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Appearing as a guest with MSNBC host Jose Diaz Balart to promote his book, MSNBC contributor Jonathan Alter declared that Donald Trump is “evil” and a “sick F” as he hoped that his book, Day of Reckoning, would convince some voters not to vote for the former President.

After Diaz-Balart asked where Trump’s character fits in with other politicians, Alter complained: “Well, he has the worst character of any man who has held the office of the presidency, full stop. Nobody else is even close. Richard Nixon isn’t even close. And so he’s just a despicable, cruel, lying person.”

He soon hoped that people will discover how “evil” Trump is by reading his book and not vote for him:

… if you read my book … you can’t not do something to keep this man from coming back to office. He’s that evil, and I use that word very intentionally. If you take the totality of the record, it’s an evil record and, you know, I think Joe Biden, you know, understood when Paul Pelosi — not just Nancy Pelosi — but he’s making fun of Paul Pelosi, whose skull was fractured — and when he’s still in the hospital near death, Donald Trump is making fun of him.

And then, just in the last few days, when he was talking about the “enemy within,” he said he would use the military against the Pelosi’s, including Paul Pelosi. As, you know, Biden said, “That’s a sick F thing.” This guy is a sick F, and we really have to think hard about putting him back in office.

A week earlier when Alter appeared with MSNBC’s Katy Tur, also to promote his book, he further trashed Trump and also suggested those who support him lack common sense:

I sat every day in the courtroom just a few feet away from the most dangerous man in the history of our republic, and he was called to account. It’s kind of a happy story, my book, in some ways. He can be brought to account. So that was his reckoning. My reckoning is what you just mentioned: How can this be? And, you know, I’ve covered politics for a long time. I grew up in a political family, and it’s kind of shaken my faith in the common sense of about half of the American people.

And, on Monday’s CNN This Morning, Alter compared the election of 2024 to that of 1864 when slavery might have survived if Abraham Lincoln had lost.

Transcripts follow:

MSNBC Reports

October 25, 2024

12:50 p.m.

JOSE DIAZ-BALART, FILL-IN HOST: When you reflect on characters and character in American politics over the decades, where do you think Trump fits in?

JONATHAN ALTER, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he has the worst character of any man who has held the office of the presidency, full stop. Nobody else is even close. Richard Nixon isn’t even close. And so he’s just a despicable, cruel, lying person. And this is what is so — the reason I call it, you know, “Inside Trump’s Trial and My Own,” is that I’m having my own American reckoning in trying to come to terms with how this country, which was founded on the idea of not just freedom and democracy, but basic decency — how we could be in this place where we have this man who lacks all of the most elemental qualities of character that the founders knew were important if we were going to have a successful republic.

So this is a stunning historical departure. I’m hoping — I do a lot more than covering the trial in the book, Jose. I’ve got a lot else about what’s wrong with Donald Trump, and I’m hoping to fight some of the numbness that people are feeling. They can, you know, send their Uncle Bob or, you know, Cousin Susie — maybe they’re not Trump voters, but they’re thinking about not voting, and — if you read my book, you can’t do something — you can’t not do something to keep this man from coming back to office. He’s that evil, and I use that word very intentionally.

If you take the totality of the record, it’s an evil record and, you know, I think Joe Biden, you know, understood when Paul Pelosi — not just Nancy Pelosi — but he’s making fun of Paul Pelosi, whose skull was fractured — and when he’s still in the hospital near death, Donald Trump is making fun of him. And then, just in the last few days, when he was talking about the “enemy within,” he said he would use the military against the Pelosi’s, including Paul Pelosi. As, you know, Biden said, “That’s a sick F thing.” This guy is a sick F, and we really have to think hard about putting him back in office.

(…)

CNN This Morning

October 23, 2024

6:05 a.m. Eastern

JONATHAN ALTER, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: We’re at a moment of national truth. This is the most significant election since 1864 when, if Abraham Lincoln had lost, there would have been a separate peace with the South — as Trump said last week he’d favor. We would have had a confederacy — no abolition. So this election is as big as that. We now have the former chief of staff of Donald Trump, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, top military officer, they both used the F word — fascist. This is not a drill.

And when he talks about, you know, enemies from within. He’s not just talking about political rivals. He said “the Pelosi’s” — plural. This poor 82-year-old man — a husband of Nancy Pelosi — who had his skull fractured. Trump is joking about it when he’s still in the hospital. Now, he’s saying that because of Paul Pelosi’s connection to Nancy Pelosi, he’s an enemy from within, too. Anybody who is in any way connected to his rivals is subject to the full force of his government if he is returned to the Oval Office. This is dead serious, Kasie. People have to wake up and understand our whole system is at stake in this election.

(…)

MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports

October 18, 2024

3:10 p.m. Eastern

KATY TUR: A lot of the book also deals with the public consciousness and what we accept as truth any longer and what we allow — the reckoning of what’s happened since Donald Trump came on the scene. And when you look at the polling right now, it has been remarkably stable, and there are folks out there questioning why Kamala Harris, given that — all that Donald Trump did when he was President, all he tried to do after he was President to stay in office, what he continues to do, how it could possibly be so close? People have some theories. I wonder if you have yours?

JONATHAN ALTER: So I think that historians will be talking about this for a long time. But the reason I call it “American Reckoning” is there’s the reckoning that Donald Trump faced. I sat every day in the courtroom just a few feet away from the most dangerous man in the history of our republic, and he was called to account. It’s kind of a happy story, my book, in some ways. He can be brought to account. So that was his reckoning. My reckoning is what you just mentioned: How can this be? And, you know, I’ve covered politics for a long time. I grew up in a political family, and it’s kind of shaken my faith in the common sense of about half of the American people.