All posts tagged "chris hayes"

MSNBC's Chris Hayes plays devastating supercut of Trump's 'pretty obvious mental decline'

An MSNBC host said former President Donald Trump's cognitive struggles are becoming more obvious by the day — and it's gotten to the point where he has trouble formulating a coherent policy statement anymore.

"If elected, he will be the oldest person to ever be sworn in as President of the United States," said Chris Hayes on Thursday's edition of "All In." "He's a man that's suffering from pretty obvious mental decline. But in contrast to the breathless coverage of Joe Biden's age and fitness ... we are not seeing nearly as much discussion about Trump's diminished mental acuity."

Reporters, noted Hayes, seem to be "grading Trump on a curve" because "he's always been rambling and incoherent."

But Hayes believes it's worse than it used to be. As evidence, Hayes displayed a supercut of several recent Trump word salads.

"The transgender thing is incredible. Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what's going to happen with your child," said Trump in one clip.

"The radical, you know, you can have an abortion in the ninth month and then states, you are allowed to kill the baby after the baby is born," he said in another.

"It kills our birds. If you want to see a bird cemetery, go under a windmill sometime," he said in yet another.

Hayes called the statements "obvious and transparent lies."

"I don't think any serious person believes any of that," he said. "The guy just said stuff ... I genuinely can't tell if he believes it or not. Is there a line anymore between deception and delusion?"

ALSO READ: Something broke Trump’s brain

But the real topper, he noted, was when Trump was asked today at an economic forum what specific legislation he'd support on child care reform, and he offered up this response.

"I was sitting down and somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio and my daughter Ivanka were so impactful on that issue, it's a very important issue," said Trump. "But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, that, because childcare is childcare, you know, it's something you have to have it in this country, you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers, compared to the kind of numbers that I'm talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they're not used to, but they'll get used to it very quickly. And it's not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they will have a very substantial tax where they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we're talking about, including childcare, that it's going to take care, I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time."

Trump proceeded to speak in the same vein for another minute, and concluded, "This is about America First. This is about Make America Great Again. We have to do it because right now we are a failing nation."

"MAGA, did you get all that?" said Hayes, fighting back laughter. "Remember, the question was, what specific piece of legislation will you advance to keep child care costs down?"

Watch the video below or at the link here.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

'Little weird': MSNBC host is curious as to why 'age concerns' have suddenly gone quiet

An MSNBC host mused Friday that it was strange how a key talking point from weeks ago has suddenly disappeared.

Age became a larger talking point in June, particularly among the GOP, after President Joe Biden’s disastrous presidential debate on June 27. Questions over the 81-year-old's age and ability to complete another four years in office grew louder and more pointed.

Chris Hayes noted Friday that after Biden's exit, one candidate is also at an advanced age.

"It is a *little* weird that 'age concerns' have disappeared as a constant focus of campaign reporting and discussion even though the GOP nominee would be the oldest man ever sworn in to the office and is very obviously sharply declining before our eyes," he wrote on the social media site X.

ALSO READ: The real reason corporate media won't cover Trump's attacks on democracy

MAGA supporters pushed back on Hayes' post, with some pointing out that he regularly holds lengthy campaign rallies, and some on the left jabbing they're more concerned about Trump's "cognitive concerns" than his age.

The array of responses led Hayes to follow up with his original post.

"lol relies to posts like this on https://x.com in the year of our lord 2024 are like a Hieronymus Bosch mural of all the different kinds of internet weirdos in existence," he said.

Vance knew he was endorsing book from creator of 'Pizzagate lie': conservative columnist

A conservative columnist laid into former President Donald Trump's running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), on MSNBC Wednesday for his decision to write a blurb for a book by a far-right extremist who helped generate the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory about D.C. politicians sex-trafficking children in the basement of a pizza shop with no basement.

There's no way that Vance didn't know who he was signing on for, columnist David French argued.

"I want to start with this, because I was thinking about the fact that you and I work in a world in which people ask to blurb books," said anchor Chris Hayes. "You've written books, I've written books. sometimes people will blurb books without reading them. I never do that, precisely so that I'm never in this position. But I do feel like if someone asked me to blurb a book whose title was 'Unhuman,' I'd be like, 'what's this one about?' I feel like that's not — I feel like that's not really something I want to endorse."

ALSO READ: 21 worthless knick-knacks Donald Trump will give you for your cash

"Yeah, and also you have to realize that J.D. Vance is a very online guy and he knows good and well who Jack Posobiec is," said French. "He knows good and well what Jack Posobiec stands for. So this is a bold choice to endorse a book by a guy who spread the Pizzagate lie that ultimately ended up in a violent incident at the pizza restaurant. That's a choice to make."

"That's right," concurred Hayes.

"Also let's not forget, for example, he has praised, in the past, Alex Jones," said French. "He dove into — he made a choice in 2020, 2021 and after, to dive really into the hard online right and it's coming back to bite him, as it should. And people are being exposed to, really, the bizarre elements of the online right, bizarre elements that J.D. Vance has participated in and promoted for some time now."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

'He is far too senile': MSNBC's Hayes unloads on Trump over 'desperate' Project 2025 move

Former President Donald Trump's has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, proclaiming on his Truth Social account that he has nothing to do with it and doesn't agree with large portions of it. But that just doesn't meet any level of credibility, MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes said.

This comes shortly after one of the key architects of Project 2025, Heritage Foundation chief Kevin Roberts, openly threatened violence if the left resists his "second American Revolution."

"Project 2025 is a MAGAworld manifesto and a vision of implementing a startlingly authoritarian form of the U.S. government," said Hayes. "It's 900 pages long, you could Google it right now and read it. It is chock-full of wildly unpopular policy proposals. You got everything from using a 19th-century obscenity law to shut down all medication abortion and also the mailing of all birth control, to outright outlawing pornography and throwing people in prison over it, to weaponizing the Department of Justice to be used explicitly as a kind of tool of vengeance for Donald Trump."

ALSO READ: How The Onion’s founding editor finds humor in the dismal age of Trump

Republicans have finally caught wind that Project 2025 is unpopular, noted Hayes — "which is why today, Donald Trump is desperate to try to separate himself from it all. Trump does not want people to know about the entire vanguard of extremist weirdos around him and what their plans are for when he governs. With the Project 2025 plans lying in plain sight they were panicking in a fraudulent way."

And for all of Trump's denials, Hayes continued, he is deeply connected to the people who helped create this blueprint.

"The group behind it all is the Heritage Foundation," said Hayes. "We all know Trump spoke to them while he was president, and Paul Dans, a senior aide in the Trump administration, is the director of Project 2025. Ken Cuccinelli, Trump's former acting deputy Homeland Security secretary who pushed anti-immigrant policies, wrote a chapter in the manifesto. John McEntee, a guy very close to him, around him all the time, he's a senior adviser, he's been doing vetting of a personnel database to see who they're going to staff the government with. If Trump has no idea who is behind it, he is far too senile to be allowed to continue his campaign. Either that or he's lying."

Watch the video below or click here.

Chris Hayes calls out Trump's lies on Project 2025www.youtube.com

'Trump tax': MSNBC host Chris Hayes shows how Trump winning would increase costs

How much would former President Donald Trump's proposed 10 percent tariff plan actually cost the average American household?

The wave of tariffs Trump enacted when he was last president caused chaos, but there are many complexities that muddy this somewhat. However, MSNBC's Chris Hayes took an educated and simple guess at just how badly the country would be hit in the pocketbook under Trump's second-term plans.

"We don't know exactly how much everything would cost," said Hayes, but "just add 10 percent on the back of the napkin. Here's the cost of living under the Trump Tax."

ALSO READ: ‘Don't have enough’: Wealthy Trump allies balk at helping Donald pay legal bills

"Start with groceries," he said. "A dozen eggs cost about $3. Once you apply the Trump Tax, that is up to $3.30, with the U.S. importing over 4 million eggs a year, but cost consumers over $1.2 million. If you like oranges, they currently go for about $1.53 per pound. With the Trump Tax, that would be $1.68 per pound, which would cost American consumers almost $71 million for the nearly half a billion pounds of the import. Bananas. We don't really grow them in the U.S., do we? They average about $.63 per pound and going up to $.69 per pound with the Trump Tax, thanks to the U.S. importing more than 10 million pounds per year, that could cost Americans at $609 million and that's a $609 million tax on American consumers. Then there's tomatoes. They go for about $2.13 per pound. Apply the 10 percent Trump Tax. They would be $2.34 per pound, potentially costing Americans $3.5 million thanks to the 6.8 million pounds we import per year. If you are spending $1,200 on groceries, add another $120 to the bill. That's more than the peak of inflation in 2022, which topped off at 9 percent. This is 10 percent."

Groceries are just the start, he continued.

"How about the refrigerator?" said Hayes. "You need to keep the groceries fresh. The average cost of a new fridge is about $1,300. With the Trump Tax, that could go up to $1,430, costing Americans $1.95 billion for the 15 million refrigerators that we import. Again, $1.95 billion of new taxes. What about the car that you need to drive to the grocery store? On average, a new car costs about $48,808 today. With Trump Tax, it costs $53,684, with Americans potentially taking a $66.3 billion hit across the board on the 13 million cars we import. That's not including the 50 percent tariff which would make it another $25,000. Even the smartphone in your pocket cost on average about $940 right now. With Trump Tax, it can go up to $1,034, with Americans potentially paying an extra $13.2 billion for the nearly 141 million smartphones that we import per year."

"Everyone hates when you have to pay more for things," he added. "Inflation is one of the biggest liabilities for a sitting president. Yet here is Donald Trump, in the Year of our Lord 2024, running against President Biden, promising to make things more expensive for every American."

Watch the video below or click here.

Chris Hayes breaks down "Trump Tax"www.youtube.com

Trump is selling himself as an outsider despite swampy record: MSNBC host Chris Hayes

It's "do-or-die" for Nikki Haley in South Carolina — but for MSNBC's Chris Hayes the GOP nomination race is Trump's to lose either by a legal loss or a hit to his health.

In an op-ed titled "How a key failing in Republican politics turned Trump into the de-facto nominee," Hayes says he believes South Carolina, despite being Haley's home state where she served as governor, will prove to be a "very uphill battle" for her.

" Trump has looked like the de facto nominee for so long that political junkies and neophytes alike might be forgiven for viewing the aspirations of replacing him as the leader of the Republican Party as delusional," he wrote.

ALSO READ: Uncivil war: How Speaker Mike Johnson’s dream of bipartisan decency died in his hands

What's most stunning to Hayes, is the notion that the 45th president is so eager to return to become the 47th that he sells himself as an anti-establishment American patriot.

But Hayes points out that Trump's most significant legislative cowbells were failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare") and delivering to the wealthiest substantial tax cuts.

"Both of those were right out of the Paul Ryan playbook," he writes.

The record also suggests how Trump couldn't end the “endless wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan while Biden did, and he also ordered the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

All to say that these add up to a more mainstream agenda than the maverick agenda he preaches.

"...Trumpism as a governing agenda was a whole lot closer to establishment orthodoxy than the campaign version of Trumpism that gave him such a competitive advantage in the primary," writes Hayes.

The incoming Trump took in both Iowa and New Hampshire contests failed to even dent Trump's GOP nomination bid.

"But fundamentally, the reason Trump won is that you can’t beat something with nothing, and the non-Trump wing of the Republican Party still hasn’t come up with something to offer," according to Hayes.

He points to the lead that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held and soon evaporated because the indictments enabled a "kind of martyrdom," and in large part the governor's "utter lack of charisma and cringey, ham-fisted campaign."

Haley is still pulling punches with soft attacks on "trump for running up the deficits." She apparently stepped in it when she discussed raising the Social Security age, a sensitive keepsake that Trump was able to "absolutely bludgeon her" with in New Hampshire.

An anti-Haley ad declared: "Americans were promised a secure retirement. Nikki Haley’s plan ends that."

Chris Hayes slams McConnell for silence on Trump criminal trial he once said was needed

Following former President Donald Trump's indictment and arraignment in the federal January 6 investigation, MSNBC's Chris Hayes slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for avoiding the subject — after just two years ago proclaiming on the floor of the Senate that this was the correct way to hold the former president accountable for the attack on the Capitol.

"After January 6, Donald Trump was impeached by the House for the second time, the first president ever," said Hayes. "He could have been convicted in the Senate, and pursuant to the conviction, barred from holding future office." Several Republicans actually voted to do just that, Hayes noted — but McConnell "just washed his hands of the whole thing, shrugged, told the country, not my job to hold Donald Trump accountable, but maybe someone else will do it?"

"Our system of government gave a specific task," said McConnell in the clip Hayes played from the proceedings at the time. "The Constitution gives us a particular role. This body is not invited to act as the nation's overarching moral tribunal. President Trump is still liable for everything he did while in office as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations is run, still liable for everything he did while in office. He did not get away with anything yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation, and former presidents are not immune from being accountable to either one."

"Bravely standing on the Senate floor to dump the problem of a sociopathic, maniacal hater of democracy on someone else," said Hayes. "He should really do something about this guy. And thereby allowing the ex-president to escape accountability ... Mitch McConnell voted to acquit Donald Trump."

"So, now that someone else has actually done the thing that Mitch McConnell said they should do, hold him liable for his alleged crimes under a system of justice, gosh, we have not heard a lot from Mitch!" said Hayes. "He seemed silent on the matter. To be clear, we are where we are, with both accountability of Donald Trump and the fate of the American constitutional republic — I am not overstating things — hanging in the balance, a toss-up, because Mitch McConnell ... just refused to do the obvious, simple, straightforward thing."

"They could have just convicted him," added Hayes. "We would not be here, but they refused to convict him, for inciting a violent insurrection act, threatened a bunch of police officers, the life of the Vice President, an insurrection that went on for hours, violently in front of us, where over 1,000 people have been charged, that we all watched happen, the one that he incited, that we knew he incited, that they could have convicted him that, could have barred him from future office, but they did not. So now we have them to thank."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Chris Hayes on Mitch McConnell's silence about Trump trialwww.youtube.com

'Greatest political crime since secession': Chris Hayes says Trump charge is what the law is for

Former President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election is more odious than any political crime since the Civil War era, argued MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Tuesday.

This came after special counsel Jack Smith issued a four-count indictment against the former president — the third indictment brought against him, second at the federal level, and the first concerning conduct that took place while he was in office.

"I know there's been a lot of reaction already, we've had reaction from a lawyer, the president and everything," said fellow anchor Rachel Maddow. "Overall, how are you feeling about your expectations for this, for what it has turned out to be?"

"My first reaction, which is just a personal one ... if this wasn't a crime, nothing is a crime," said Hayes. "We watched him do it on television ... we knew what he was doing." Moreover, he said, it feels "gratifying" to see the charges come down. "Yes, yes, of course this was corrupt. Of course this was fraud, of course there was a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. We all saw him."

"The second thought I had is about the magnitude of this moment, which I think is just worth taking a second on," Hayes continued. "With Donald Trump, lots of things are unprecedented. The first time he was indicted was unprecedented, and the second time was indicted was unprecedented, because of the federal indictment had never come down. This is in the canon of American events, January 6 and its aftermath. The reason is that for 159 years after the cannon fire at Fort Sumter, there is an unbroken chain of transfer of power. Not only that, the core story of the American experiment is its fight within itself to be true to the radical promise of democracy. That is why Lincoln says at the battlefield at Gettysburg that the question before the nation is whether a nation of, by, and for the people can long endure. It's a test whether the thing can last."

"That is in a category of itself in American history, the Civil War and the death and misery," added Hayes. "This is the greatest political crime since secession. And the gravest test, that Lincoln called on the battlefield in Gettysburg of whether a nation of, by, and for the people, that we are our own masters, whether that can long endure. So I feel profoundly gratified by reading this document because it calls into question in a way that has not quite been called yet."

Hayes concluded, "If the law is not for this, what is it for?"

Watch the video below or at the link.

Chris Hayes says January 6 is "greatest political crime since secession"www.youtube.com

All posts tagged "chris hayes"

MSNBC's Chris Hayes plays devastating supercut of Trump's 'pretty obvious mental decline'

'Little weird': MSNBC host is curious as to why 'age concerns' have suddenly gone quiet

Vance knew he was endorsing book from creator of 'Pizzagate lie': conservative columnist

'He is far too senile': MSNBC's Hayes unloads on Trump over 'desperate' Project 2025 move

'Trump tax': MSNBC host Chris Hayes shows how Trump winning would increase costs

Trump is selling himself as an outsider despite swampy record: MSNBC host Chris Hayes

Chris Hayes slams McConnell for silence on Trump criminal trial he once said was needed

'Greatest political crime since secession': Chris Hayes says Trump charge is what the law is for

Hayes explains 'Obamacare for Dummies' at 'Fox and Friends'

Chris Hayes declares Francis to be 'the best pope ever'