Left-Wing Activist Praises MSNBC’s ‘Moderate’ Hugh Hewitt

Last month on MTP Daily, a left-wing activist from the Center for American Progress praised MSNBC’s “moderate” Hugh Hewitt.

Host Chuck Todd grinned, acting as if that is why Hewitt is at MSNBC in the first place, as Daniella Gibbs Leger, a top executive at the left-wing Center for American Progress, made her comments about the GOP establishment’s “go-to pundit.”

Hewitt, in pushing back a bit, described himself as a Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) Republican. It is worth noting that Portman is the prototypical establishment Bush Republican. Portman worked in former President George H.W. Bush’s White House and was former President George W. Bush’s trade representative.

National Journal has described Hewitt as the “Republican establishment’s go-to pundit.” On Saturday, Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster gave MSNBC’s Hugh Hewitt an interview that was promoted across the left-wing anti-Trump network.

Hewitt, in order to get affirmation from the legacy media, argued during the border crisis that illegal immigrants who were flooding across the border should be “dispersed all across the country.” There is no word on whether Hewitt’s establishment GOP allies went out of their way to adopt some “border kids.”

After an illegal immigrant murdered Kate Steinle in the sanctuary city of San Francisco, Hewitt rushed to write a column begging Republicans to ignore sanctuary cities.

“[Kate Steinle’s] slaying by an oft-deported illegal immigrant felon should not prompt Republican presidential candidates to become amplifiers for that small slice of the electorate which sincerely believes illegal immigration is the most pressing issue facing the country,” Hewitt wrote then.

Hewitt also warned that “is a trap into which some candidates will fall.” He said Republicans would be branded as the anti-immigrant party if they opposed “sanctuary cities” for illegal immigrants.

Hewitt wrote his “genius” column two days after Trump met with families who had lost loved ones to illegal immigrant crime. His column was completely out of touch not only with GOP primary voters but with blue-collar Americans, many of whom had voted for President Barack Obama, in places like Macomb County, Michigan, and who later voted for Trump. A week after he wrote his column, Trump surged to the front of the RealClearPolitics polling average and never looked back after doing exactly the opposite of what Hewitt suggested. Breitbart’s Joel Pollak further explained why meeting with victims of illegal immigrant crime helped Trump to take the lead in the 2016 election cycle.

What genius advice.

Those like Hewitt also whined that Republicans could not win the presidency if they opposed illegal immigration. They were sure that there was no way Trump would do better among minorities than Mitt “the stiff” Romney. And they were proven spectacularly wrong on election night on both counts when Trump did better among minorities than Hewitt’s Romney did in 2012 even though Trump strongly opposed illegal immigration and spoke out against sanctuary cities.

Yet, this is the type of “conservative” the legacy press and outlets like MSNBC always prefer.

Joshua Green’s new book, Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency, shows how in-sync Hewitt was with the GOP establishment nearly every step of the way, as if he was the GOP establishment’s mouthpiece or a wrestling announcer trying his best to get the establishment’s point of view “over” with the public.

For instance, Green’s book notes that after Trump’s campaign announcement in which he spoke out against illegal immigration, Paul Ryan told the legacy media that he was “sickened,” while Jeb Bush said Trump’s comments were “extraordinarily ugly.”

After the Access Hollywood tape was released in October of 2016, then-RNC Chair Reince Priebus, according to Green’s book, reportedly told Trump to quit the race or “go down with a worse election loss than Barry Goldwater’s.” Paul Ryan reportedly told his House colleagues in private: “I am not going to defend Donald Trump — not now, not in the future.”

Looking back, Hewitt also called for Trump to get out of the race at the same time, trying to gin up momentum to body-check Trump out of the way.

“For the benefit of the country, the party and his family, and for his own good, @realDonaldTrump should withdraw. More and worse oppo coming,” Hewitt tweeted. “It would be good for him and @RNC to study options as it seems — on partial information — that he can’t overcome this (and more on the way.). Issues re #SCOTUS and DOD don’t change. Ability to compete does and should drive @realDonaldTrump decision making. @HillaryClinton has much more. Worst stuff drops in two weeks.”

A month later, Trump won White House, proving “genius” pundits like Hewitt completely wrong. The media and pundits are still not over it though, as they have tried to delegitimize Trump since he won the 2016 election.

For the benefit of the country, the party and his family, and for his own good, @realDonaldTrump should withdraw. More and worse oppo coming

— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) October 8, 2016