If there’s one thing Pope Francis takes away from his first visit to the United States, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews hoped Wednesday, it’s that not all Americans are “cruel … crazy capitalists.”
The anchor’s remarks came as the pope took his first tour of Washington, D.C.
“We are not a bunch of crazy capitalists or cruel people who don’t care about the underdog. This is a country of the underdog, and I hope he [Francis] picks up on that in the few days he is here,” Matthews said.
Co-host Brian Williams, whose return to anchoring the news comes a few months after a scandal revealed he had embellished several stories, nodded politely.
“I always tell people, come to Washington, you already pay for it. And they did. Everything is free here. And so, I — it’s a city of museums and monuments,” Matthews said.
These comments came in response to Williams asking what Francis’ visit meant for the Washington, D.C.
He continued, saying, “We never get tired of looking at the Lincoln Memorial when we drive by or look across at the Kennedy grave when we drive by the Potomac late at night. We always look for that flicker. I always do.”
The MSNBC host kept on like this, breaking slightly from talking about the pope at one point to discuss the buildings and structures in the nation’s capital.
“What he [Francis] sees is a beautiful little city of sort of humble pretensions, a symbol of the 1850s, early 19th century, that was really built by a very small group of colonies — 13 of them — that said, you know, we’re going to be a big country, a continental power, world power some day so let’s build something appropriate to that. And we did. But we also kept the little White House that Hoban — the Irish guy that built the White House — a nice little house compared to the power of the man within it. The capitol is obviously European but we’re so proud of the replica we made of it in this country,” Matthews said.
He then turned his attention to his hometown and the pope’s next stop: Philadelphia.
“The city of Rocky,” Matthews said. “It is the city of the working class underdog in that city.”
Williams concluded the segment by saying, “Chris Matthews, whose patriotism is matched only by his exuberance on this topic.”
(h/t WFB)
