Questions and answers: Chris Matthews for election

by Junna Base November 5, 2024

The dining room at the GeorgeTown Club was packed Oct. 29 as Georgetowners of all ages eagerly sat down for lunch and a Q&A by CBS News producer Carol Joynt with political commentator and author Chris Matthews. Matthews also served as an aide to former House Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.).

For approximately 30 years, Matthews hosted his talk show “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on MSNBC and the syndicated ABC News program “The Chris Matthews Show” on weekends. Now 78, Matthews, a moderate Democrat, was greeted with joy as he jumped straight into his commentary on politics and the election today.

“The purest politics is about winning and losing,” he said. “Everyone can win; Anyone can lose, no matter who you are.”

Donald Trump’s refusal to accept his loss in 2020 contradicts this one honesty of politics, Matthews added.

The question-and-answer audience was interested in Matthews’ straightforward comments and remained at their tables to chat afterwards, with Matthews apparently leading a motivated post-lecture discussion.

“Now the center-left is seen primarily as the (conservative) right,” Matthews said. “In recent years, the coalition between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders has come to an end, and the neoconservatives have become the good guys.”

Matthews went on to say that Trump is who he is and that MAGA, through his sons and supporters, will remain in office even after his term in office.

“What about the press?” asked Joynt. It was the week that saw the controversy over newspapers’ editorial support of the president. Matthews responded, “Don’t listen to them and don’t trust the polls.”

What about Biden’s resignation? Joynt asked. “You knew!” Matthews repeated it several times. “Everyone around him knew it [that he was weakening physically and mentally]but everyone said they didn’t know.”

Matthews further noted that those who worked with Biden could see it – his weakening in the way he walked and spoke.

Matthews believes that at some point people will say that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be the one who persuaded Biden to resign.

“She has so much finesse,” Matthews said. “Exactly the way she dealt with progressives in 2020.”

Matthews was born and raised in Pennsylvania and nearly jumped out of his chair when discussing the state’s close race. He described Pennsylvania as diverse and full of interconnected neighborhoods and neighborhoods that compete with one another. He suggested that winning such a close presidential race would require almost block-by-block contests. It’s almost impossible to predict, he said, and the rhetoric “won’t impact a single vote.”

Everyone went home with different views and knowledge. Many were surprised to learn that Matthews had served in the Peace Corps and that his first job in Congress was as a police officer at the U.S. Capitol.