I have been really curious why Steve Kornacki has hosted “Hardball” for the past two weeks, right in the midst of epic news regarding Trump, the Russia investigation, Cohen’s testimony, Trump’s summit with Kim. Now the Daily News is reporting that Brian Williams could get the Hardball slot on MSNBC
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I mean I have been wondering for a long time how Matthews has kept his job. He’s always been an obnoxious narcissicist who won’t let anyone else speak, who asks a question and then cuts off the person he asked it to before they can get a word out. But something has been going on with him over the last year that suggests he is losing it. He slurs his words and stumbles over them, gets words wrong and constantly interjects with embarrassingly simplistic questions that often stun his guests. He will get fixated on some pet image of a situation and continually bring it up and ask all his guests if they see it the same way. While his guests have clearly been trained not to object when he cuts them off rudely, they seem more and more embarrassed by him. These days, a typical Chris Matthews segment goes something like this:
Tweety: Joyce Vance, let me turn to you. Is Trump in a box here with Mueller?
Joyce Vance: So here’s the paradox of the special prosecutor statute -— there is wide latitude within the . . .
Tweety (interrupting): Is this guy a thug? This guy Trump. Is he a thug? I mean is he one of these guys that you see at the clam house with the big rings and the big cigar who calls on his boys and tells them to put you in cement shoes? Is he a thug? Trump?
Joyce Vance: Well he’s certainly not showing knowledge of the law or. . .
Tweety (interrputing) : I mean, you know those guys, right? In the movies? You know, like Brando. They sit there drinking their espresso or having their little drink there at their regular table and everybody has to come up and kiss their ring. Is that Trump? This guy Trump. I mean is that what Trump’s doing?
Joyce Vance: Well I. . .
Tweety (interrupting): OK, and we know what happened when Bobby Kennedy went gunning for those guys. As I detail in my new book.. Next, “Let Me Finish.”
And the whole paleo-liberal he-man routine is obviously not resonating, obsessing about white, working-class men and relating absolutely everything to Bobby Kennedy and the politics of the 60s and 70s. It’s so out of place next to the sharp, hip, contemporary, news-breaking Ari Melber.
Williams does a fine job with the late night slot. He has his own thing going on that is anti-Matthews. He is steady, calm, measured, dignified, but not without a pleasing layer of sardonic humor when it comes to the depredations and outrages of Trump and company. He is respectful to guests and listens to them and lets them speak. He would not be my first choice to replace Matthews (that would be Joy Reid), but he would be a major upgrade.
I’m also intrigued by the quote in the article suggesting that MSNBC is also unhappy with Chuck Todd’s smug and superficial “MTP Daily” wherein he tries to be both a very serious beltway insider and a hack political satirist with a distinctly Republican-style lame sense of humor.
What I’d like to see is Williams getting Todd’s slot and then Joy Reid for Matthews. That would bring a very strong lineup from Nicole Wallace to the end of the day.
Now that I think about it, Al Sharpton would be perfect in the 11:00 slot -— he has the vibe of a real old-time political hand. I hear a lot of Jimmy Breslin in him — he’s seen it all, but still cares. He’s really the perfect guy to chew over the day and put all the news to bed.
Update: Hardball Twitter feed confirms that Matthews returns Monday.
Update II: Chris Matthews “retires” on air, at the beginning of his show on 3/2/20