October 8, 2016

Let's just remark at the beginning that Michele Bachmann, like all trusty Trump surrogates, does not answer any question about Donald Trump directly and pivots every question about his behavior to the Clintons. Always.

But Bachmann last August went off the deep end with her theocracy in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network, assuring all good "Christians" that God Himself had chosen Donald Trump to lead America.

Joy Ann Reid did her homework and remembered this interview. So when Bachmann said Donald Trump's behavior was just 'bad boy talk' about which Hillary Clinton knows a lot, Reid wondered aloud what God's role in all of this was.

We should also note that choirboy Chris Matthews just about derails Reid's line of questioning. Reid is able to rephrase her question, not that it mattered to the ever-pivoting congresswoman.

JOY ANN REID: ...to go back on a few things that the Congresswoman said. Donald Trump started this news day re-attacking the Central Park Five, something that's gotten lost in the news cycle, and claiming again that these five exonerated men who were put in prison when they were teenagers were guilty, reopening that wound. That's sure to come up on Sunday. And you talk, Congresswoman, about opposition research, and I'm wondering why the Republican Party didn't do opposition research on Donald Trump? His fellow 16 candidates during the primary apparently maybe should have done some opposition research. Maybe they would have found something if they questioned this. Allegedly coming from the Clinton campaign, this actually came from David Fahrenthold, who is an incredible reporter at "The Washington Post." I doubt the Clinton campaign had access to audio tapes from "Access Hollywood," but, obviously, this dogged reporter actually found it. And my last point that I would make to the Congresswoman, who's really quickly dismissed these comments and vaulted over to a series of talking points about Hillary Clinton, you, Congresswoman, back on August 30th of this year, said on a show called "The Brody File," that God had raised up Donald Trump. That Donald Trump has been raised up by God to be the Republican nominee. And you went on to say that God lifts up who he will and takes down who he will. So it seems to me that just based on your own past statements, this was either done to Donald Trump by himself, by David Fahrenthold, by somebody at "Access Hollywood," or by God. And I wonder if you now believe that God has taken down who he will?

CHRIS MATTHEWS: You don't have to respond to that. Not about the God part. Your religion is your own personal belief. But it's -- I think Joy's being rhetorical. But go ahead, respond. And I'm not comfortable with the theological discussions. Go ahead. Myself. Go ahead.

MICHELE BACHMANN: Well, I think what -- I think, quite clearly, what is going to happen on the first Tuesday in November, people are going to take a really strong look at where America is at and where they want America to be. Not just in a broad way, but for them personally. And we've seen a dramatic drop in income, we've seen a huge tax increase in the form of Obamacare.

Yeah bring up Obamacare rather than grabbing pu$$y, Congresswoman.

Joy Reid then takes an opportunity to talk to Chris about why the God question MUST come up.

REID: The only reason I bring it up, Chris, one of Donald Trump's bulwarks, the main reason he's still in the 40s is, he's managed to hold together that three-legend stool of the Republican Party, including evangelicals. and not only the Congresswoman, who herself has put Trump's candidacy in evangelical terms, that's part of what's holding Trump up. and comments like this have to be explained in the very churches, in the very evangelical households, that are supporting Donald Trump more than almost anybody else. So I'm wondering if you get home into that household, where a husband and a wife and their daughters are sitting down and talking about this election, who have been strongly for Donald Trump, and who have evangelized him.

MATTHEWS: I like it phrased just that way. not your theological thinking, but how people will react to, these religious beliefs. go ahead.

BACHMANN: Well, again, if you go back to the '90s, look at what parents had to talk about with Mrs. Clinton's husband, which nobody wanted to talk about. they'd shut their TVs off, it was so bad.

Bill Clinton wasn't the Republican nominee for President, Michele. But hey, keep the faith.

And applause to Joy Ann Reid, again. It's not an out-of-line question when a surrogate says "God picked my candidate for President." And by the way, that Theocracy is counter to our separation of church and state.

And the American Evangelical movement is standing by Trump. That's disgusting.

Political scientist and author Corey Robin said it best:

....this tape shouldn't be used to delegitimate Trump; he's already done that six thousand times over, and I doubt anyone will be surprised by what he says here. What it should be used to delegitimate is the Christian Right, the overwhelming majority of which—according to the latest polls—is standing with this man who stands for everything they claim to oppose. Rather than discredit Trump, this tape should destroy that movement, its leaders, and the cottage industry of enabling journalists and academics who've told us for decades that we need to take "people of faith"—by which they mean the Christian Right—more seriously.

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