Chris Hayes: Trump’s base must have heart ‘ripped out,’ ‘destroyed,’ and ‘banished’

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes told viewers Thursday evening that the fate of the nation may rest on one thing: ripping out “the heart” of President Trump’s base of support and banishing “the darkness” elsewhere.

The “All In” host said Mr. Trump’s critics are in a precarious place because those who attend the Republican’s rallies aren’t interested in principles. Instead, he said crowds chanting “send her back” regarding Rep. Ilhan Omar seek to “revel in their own Americanness and primacy at the expense of others.”

“Trump doesn’t care at all about EPA policy or labor or Iran really or anything other than making money, which the presidency allows him to do with public dollars, and being the center of attention, which same,” Mr. Hayes said. “But the base, what does the base get? The folks in that arena. Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? They get to chant. They get to revel in their own Americanness and primacy at the expense of others.”

Mr. Hayes then lamented the failure thus far to fracture the bond between Mr. Trump and his staunchest supporters.

“That sentiment at the core of the coalition cannot be pried loose, and it could not be negotiated with, and it cannot be appeased,” he said, the media watchdog NewsBusters reported. “It must be peacefully, nonviolently, politically destroyed with love, compassion, and determination, but utterly confronted and destroyed. That is the only way to break the coalition apart. Not by prying off this or that interest. They are in too deep. They have shamed themselves too much. The heart of the thing must be ripped out. The darkness must be banished.”

Mr. Hayes’ wariness of public displays of patriotism was reminiscent of 2012 remarks in which he said calling U.S. military men and women heroes is “problematic,” and perhaps “justifications for more war.”

The MSNBC host later apologized for his remarks, saying they fell short of “the standards of rigor, respect, and empathy for those affected by the issues we discuss.”