(Headline USA) MSNBC host Rachel Maddow had a meltdown on Monday night after it became apparent that former President Donald Trump overwhelmingly won the Republican caucus in Iowa.
Refusing even to name Trump directly, Maddow told viewers that the network would not be airing Trump’s victory speech, claiming she didn’t want to give the former president a platform to spread falsehoods, Mediaite reported.
“At this point in the evening the projected winner of the Iowa caucuses has just started giving his victory speech,” Maddow said.
“We will keep an eye on that as it happens,” she continued. “We will let you know if there is any news made in that speech, if there is anything noteworthy, something substantive and important.”
Maddow then took a shot at other networks that did choose to air Trump’s speech, accusing them of giving him an “unfiltered, live platform.”
She claimed the decision not to follow suit was “not out of spite, it is not a decision that we relish, it is a decision that we regularly revisit. And honestly, earnestly, it is not an easy decision.”
But to air Trump’s speech would mean that MSNBC was “knowingly broadcasting untrue things,” Maddow continued. “That is a fundamental truth of our business and who we are. And so, his remarks, tonight, will not air here live. We will monitor them and let you know about any news that he makes.”
CNN also briefly cut away from Trump’s speech in Iowa on Monday night, with host Jake Tapper interrupting to blast Trump for “repeating his anti-immigrant rhetoric,” Twitchy reported.
Later during the segment, Maddow and her panelists went on to bemoan Trump’s victory in Iowa as a sign of rising fascism.
“If we’re worried about our democracy falling to an authoritarian and potentially fascist form of government, the leader who is trying to do that is part of that equation,” Maddow claimed.
Fellow panelist Joy Reid, known for her signature race-baiting, offered the overtly racist—albeit, not entirely inaccurate—interjection that Iowa had a disproportionate number of “white Christians,” which accounted for Trump’s historic landslide.
It is unclear why Reid thought white Christians would not likewise have supported fellow GOP candidates Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, among others whose views also fell broadly on the spectrum of “Republican” values.
Trump, by contrast, has made historic inroads with black and Hispanic voters, whose support may well be what puts him over the top in the 2024 election.
JUST IN: MSNBC host Joy Reid, whose hair is now white, appears to have a problem with how many white Christians there are in Iowa.
She's going to be even more upset after tonight is over.
"These are white Christians. That this is a state that is over represent overrepresented… pic.twitter.com/4x0brSpF7q
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 16, 2024
