, the North Korean dictator.
I mean, this is a guy that to me has weakened our nation abroad.
by the Russians and they are still coming at us.
America stronger, he`s making America weaker.
even admit that threat in this country.
MATTHEWS: I know, I know the whole history.
allies to do it and we`re going to need strong coalitions to do it.
restore American support for the Iranian nuclear deal?
thing that best protected Israel and Israel`s safety.
need a strong alliance in that region.
MATTHEWS: Senator Booker, thank you for your time.
BOOKER: Thank you very much.
MATTHEWS: We`ll be back again.
BOOKER: I hope so. Thank you.
Tommy`s Cafe at Davenport, Iowa, for hosting us today.
latest bizarre attack on Joe Biden. That`s ahead.
and fellow at Harvard`s Institute of Politics.
First of all, I want to start with Aisha.
What did you make of Senator Booker for that long interview?
civility back into our process, into our politics, into our campaigning.
He talked a lot about decency. He talked a lot about bipartisanship.
MATTHEWS: Did you believe him?
MOODIE-MILLS: You know, I believe him because I think that he is genuine.
didn`t know the party was in a ferocious mood. How could he not know that?
Aisha, you and I know it`s in a ferocious mood.
tough, and very angry at times.
kind of candidate they want.
there yet, but that`s what – it`s the kind of candidate they`re wanting.
MATTHEWS: I think it`s tonal. I think Aisha is right. It`s tonal.
We`ll see which side wins. There are two sides, I think. We`ll see.
weekend. Let`s watch him in action.
Of anybody who would run.
president. Get used to it, another low I.Q. individual.
renovation (ph) – if you look at some of it.
Our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Nambia.
God bless the United States.
occasionally certainly, but this president is unfamiliar.
furniture of our children. This is powerful stuff.
even knows how to put words together.
problematic. He`s governing in the same way that he`s making those gaffes.
thing. Don`t announce for president.
the way he is, it kind of shows he`s scared.
no foul, whatever, same thing.
Natasha Korecki, thank you. Aisha Moodie-Mills, thank you both.
considered indecent for anyone, much less a president to do such a thing.
Well, that no longer applies.
destiny. In other words, the onset of another civil war.
last Thursday`s interview with “Breitbart”.
are tougher, but they don`t play it tougher. OK?
would be very bad, very bad.
thousand died in battlefields where men faced each other and fired to kill.
would accept war rather than let it perish and the war came.
war so he can at least find a friendly bunker?