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By Curtis Houck
Fighting a brave battle against CNN’s emotionally hysterical, overwhelmed, and triggered liberals after Tuesday’s Trump rally, CNN political commentator and former RNC official Mike Shields thoroughly lambasted his colleagues losing their minds for spending time “chiming in that we just think the President is insane” and deeming him mentally ill.
Shields faced harsh push back, including some fake news pushed by CNN Tonight host Don Lemon that no one on the air questioned whether President Trump himself was unstable but just his speech and behavior. Good luck trying to wrap your head around that one.
At roughly 12:40 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Shields calmly began by stating that “a piece of advice I would give everybody” in the media “is the President's spent a tremendous amount of time tonight criticizing the media” and there’s a reason for that.
“It’s right to hold him accountable, it’s right to fact check him but immediately after that when the conversation shifts into he's insane and he's unfit for office and he's lost his mind and we're doing psychoanalysis on television of the President, you're doing the work of — you’re doing his work for him. This is almost what he wants to see happen is that he criticizes the media and the media themselves are unhinged and start calling the President insane. I think that's a huge mistake,” Shields astutely explained.
Shields also called out CNN for not labeling the protesters clashing with police as “left-wing” and reemphasized that they’re making the President’s argument that the media are against him when they deem him “insane.”
Lemon seemed totally discombobulated, so Shields kept moving. Here’s a snippet:
And we can argue whether or not that's appropriate for him to do or not, but that’s a good conversation and veering off into he's insane sort of ends our credibility to criticize him because people now think just we're the ones that are sort losing it over his speech and that’s probably what he and his supporters want us to do.
Never Trump leader Rick Wilson re-upped the discussion from earlier (which my colleague Nick Fondacaro chronicled) that it’s fair to argue Trump is mentally ill and diagnose him as such, but Shields eventually hit back.
Taking note of how Congress should somehow do something to stop the President (read: remove him from office), Shields dropped more truth bombs:
Look, I mean, the other part of this, so where this is sort of leading is and I heard you guys saying this is that, you know, the Congress has to do thing about this. The American people elected the President, okay?. The media didn't elect him. Commentators didn't elect him. The Congress didn't elect him either and so before the Congress is going to do something like this, this is why we're jumping so ahead in this conversation because you’re so upset about the speech that he gave that I just think it does a disservice to say, you know. Once, again, let’s start talking impeachment. That's like the protesters outside the arena as opposed to a conversation about should we fact check the President and is he handling the Charlottesville thing properly. How should we handle that topic with dignity if we don't think he handled it with dignity or as Paul Ryan talked about.
“My point is that the media does exist to hold elected officials accountable and has to have credibility with the public when they do that and when we go – we lose our own credibility, I'm saying we because I'm on CNN. We lose our credibility when we go far as to immediately say, you know what? Let's have a ten-minute conversation with multiple people all chiming in that we just think the President is insane. I mean, you do realize how that’s being heard by millions of people,” Shields added with that devastating rhetorical question.
Despite the earlier segment and Wilson’s own words minutes earlier, Lemon offered this Pants-on-Fire claim:
I think — hang on. Hang on. I will let you get in. I think by saying that something is insanity is not necessarily say that the — what is happening right now is insanity, not saying specifically that the President is insane. I think people are questioning — are questioning his fitness for office and for me to say, for people to say oh, my gosh, this is insane doesn't mean the person is insane. It just means the situation we're in is insane or not the norm....if you cannot assess someone's behavior and figure out whether they're okay or fit for something, then who are we? What have we become where we have to have this fake objectivity and pretend that thing is not happening.
Lemon showed in the seconds after the Trump rally ended just how unglued he would be tonight, so it came up again when he mocked Shields’s arguments as a big, giant strawman:
When I hear someone yelling on the streets, Mike, for no reason, screaming, howling at the moon and sky, am I supposed to say I'm going to say, well, I’m going to lose my credibility because I don't assess that person as someone who has something wrong with them or who needs help. We can't sit here and pretend that that is not happening. That what happened on this stage tonight in Phoenix, Arizona, is normal, is rational, is worthy of the highest office in the land, is worthy of someone who has the nuclear codes for someone to sit there and have these — and present these fake enemies we're not the enemy of the state or of the people or the President of the United States.
“This man has a nuclear codes and can blast us to smithereens at any moment if he wants to. So says the former Director of National Intelligence who just appeared on CNN who said now he is worried and scared about this person,” a fearful Lemon concluded.
Shields responded [emphasis mine]:
Yeah, look, I just think there's a difference between what you just said. First of all, I'm not asking for fake objectivity. I'm asking for a little bit of sort of credibility how we're talking about these things. Secondly, whether or not he's worthy to hold office and whether or not he's fit and insane to hold office, worthy to hold office is a partisan thing that lots of Democrats never thought he was and never will accept he is. He's not fit for office takes us — veers us into a place where it allows people that want to criticize media, when you want to push back on them and say, you know, the President shouldn't criticize us and that's crazy for him to do that, for them – when we say, you know what? He's actually insane, you're doing the work of the President and the people that want to criticize the media. That’s my point. I think we can have a conversation about this.
The late-night craziness Shields bought back against were thanks to CNN advertisers Claritin, FractureMe.com, Midas, and Whole Food Markets.
Here’s the relevant transcript from August 23's CNN Tonight with Don Lemon:
CNN Tonight with Don Lemon
August 23, 2017
12:40 a.m. Eastern
 MIKE SHIELDS: Don, you know, we have these conversations on your show about media coverage. I think a piece of advice I would give everybody is the President's spent a tremendous amount of time tonight criticizing the media. And it's right to push back on that, it’s right to hold him accountable, it’s right to fact check him but immediately after that when the conversation shifts into he's insane and he's unfit for office and he's lost his mind and we're doing psychoanalysis on television of the President, you're doing the work of — you’re doing his work for him. This is almost what he wants to see happen is that he criticizes the media and the media themselves are unhinged and start calling the President insane. I think that's a huge mistake. I think it's a mistake not to call the protesters left-wing protesters that are in Arizona right now fighting the police, I think that's a mistake, as well. I think, if you could do those things, not call the President insane and just fact check him and call the protesters out for who you are, you gain the credibility ground that you need to push back on the president when he gives a speech like this. You're almost doing his work for him when we start calling him insane. So, that’s, you know, the first comment I have to make about that.
LEMON: You thought his speech was sane? You thought it was a rational speech?
SHIELDS: I thought it sounded exactly like a speech he gave in the campaign and no one was calling him, let's have a whole panel discussion about how he insane is he during the campaign and so, you can disagree with what the President’s saying —
LEMON: Should we have been?
SHEILDS: — look, I think that it is correct to criticize the President's handling of how he's communicated to the American people about race and about the Charlottesville incident. That's a legitimate conversation. We should have that and we have been having that. I think that it's good he's talking about it. He should keep talking about. I understand the criticism tonight of how he talked about it, although I don think he was trying to point out there are parts of what he said that weren't covered. And we can argue whether or not that's appropriate for him to do or not, but that’s a good conversation and veering off into he's insane sort of ends our credibility to criticize him because people now think just we're the ones that are sort losing it over his speech and that’s probably what he and his supporters want us to do.
(....)
SHIELDS: Look, I mean, the other part of this, so where this is sort of leading is and I heard you guys saying this is that, you know, the Congress has to do thing about this. The American people elected the President, okay?. The media didn't elect him. Commentators didn't elect him. The Congress didn't elect him either and so before the Congress is going to do something like this, this is why we're jumping so ahead in this conversation because you’re so upset about the speech that he gave that I just think it does a disservice to say, you know. Once, again, let’s start talking impeachment. That's like the protesters outside the arena as opposed to a conversation about should we fact check the President and is he handling the Charlottesville thing properly. How should we handle that topic with dignity if we don't think he handled it with dignity or as Paul Ryan talked about.
LEMON: So Mike, are you saying there's never any nothing is out of bound with the President? You know, there was — Richard Nixon was driven from office. He resigned. So the president is always right, is always sane, is always accurate and can do no wrong? Is – that’s what it sounds —
 SHIELDS: That's not what I'm saying at all, don and that's actually my point. My point is that the media does exist to hold elected officials accountable and has to have credibility with the public when they do that and when we go – we lose our own credibility, I'm saying we because I'm on CNN. We lose our credibility when we go far as to immediately say, you know what? Let's have a ten-minute conversation with multiple people all chiming in that we just think the President is insane.
LEMON: I think that —
SHIELDS: I mean, you do realize how that’s being heard by millions of people? They’re going, you know what? The media’s just blasting the President —
LEMON: I think — hang on. Hang on. I will let you get in. I think by saying that something is insanity is not necessarily say that the — what is happening right now is insanity, not saying specifically that the president is insane. I think people are questioning —
SHIELDS: People were saying he is insane.
LEMON: — are questioning his fitness for office and for me to say, for people to say oh, my gosh, this is insane doesn't mean the person is insane. It just means the situation we're in is insane or not the norm. But to question — the former Director of National Intelligence also his members of his own party are questioning his fitness for office. And we are talking about that, and if you cannot assess someone's behavior and figure out whether they're okay or fit for something, then who are we? What have we become where we have to have this fake objectivity and pretend that thing is not happening. When I hear someone yelling on the streets, Mike, for no reason, screaming, howling at the moon and sky, am I supposed to say I'm going to say, well, I’m going to lose my credibility because I don't assess that person as someone who has something wrong with them or who needs help. We can't sit here and pretend that that is not happening. That what happened on this stage tonight in Phoenix, Arizona, is normal, is rational, is worthy of the highest office in the land, is worthy of someone who has the nuclear codes for someone to sit there and have these — and present these fake enemies we're not the enemy of the state or of the people or the President of the United States. This man has a nuclear codes and can blast us to smithereens at any moment if he wants to. So says the former Director of National Intelligence who just appeared on CNN who said now he is worried and scared about this person.
SHIELDS: Yeah, look, I just think there's a difference between what you just said. First of all, I'm not asking for fake objectivity. I'm asking for a little bit of sort of credibility how we're talking about these things. Secondly, whether or not he's worthy to hold office and whether or not he's fit and insane to hold office, worthy to hold office is a partisan thing that lots of Democrats never thought he was and never will accept he is. He's not fit for office takes us — veers us into a place where it allows people that want to criticize media, when you want to push back on them and say, you know, the President shouldn't criticize us and that's crazy for him to do that, for them – when we say, you know what? He's actually insane, you're doing the work of the President and the people that want to criticize the media. That’s my point. I think we can have a conversation about this.
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By Nicholas Fondacaro
 Immediately following President Donald Trump’s fiery campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday, CNN completely dropped their thin façade of an objective news organization. In the wake of the address, there were many cries on CNN Tonight accusing the President of being truly out of his mind and unfit to hold the office of the president. Host Don Lemon declared that Trump was “ clearly trying to ignite a civil war in this country.” But he wasn’t the only one who was off the wall.
Republican Political Consultant Rick Wilson described Trump’s speech as “Castro-esque speech in length.” And he asserted that “it was an astounding chain of lies tied together by lunatic asides by a man who obviously is mentally unstable.”
“I mean, I'm not joking out it or being a smart ass this is a man who is not well,” he yelled. “This is a man who is not qualified or mentally or morally fit to be the president of the United States and tonight was one more proof of it.” He also smeared Trump as being the cross between a “6-year-old” and “cranky old man.”
After coming back from covering of the radical leftist violence outside of the event, Lemon read a tweet from the unhinged CNN Commentator Ana Navarro. “’The only possible defensible explanation for Trump's disgusting, unpresidential, narcissistic behavior would be early onset dementia. Maybe,’” Lemon read. “She’s not the only one been saying-- some people have been saying that for months.”
The next wave of what could arguably be considered slander was up to Democratic Strategist Maria Cardona. “This is something that frankly the majority of Americans who did not vote for this man understood how unfit he was to be the occupant of the oval office,” she chided Trump’s voters.
Cardona suggested that the speech would open the public’s eyes to just how unfit Trump’s was to hold the office. They might finally realize “that he might be psychotically demented and ill of the mind,” she spat as she grilled Republican lawmakers to take a stand against the President.
“Tonight, Don, America's enemies are laughing and America, the country, is weeping and we need do something about it,” she lamented.
Just past the top of the 1:00 AM hour, conservative Ben Ferguson was taking CNN behind the woodshed for their disgusting over the top reaction and their claims that the President was crazy. Don Lemon actually had the nerve to falsely claim “no one” was calling Trump crazy. And that’s after Lemon hammered Trump for allegedly “lying” and trying to rewrite history during his speech.
Clearly, CNN is done pretending to be an objective source of news.
Transcript below:
CNN Tonight
August 22, 2017
11:35:47 PM Eastern
RICK WILSON: Don, listen, this was a Castro-esque speech in length. It was an astounding chain of lies tied together by lunatic asides by a man who obviously is mentally unstable. I mean, I'm not joking out it or being a smart ass this is a man who is not well. This is a man who is not qualified or mentally or morally fit to be the president of the United States and tonight was one more proof of it.
This is a guy who went back and tried to revise history and tried to allied the fact that he essentially -- he just happened to forget the many sides part of this. He happened to forgot the actual impact of the speeches he gave wasn’t to reprimand or to chaise the alt-right, Nazis, the anti-Semites, the Klan, but in fact to let them all nudge each and to elbow each other go: “Hey, he's still dog whistling. It's cool, guys. Keep up the fight.”
This is a guy who went out there tonight and behaved in away-- he alternated between being a whiney 6-year-old who's had his Nintendo taken away and between being the cranky old man whose out there condemning everyone who doesn’t worship him adequately.
 It was an astounding moment in our history. And I know the 25th Amendment is a remote possibility, but if people around him don't think that this guy is bat crap crazy, they're mistaken.
(…)
11:47:40 PM Eastern
DON LEMON: He is clearly trying to ignite a civil war in this country. He has not tamped down race. And I’m just going to say: If he was on my team in this newsroom and said those things, he would be escorted out of the building by security. And my colleague Ana Navarro (…) and she said the only possible—and this is on Twitter. “The only possible defensible explanation for Trump's disgusting, unpresidential, narcissistic behavior would be early on-set dementia. Maybe.” She’s not the only one been saying-- some people have been saying that for months. He is -- has he shown that he's fit for office?
MARIA CARDONA: Nooo! Absolutely not, Don. But to Bakari’s point, this is something that frankly the majority of Americans who did not vote for this man understood how unfit he was to be the occupant of the oval office. Tonight, I think, was historic on a couple levels.
The first one is: Yes, I do believe after tonight a lot of people are going to be thinking that he's not just completely unfit, that he's just completely ill equipped to hold this office, but that he might be psychotically demented and ill of the mind in order to take this office, and in order to continue on with this office.
In fact, Congresswoman Jacky Spear was on CNN during the 7 o’clock hour talking about the 25th amendment and whether it's time to invoke that. Now my question after tonight's speech is where are Republicans on this? Are they proud of their President tonight? Are they proud this is the leader of the Republican Party? (…) Tonight, Don, America's enemies are laughing and America, the country, is weeping and we need do something about it.
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By Nicholas Fondacaro
 Throughout President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday, MSNBC’s The Last Word would break away from the live video in order to do on-the-fly commentary, which often included attacking the President on what he was saying. Towards the end of the of the 10 o’clock hour, host Lawrence O’Donnell left the Trump rally behind to really give his stacked liberal panel a good go at Trump and his supporters.
O’Donnell began by going to Jennifer Rubin to hype possible GOP primary opponents Trump could possibly face. “Oh yeah, I think if he lasts that long, I think there is some question whether he is going to wear out his welcome before then or that he is going to have a complete break with reality,” Rubin sneered.
She described the President as a “basket case” and then proceeded to chastise Republican politicians for not fighting against him. “My regret is they've all been so cowardly for so long and did nothing to stop him and it took this long to whisper on background that he was unfit,” she exclaimed.
Journalist David Cay Johnston was more worried about the menacing Trump supporters present at the rally. According to him, they were all amped up were going into the streets with their guns. “And tonight in this audience look at how he has stirred this crowd up. What's doing happening when those people go back out into the streets,” he fretted. “…because the unsettling nature of that and the places like open carry states like Arizona is going to have an intimidating effect on people.”
The MSNBC host dove into deep conspiracy theory territory, claiming Trump was using the event to raise money for an anterior motive. “The Trump 2020 campaign is raising money I can use for another purpose and that is paying the criminal defense lawyers who are representing Donald Trump in the various investigations,” O’Donnell asserted with absolutely no evidence, just conjecture.
Joe Biden’s former Chief of Staff Ron Klain agreed with O’Donnell. But he went further and claimed Trump was taking his supporters for suckers:
I mean, I think he is trying to get people to use these -- this colorful crazy wild language that stirs up his base to get people to write checks that are going to be used to pay for Donald Jr.'s criminal defense. And that's what this is. It's no different than the Trump University scam except there will be more and more victims all over the country sucked into this.
Ironically, during his speech, Trump joked that he could see the media turning off the live feeds to his speech. It seems that he was correct in the case of MSNBC.
Transcript below:
MSNBC
The Last Word
August 22, 2017
10:55:19 PM Eastern
(…)
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Okay this is a familiar portion of a Trump speech. He is obviously working from a teleprompter and then leaving it whenever he wants to expand on points. And -- and Jennifer Rubin, I want to come back to this question of possible Republican challengers to this President in the next presidential primary.
JENNIFER RUBIN: Oh yeah, I think if he lasts that long, I think there is some question whether he is going to wear out his welcome before then or that he is going to have a complete break with reality. I absolutely think there is going to be at least one challenger. Listen, if Jimmy Carter had a challenger and if Gerald Ford had a challenger this guy is certainly going to have a challenger. And that may come within the party. If that's doesn't work, there may be a third party candidate.
I think what you're seeing now clearly with the story that surfaced on The New York Times about Mitch McConnell and his knock out drag out with the President, is that members publicly, privately are acknowledging that guy is a basket case, that he cannot serve, he cannot lead the party. My regret is they've all been so cowardly for so long and did nothing to stop him and it took this long to whisper on background that he was unfit. Where were the folks seven months ago, ten months ago, two years ago? But be that as it may.
To your question: I absolutely think there will be challengers.
(…)
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: And tonight in this audience look at how he has stirred this crowd up. What's doing happening when those people go back out into the streets? This is -- we're going to see a pattern I suspect of more of this by Donald of stirring crowds up who are his supporters because the unsettling nature of that and the places like open carry states like Arizona is going to have an intimidating effect on people.
(…)
O’DONNELL: And Ron Klain, this is a campaign event. This is paid for by the Trump 2020 campaign. The Trump 2020 campaign is raising money I can use for another purpose and that is paying the criminal defense lawyers who are representing Donald Trump in the various investigations. And it may be that running this campaign fund and raising this money as he is doing now is actually more important to him today as a defense fund than it is for paying for renting halls like this.
RON KLAIN: This is the Trump University of political campaigns. I mean, I think he is trying to get people to use these -- this colorful crazy wild language that stirs up his base to get people to write checks that are going to be used to pay for Donald Jr.'s criminal defense. And that's what this is. It's no different than the Trump University scam except there will be more and more victims all over the country sucked into this.
(…)
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By Brad Wilmouth
On Tuesday's All In, recurring MSNBC guest and Slate columnist Michelle Goldberg asserted that President Donald Trump is going to Phoenix "in the hopes of starting a riot" as she declared that his motivations for holding the rally were "sick." Host Chris Hayes then likened President Trump to a "Molotov cocktail" visiting the city.
Referring to the President's suggestion that he would pardon former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- known for taking tough law and order stances -- Hayes at 8:13 p.m. ETobserved that there is a powerful voting block within the GOP who supports such figures. Goldberg began her response:
And those people were not disenchanted with Donald Trump's response to Charlottesville -- far from it. I mean, to me, one of the truly sick things about this rally, I mean, and I think it's one of the more morally shocking things that Trump has done -- which is saying something -- is he's basically going there in the hopes of starting a riot, right? He's basically going there in the hopes of sowing civil unrest because he spoke exactly a week ago he got himself in trouble by talking about, "Well, what about the violent left? What about the violent left?"
She then continued:
Immediately upon the backlash to those comments, he goes to a place where he can be absolutely sure that there will be an angry confrontation where there's been angry confrontations at his rallies in the past. He doesn't usually hold rallies in the downtowns of major cities. He holds them out in the exurbs or, you know, places where he can kind of stay away from protesters. He drops these hints about pardoning this incredibly inflammatory criminal figure who, if he pardons him, it's not just kind of a slap in the face to immigrants in Arizona. it's a sign that Trump endorses and will reward lawlessness among police officers.
The Slate columnist further griped:
It's just -- it's so incendiary, and I think that what he wants is to basically see his comments about the quote, unquote "violent left" instantiated. So, I mean, to me, that I think is the goal of this rally is Donald Trump being able to say, "I told you so," and rallying the people who love his kind of hardass law and order surrounds around him even tighter.
Hayes then made his "Molotov cocktail" comparison as he responded:
We should say that I've seen so far reports are that things are peaceful, law enforcement is doing a job of keeping folks separated. There's real concern in downtown Phoenix. I mean, it's a crazy thing that the President coming presents this problem not from the general security concern of the President, right, you got Secret Service security cordoning, but from this idea that like the President coming is a kind of Molotov cocktail thrown into your town.
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By Curtis Houck
MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews left viewers on Tuesday night with a rather disturbing image of Matthews grunting and stretching while giving his best Incredible Hulk impression ahead of a Phoenix Trump rally that he insinuated could turn violent.
The Atlantic’s Rosie Gray was noting the difference between Trump with a Teleprompter versus without when Matthews interjected that the latter is “[w]hen his Incredible Hulk thing grows in him.”
“And he goes like “rarrrr,” you know? And he starts doing that thing he does. How’s he going to play it? Well, we’re going to find out. It is actually going to happen tonight,” Matthews added as he raised his arms and let out a loud growl.
Previewing the 10:00 p.m. Eastern Trump rally in Arizona, Matthews and his media comrades must be licking their chops at the possibility of painting Trump as inciting violence:
I’m looking at the crowd down there. We'll talk about it later in the show. But there's a crowd building down there and it’s not too pro-Trump. I’m thinking there could be trouble there tonight. It looks like there’s some people that are there that really don't like him are ready to show up and make their selves heard tonight.
Moments before that, Matthews wondered to Gray if Trump would be lobbing out “red meat” to his base at the rally despite the fact that his Monday night speech hoping for unity was emblematic of a “Mother Theresa performance” or one by Oprah Winfrey.
Matthews later reemphasized his soft prediction by wondering aloud to the Arizona Republic’s Dan Nowicki:
You know, I remember during campaign and, Dan, you probably remember — remember when he went to Chicago, to an urban area, a minority area and he almost — it seemed to me what he was doing was trying to stick a fight. Get a fight going, get protesters out there going fist-to-fist against his troops, his people and it helped him politically. That's what he was up to. Do you think he picked Phoenix because he influence would be opposition in the streets?
Nowicki seemed to push back besides arguing that a precarious situation could have broken out if the White House had gone through with the alleged rumors that Trump was mulling a pardoning of controversial former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Tuesday’s creepy visual and prediction of violence was brought to you by Allstate, Lincoln Motor Company, and Sunday NFL Ticket.
Here’s the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on August 22:
MSNBC’s Hardball
August 22, 2017
7:13 p.m. Eastern
 CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, let's talk about tonight because we've seen the red meat thrown into the cage, Rosie. We’ve seen it. We know what it looks like. He’s — he’s like a nightclub comic. He lives off the crowd. He’s got to have interaction and the only way he does it is with the lines. “Lock her up!” Right? “Build the wall?” Are we — how can he do that after last night’s Mother Theresa performance?
ROSIE GRAY: Well, I think —
MATTHEWS: Or Oprah Winfrey’s performance of we’re all friends together? We're all in it together? Well, he’s not going to do that tonight.
GRAY: Well, like Astead was saying, you know, we tend to see these two versions of the president. One is they get him to stick to these, you know, sort of teleprompter speeches and then he gets to sort of let loose at these campaign rallies which is where he feels very comfortable, he feeds off the energy of the crowd and that’s often when, you know, some of the more sort of combustible moments have happened.
MATTHEWS: When his Incredible Hulk thing grows in him. And he goes like “Rarrrr,” you know? And he starts doing that thing he does. How’s he going to play it? Well, we’re going to find out. It is actually going to happen tonight and I’m looking at the crowd down there. We'll talk about it later in the show. But there's a crowd building down there and it’s not too pro-Trump. I’m thinking there could be trouble there tonight. It looks like there’s some people that are there that really don't like him are ready to show up and make their selves heard tonight.
(....)
7:34 p.m. Eastern
 MATTHEWS: You know, I remember during campaign and, Dan, you probably remember — remember when he went to Chicago, to an urban area, a minority area and he almost — it seemed to me what he was doing was trying to stick a fight. Get a fight going, get protesters out there going fist-to-fist against his troops, his people and it helped him politically. That's what he was up to. Do you think he picked Phoenix because he influence would be opposition in the streets?
DAN NOWICKI: Well, I think he — certainly the talk about possibly pardoning former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio really did stoke emotions here. Probably the decision he announced earlier today that there wouldn't be a pardon announced. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that earlier that it was a kind of responsible decision to maybe, you know, ease tensions here because I think if he had come here and pardoned Arpaio on-stage, you know, a capricious situation regarding security on the outside might really erupt.
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By Scott Whitlock
Conservative author, and anti-Donald Trump pundit, P.J. O’Rourke appeared on MSNBC, Tuesday, to slam the President. Talking about Trump's upcoming rally in Phoenix, O’Rourke attacked, “Oh, I think the President is going to use humor tonight. He’s going to come out in a bed sheet with a Tiki torch.”
This resulted in no criticism from MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace. Instead, Wallace laughed and cheered, “Oh, God. God help us.”
O’Rourke added, “I didn't think my mind could be changed about Trump because I detested him so much. I knew he was a pig, but it wasn't really until this last week I realized he was a stupid pig!”
 Deadline: White House8/22/17 4:42pm ET
NICOLLE WALLACE: I want you to weigh in on the stakes tonightnot just for the president but for the country.
P.J. O’ROURKE: Oh, I think the President is going to use humor tonight. He’s going to come out in a bed sheet with a Tiki torch.
NICOLLE WALLACE [Smiling and laughing]: Oh, God. God help us.
O’ROURKE: Or some rhetorical equivalent thereof. I mean, I tell you, it's like — I didn't think my mind could be changed about Trump because I detested him so much. I knew he was a pig, but it wasn't really until this last week I realized he was a stupid pig! I mean, both sides? There were no both sides. In Charlottesville, there were — people on the other side were bad people! Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members are bad people.
...
O’ROURKE: I’m ethnically Republican. I was raised Republican. So, I remain. I can’t help myself. I’m a country club Republican except no country club will let me join. So, I’ll put it that way.
WALLACE: After your Tiki club joke, I understand why.
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