Trump's Antagonists: the MSNBC line-up

As daylight transitions to nightfall across this great land, MSNBC anchors kick the anti-Trump rhetoric to more intense levels. The starting team for MSNBC includes a surprising number of Catholics, liberal-minded folk, with personal family histories that include support for liberal causes. They attack Trump relentlessly but the approaches vary and so does the emphasis. 

Here is the list. Time slots reflect CST schedule:

MTP Daily—Chuck Todd

5:00 PM--The Beat with Ari Melber

6:00 PM-- Hardball—Chris Matthews

7:00 PM-- All In With Chris Hayes

8:00 Pm-- The Rachel Maddow Show

9:00 PM--The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (political analyst)

10:00 PM--11^th Hour—Brian Williams  (Chief Anchor)

MSNBC daytime shows include their fair share of Trump criticism but some attention is paid to presenting the news of the day. Chuck Todd's "MTP Daily" marks the pivot point where any sense of objectivity gives way to analysis by the anchor spokespeople. The daytime folks, including Stephanie Ruhle, Ali Velshi, Hallie Jackson, Craig Melvin and Katy Tur, have an unabashedly liberal viewpoint but their shows are not so dense with the detail or policy analysis that comes in the later hours.

Each MSNBC night-time host has certain strengths. They all tend to be photogenic and articulate, and interview effectively. They standout, however, in their intellectual rigor. The support their opinions with strong logic-- especially Ari Melber, a Cornell University law school graduate, and Rachel Maddow, a Stanford University graduate, and  Rhodes Scholar with a PhD from Oxford University, Many have writing credentials as journalists for leading national periodicals. 

These television hosts comprise some of Trump's strongest antagonists. They may not hold official government positions. None are senators or representatives. But their political power is undeniable. Trump spends much time watching television because television is important. The MSNBC anchor people may be Trump's biggest political rivals. They can be dismissed as "talking heads" but they mold opinion and probably dictate Democratic party policy through their powerful electronic megaphone, projecting their thoughtful arguments on a nightly basis, a feedback mechanism to the Trump tweets of the day.

Here is the info I retrieved from Wikipedia-- with a few of my observations tossed in:

 Ari Melber—born 1980 (37 years)

·      graduate of University of Michigan (BA 2002)

·      law school at Cornell (grad 2009)

·      worked for Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign

·      got position of Chief Legal Correspondent with MSNBC in April 2015

·      July 2017 – began hosting The Beat with Ari Melber

·      Sharp, clear thinker

·      Best dressed with great ties

·      Goes deeper with stories

·      Has a lawyer’s sense of precision and logic

Chris Matthews—born 1945 (age 72 years)

·      started with United States Capitol Police

·      speechwriter for Jimmy Carter

·      worked for Tip O’Neill, political battles with Reagan administration

·      described himself as a “centrist”

·      Hardball started in 1997

·      Graduate of Holy Cross 

·      Roman Catholic

·      Has a youthful quality

·      Knows politics from pre-Internet

·      Talks fast, 

·      interrupts guests who are getting lost in their own rhetoric

Chris Hayes—born 1979 (38 years)

·      Brown University (2001 grad)

·      Father did community organizing in the Bronx

·      Raised Catholic

·      Editor at large with Nation magazine

·      Has a grad student quality

·      Took over Ed Schulz time slot in March 2013

Rachel Maddow-- born 1973 (44 years)

·      first openly gay anchor to host a major prime-time news program

·      Stanford grad (1994)

·      Rhodes Scholar

·      PhD from Oxford University

·      Raised “very Catholic”

·      Paternal grandfather from a family of East European Jews

·      TRMS debuted in August 2008 after she took over from Verdict with Dan Abrams

·      Called “America’s wonkiest anchor”

·      Father a US Air Force captain, retired and became attorney

·      Her ratings topped CNN and Fox

·      Has followed Trump-Russia story doggedly

Lawrence O’Donnell—born 1951 (age 66)

·      has worked as producer and writer for The West Wing

·      wrote 16 episodes for The West Wing

·      worked as actor—Big Love

·      worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan

·      describes himself as a practical European socialist

·      attended Catholic high school

·      Harvard (grad 1974)

·      Wrote for Harvard Lampoon—popular guy

·      Aggressive debate style

·      Partnered MSNBC with UNICEF to get school desks for children in Malawi

Brian Williams—born 1959 (age 58)

·      from a boisterous Catholic family

·      Mater Dei High School

·      George Washington and Catholic University but no degrees

·      Anchor at NBC Nightly News starting in 2004

·      Suspended in 2015 for misrepresenting his experience at the invasion of Iraq in 2003

·      Returned to air in 2015 with MSNBC

·      Serial exaggerator of his own accomplishments