Chris Matthews slammed Republicans as “almost brain dead,” claiming they have an “inability” to stand up to President Donald Trump on tariffs.
On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, Matthews marveled at how few Republicans are defying Trump on his current trade war despite the party’s traditional stance of supporting free trade.
Matthews argued:
This whole thing with Trump right now — and I take the view that he’s going for real here — you know, when he said last night in a black tie that he won the election in 2020, he’s still lying about that. When he went out there and sold Trump University and the Trump Shuttle — remember, you could go to Washington, to New York, and back again on the Trump Shuttle? — All those things were disasters, the casinos in New Jersey, disaster in Atlantic City. All those times, Trump said, I really believe this, this is really true when he was lying. He was wrong.
The longtime MSNBC host added that he thinks the president “really believes” in tariffs and could somehow want them to replace the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Republicans, according to Matthews, are “almost brain dead” in their inability to stand up to Trump on a number of fronts — and particularly tariffs.
“I think this time in the Republicans, what’s different is this time the Republican Party is still almost brain dead in its inability to say,
Some Republican lawmakers have defied the president on tariffs, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). The libertarian-leaning senator called Trump’s tariff policy “backwards” and “based on a fallacy.” He also claimed a number of Republican lawmakers have begun quietly expressing frustrations amid market troubles, but most are afraid to speak out publicly.
“It’s a quiet whisper, and people come up to me in the hall — you know how in Atlas Shrugged, they would come up and say, ‘who is John Galt?’, they whisper in my ear, ‘free trade is good, keep going, keep going,” Paul said. “But they don’t want to say it because of the politics of it.”
Trump meanwhile lashed out at “rebel” Republicans standing against his tariffs this week, arguing these protesting lawmakers think they can “negotiate” better deals.
“Then I’ll see some rebel Republican, you know, some guy that wants to grandstand say, ‘I think that Congress should take over negotiations.’ Let me tell you, you don’t negotiate like I negotiate,” he said.
Watch above via MSNBC.