Rachel Maddow Taunts Trump for Lashing Out Over MSNBC Hit: ‘He Can’t Quit You!’

MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell taunted President Donald Trump for lashing out at something he saw on O’Donnell’s show, saying it proves Trump “can’t quit” the network he frequently attacks.

Trump savaged Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman as a “Trump Deranged BUM” in a social media post over criticism Krugman leveled in a two-segment interview with O’Donnell last week, and then in a Substack post on Sunday.

During the toss to Monday night’s edition of MSNBC’s The Last Word, the hosts took credit for the attack, and gloated that it’s proof Trump watches.

“Hello, Mr. President!” Maddow said, adding that Trump “has been kind of into you for a long time for, I think, different reasons than most of your fans are into you, but he kind of just can’t quit you”:

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: All right, that’s going to do it for me for now.

But now, it’s time for “THE LAST WORD” with the great Lawrence O’Donnell, who has been on an absolute tear recently, has he not?

Lawrence, you are must-see TV now more than you have ever been in your whole life, and you’ve been that for a long time.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: That is so kind, Rachel. Just — just doing my job here.

But, you know, I’m thinking about expanding out into maybe, maybe a game show. I know everyone’s doing a podcast. I’m going old school, thinking about a game show, and the game show would be whose insult is it?

And let’s try it here, okay? Because I think you’d be a great contestant.

So, the insult is — here’s the insult, okay? The insult is deranged bum. Now the question is whose insult is it? Who said it?

Was it Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman saying it about Donald Trump? Or was it Donald Trump saying it about Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman? And the insult, just repeat it, is deranged bum.

Okay, the clock is ticking. You have as long as you want.

MADDOW: Can I ask a qualifying question?

O’DONNELL: Yeah, you can. Yeah.

MADDOW: Are either of the words in this insult inexplicably capitalized?

O’DONNELL: Yeah. One of them is, yeah. Not — not to mention —

MADDOW: Donald Trump’s. Donald Trump.

O’DONNELL: That’s right.

(LAUGHTER)

O’DONNELL: So it turns out he apparently, according to “The Boston Globe” reporting, it’s because of what Professor Krugman said on this program last week that got Donald Trump really upset to that, that, you know, uncharacteristically crude of Donald Trump, really. You know, deranged bum.

So, Professor Krugman is coming back tomorrow night. So, we’ll see.

MADDOW: Very nice.

O’DONNELL: We’ll see what happens.

MADDOW: And, you know. Hello, Mr. President! You know, we know we’ve known for a long time that he watches. He’s been kind of into you for a long time for, I think, different reasons than most of your fans are into you, but he kind of just can’t quit you.

So, Mr. President, you know, welcome. I think the more you listen to Lawrence, the better. And so, I just encourage you, you know, like whether it’s hate watching or love watching, the country doesn’t really care. But the more Donald Trump watches you, I think the better off we’re going to be as a nation.

O’DONNELL: And, Rachel, that’s a — it’s a really lovely and subtle tribute to the 20th anniversary of “Brokeback Mountain” that you got in there, which I really like.

So, here’s what’s great about it. Okay? I think Professor Krugman was on Wednesday night talking about how deranged the Trump tariffs are, all this stuff. And it’s not until about four days later, five days later, that that Donald Trump gets around, maybe to seeing it because, you know, maybe he wasn’t watching live, but somehow, he gets a look at it and then we hear about it this way.

And unfortunately, he had nothing to say about me. He said much worse about me back when he first started attacking me in 2011, when I said he was a liar about President Obama’s birth certificate, he said just fantastic things about me on Twitter that I kept kind of egging him on, you know, to continue saying, because I thought, you know, how does that attention not help the show? And he — I think he figured out that it did help the show and he quieted down.

MADDOW: Well, I think the fact that you live like in his head, rent free, I can’t help but think. I mean, you’re in weird company in terms of the other people who he listens to, but the fact that you’re there, I can’t help but think is a good thing. And, you know, he watches so much TV. I don’t know how he feels about game shows, but if you decide to do the game show thing, I hereby volunteer to be your, you know, mannish lesbian Vanna White.

Like anything you need, like, gestured at or turned or anything. I will do that for you. I’m not sure that I’m exactly the type, but maybe it’ll work.

O’DONNELL: Even better than a contestant. Absolutely. Everybody, who’s insult is it? That’s the show. Who’s insult is it?

Rachel, we’re just going to wait for the phone to ring. I think we just did our pitch, and we’ll just wait for the phone to ring on this one.

MADDOW: I stand ready to assist. Thank you, Lawrence.

O’DONNELL: Thank you, Rachel. Thank you.

Watch above via MSNBC’s The Last Word.