Guest starts right now. Streep targets trump. This is hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington where the action is. I come to you tonight in the aftermath of a stunning political event. It was last nights devastating critique on the public conduct of president elect donald trump. Like meryl streep said and said with great precision what many felt and i needed to be said is that the ends dont justify the means. No matter your political intent, whether its up in the solar system or left or right, you dont have any right to individualize anybody based on their handicap, whether its their height or what god created. Its bullying of the worst kind, the strong mocking of the week for a factor that god has left them with. Heres streep last night saying such conduct should not be forgotten nor forgiven. There was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart, not because it was good. There was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. This instinct to humiliate when its modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful. It filters down into everybodys life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. And heres Donald Trumps usual ragefild response. Quote, meryl reep, one of the most overrated actresses i hollywood, doesnt know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a hillary flunkee who lost big. For the hundredth time, ive never mokd a disabled reporter but simply showed him groveling. He has a physical impairment that affects his hands, and heres what trump said about him and showed. You be the judge. Right after a couple good paragraphs and theyre talking about northern new jersey draws the probers eye. You got to see the reporter. I dont know what he said, i dont remember. Maybe thats what i said. This is 14 years ago. They didnt do a retraction. Now on the phone is a very special guest, someone who has been very active in politics and very concerned about the direction politics are headed in this country right now, barbra barbra, what did you think and feel when you watched meryl streep last night talk about a man who is going to be our president mock someones disability . I thought she said what she said beautifully, and its easy enough to see the video on line of trump mocking. You just showed it, actually, and i completely agree with meryl. It was a heartbreaking moment and so beneath the dignity of the presidency, let alone any respectful person. I mean, what we need more in this world, i think, is kindness and common decency. And what he did and how he reacts and how he needs he had the need to talk back and insult anybody who doesnt agree with him. And thats pretty disgraceful. What do you make of the critique that meryl streep made last night that you can push this thing and it becomes the norm . That its like Daniel Patrick once said you define dooeviancy downward, this kind of thing becomes the normal political conversation. It kind of does. Whats the signal to little children, you know, who watch television and see this is the behavior of the soontobe president of the united states, you know . Little girls were heartbroken when hillary didnt get to be president. So i think its what they see. Children will listen. I sang that in a song once, you know, and they will see and they will learn. You know, im in the middle of having my teeth cleaned, chris. You caught me at a disadvantage. Im glad youre on the phone with us. By the way, i did think it was important that donald trump has said in the very recent past that meryl streep was one of his favorite actors in the country, so certainly his reaction is thats why you cant trust anything he says, because if you get on his wrong side, he will blast you negatively. Be prepared. Do you understand why he had a new Years Eve Party but he wasnt generous enough to give that to his followers, you know, as a present . He had to charge for it . And then put that money into his club . Dont you think thats a little strange . Well, hes a mixed bag, certainly. Barbra streisand, youre so great, youre a friend of mine. Im so glad you came on shoet tonight. I kay this not just as cultural news or pop culture news, because i felt like you did, that meryl streep said what needed to be said. Shes a wonderful actress and that he had to denigrate her talent because she spoke out as a matter of fact, why isnt he sitting through briefings rather than tweeting this nonsense and in a rating war with Arnold Schwarzenegger . I dont know how were going to take, you know, four years of this. Were going to have to. Barbra streisand, thank you so much for your longtime can i go back to getting my teeth cleaned . Yes, thank you. Thank you. I didnt expect all that information, but shes great. Anyway, senior political reporter harvey, jenna. I watched the thing last night and i was like a big windup. Shes talking about trump and shes talking about that awful thing he said about that reporter, and he did physically make fun of the guy and Everybody Knows it. And that was why that stood out and really should have stood out more during the campaign, because chris, one of the first front page stories i did for usa today is whether trump is actually a clinical bully. Because so many people had these feelings about him. What i found was that while in most cases hes not because hes picking a fight with coequals, people who have some kind of social status, in the case of this disabled reporter lions head, crooked hillary. Its abuse of someone with less power. This reporter is someone with less power, and thats why people felt this is bullying. The bigger societal question is why so many people in our culture were drawn to this type of behavior feeling like its strength. Why do people go to bullies . To vote for him. Why did trump feel like he had to do his usual narcissistic rage number here and go back at her when it was over. It was a television show. Move on. Donald trump cares about his image more than any politician ive ever seen, which means a lot. Having spent time in his office, for example, hes got so many awards to himself but not enough wall space to put them on that theyre all stacked up on his couch. There is no place to sit because hes got so many awards. Now, in terms of speaking as a bully, having gone to his rallies, he said at his rallies, i am your voice. Let me be your voice. I am the voice of the voiceless. I am the voice of the silent majority. But those people, i give them enough credit to have not voted for him to pick on a guy like surge kovalesky. They wanted him to be the bully against the chinese and the mexican criminals, so forth and so on. They didnt want him to bully a defenseless person like that. Anyway, donald trump called meryl streep overrated, but janice, when you interviewed the future president back in august of 2015, not a million years ago, you asked him who his favorite actresses are, he told you, quote, Julia Roberts is terrific, and meryl streep is excellent. Shes a fine person, too. Closed quote. He changes. He fwets rough. One of the things i thought about today, and i was in the room with the Golden Globes, how much this must have insulted him. This was someone who was the toast of the Golden Globes in 2007 when he attended with melania. I was looking at photos this afternoon. He was with alex baldwin, he was with jeff sooker, he was at the universal party. He was on top as host and executive producer of the apprentice. He loves hollywood. Way back in august of 2015 when i interviewed him, we were his First Magazine cover. Think about that, the hollywood reporter. This is a community that he loves and has for many, many years loved him back. And i think that rejection by the finest actress in hollywood, the finest actor in hollywood, theres no disputing that, had to really have stung. Meryl streep has so much gravitae. So beyond the real de. This isnt johnny depp, this is meryl streep. To have this go on in this room, the psychic pain was probably overwhelming. You can say what you want about meryl streep whether you like her or not, you cannot say shes not great. She plays different people. She plays ann winter was unbelievable in the devil wears prada. Liking, disliking, rooting for the young girl rooting against her. Last week Chuck Schumer calling him a clown. Thats pretty strong. Last month he attacked a local union boss who took issue with some of trumps statements on jobs as doing, quote, a terrible j job. If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. Maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say. She was the winner and she gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem. Take a look. You take a look. Look at her, look at her words. You tell me what you think. I dont think so. She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions, and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. This guy bush, hes like low energy, right . Lyin ted and little marco. As i say, crooked hillary. Crazy bernie. Hes a crazy man. I was being hit by pocahontas. Thats elizabeth warren. I said, mitt cannot run. He choked like a dog. And he walks like a penguin onto the stage. Have you ever seen like a penguin well, lets divide this. A persons character, i guess, in Politics Today certainly is fair game. You can talk about, if you want, lions head, crooked hillary. To get into these things about the guy being short like little marco or the guy having a physical defect, or, you know, even the penguin. I have to tell you its hilariously awful, but its awful. Hes gaining political strength by bullying people with their sort of birth defects, if you will. Like i said before, its so perpl perplexing. Why would people vote for a guy thats a bully . Theyre drawn to that. Part of it is our primitive going back to our primitive instinct of higheirarchical pow and thats why its so upsetting to so many people. Were going to look back at the republicans cynical strategy of just saying no. Now democrats may be using that playbook for the next four years. This is hardball. 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Federal law at usc 3110 generally prohibits a federal official, including a member of congress, for appointing or recommending for appointment or promotion any relative of the official to any agency or department over which the official exercises authority or control. The statute defines a relative for those purposes as an individual who is related to the public official as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, fatherinlaw, motherinlaw, soninlaw, brotherinlaw, sisterinlaw, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepsister, stepbrother or half sister. With only 11 days left in president obamas term, some will look back at his service as inspirational and historical. Polls show that roughly or nearly 57 of americans agree and view president obama positively. His job Approval Rating was recently at 56 . So hes cruising in the high 50s. But dont forget he was accused of being a liar, a despot, a king, and the end did not come soon enough. He wants to say im not legal. Not true. Our political priority in the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. He thinks he can just win what he wants and go around congress. We dont have kings. I ask president obama not to divide us further by acting like an imperial president. And trump comes along and says birth certificate. He gave a birth certificate. Wheth whether or not that was a real certificate, because a lot of people question it i certainly question it. Anyway, the gop threw up road blocks, and according to robert draper, on the first night of his inauguration, strategists got together and figured out a way to put the brakes on obamas agenda. They said, quote, the republicans had agreed on a way to sthow united and unyielding opposition to the president s ideas. Win the spear point of the house in 2010. Jab obama relentlessly in 2011. This topic is kind of unpleasant. It says basically were going to undermine the guy, accuse him of being an illegal immigrant, and as trump would say, nobody knew him in school. Trump kept that up until like a week before we get into the fall, then he sort of skipped away from it one friday afternoon. Nobody else has been treated like that as president in our lifetime. Nobody has gotten that screwing. Your thoughts. Well, the election and reelection of president barack obama suggests much about the possibilities of this country. But it does not ignore this countrys present and its past. What that means is we are yet wrestling with our racial demons. So where your politicians call into question not his birth certificate but his citizenship, and as a consequence, his legitimacy. In so doing, theyre not calling into question merely his legitimacy in terms of being president but our legitimacy, the legitimacy of africanamericans as citizens of this republic. And that is not a new story in this country. It is a longstanding story in this country. So the way hes been treated has been a matter of not only personal disrespect but racial, categorical disrespect and only with respect to africanamericans. Let me note this. But disrespect to our country. Because when President Trump puts his hand on the bible and takes the oath, he then becomes our president. President barack obama was our president a full eight years, everyones. Thank you, Cornell William brooks. When we return, i will finish with trump watch. This is hardball. Where the action is. Tiki barber running a barber shop . Yes surprising. Yes whats not surprising . How much money david saved by switching to geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Whos next . What twisted ankle . Ask what muscle strain . Advil makes pain a distant memory nothing works faster stronger or longer what pain . Advil. Daddy lets play sorry kids. Feeling dead on your feet . 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I like what he said about building the country up, about infrastructure, more of it. I agree that we dont have effective control in the nation. Most of the nation is devastated by international policies, including trade. That being said, im not going to let him get away with talking about Illegal Immigrants and mocking the disabled. I like to think meryl streep wants human decency. Ive said it all along. We need a good man, especially a good man sitting in abraham lincolns seat. Well be back tomorrow night. See you then. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in Blood Pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. 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