Watch MSNBC anchor’s glorious meltdown, unloads on NY Times, makes up new

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MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell blew up at the New York Times over their coverage of former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

(Video Credit: MSNBC)

In a segment that quickly went viral on social media, O’Donnell accused the outlet of “sane-washing” the former president’s policies and proposals. The heated monologue focused on how the anchor believes the news organization should be run, lecturing them on basic civic knowledge.

“There was a time not long ago when everybody at The New York Times, and I mean everyone including printers and delivery drivers, knew what a tariff is,” he said. “Now it appears nobody at The New York Times knows what a tariff is including the top reporters covering the presidential campaign. This New York Times article allows Trump to say his tariffs would be taxing foreign nations. The New York Times allows that to stand as a fact in its campaign reporting, and that means The New York Times campaign coverage and The New York Times economic coverage is hopelessly lost in this campaign.”

“How slowly do I have to say it for The New York Times campaign reporters to understand it? For the very first time? I said it many times before, I understand the campaign reporters are too busy to be watching this program, I don’t expect them to learn any of this from me, I expected them to learn this by the end of the first year of high school,” the lecture continued. “A tariff is imposed by the United States of America and paid for by the people of the United States of America and no one else ever. The entire point of a tariff is to raise the price of the foreign product to the American consumer so the American consumer does not want to buy it anymore because it is too expensive. All economists understand that American tariffs function as sales taxes paid by American consumers.”

“Economists consider tariffs sales taxes. Yes, tariffs raise money. Yes, tariffs were the only way the federal government raised money before the imposition of income taxes. And the only way the American government can raise money is from the American people,” O’Donnell ranted, getting heated. “The American government cannot tax anyone other than the American people and the night before the debate, The New York Times is telling readers that Donald Trump’s tariffs are taxing foreign nations. Yes, Donald Trump tells a lot of lies, yes, it is impossible to keep up with every one of those lies but the tariff lie? The New York Times, in an article designed to take on Donald Trump’s lies and incoherent ranting prints Donald Trump’s tariff lie and lets it stand. Its only question about it is whether the tariffs would raise enough money to pay for child care.”

This is where the anchor drags out a new talking point: ‘Sane-washing.’

“Sane-washing Donald Trump’s insane response about childcare last week, The New York Times tries to tell you that Donald Trump seems to be saying his tariffs would raise so much money, that the money could be used to pay for child care but then maybe Donald Trump would not use it for that. Donald Trump did not say one word about paying for child care or using tariff revenue to pay for child care,” he said. “There is not a single thing in Donald Trump’s response that any sane person can convert to Donald Trump suggesting that the federal government should, in any way, do anything to pay for anyone’s childcare and The New York Times hallucinated that explanation into existence. And after hallucinating that explanation of Donald Trump’s madness into print, The New York Times says it is a disputable policy assumption. No, it is not, it is completely impossible. What this article proves is how deep the actual intellectual rot is at The New York Times, at the reporting and editorial level going all the way up to the top.”