Chris Matthews Makes His Case That Ted Cruz Is 'Enemy of the State' and 'Scarier Than Trump

During an appearance yesterday on MSNBC, "Hardball" host Chris Matthews said that if progressives weren’t so consumed with discussing the antics of Donald Trump, they’d realize that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is a “scarier” candidate for president.

“I expect if [Trump] keeps in there fighting against somebody like Cruz they’re going to realize something that really is scary to most moderates and progressives, that Cruz is scarier than Trump and that will be a frightening prospect to realize that Trump is the more – well, he’s not acceptable to progressives, but when you look at him against Cruz,” Matthews said.

“I mean, Cruz, if we weren't talking about Trump, we’d be talking about the horror of this country possibly being led by Cruz,” Matthews continued. “So, it's a strange competition and the people that are left out of this, it seems, are what used to be called the Republican establishment.”

“I've noticed we’ve only used the word establishment now in terms of saying it's finished,” Matthews added.

Asked about Cruz’s poll numbers, Matthews attributed them to the same "anger that we see driving Trump.”

“The anger on the right, white people, if you will, working white people, whatever that category gets defined as, are so angry, especially the very religious people, that they're willing to put somebody in there who's a complete enemy of the state," Matthews said. "They’re willing to go all the way to the hardest far right rail. You can't be too hard right.”

Matthews called Cruz “a guy with a Cuban-American background” who is “very much against any legalization of anybody who comes to this country illegally ever.”

“Do you know him? Have you ever met Cruz?” Matthews pressed guest anchor Ayman Mohyeldin.

“I have not. I don't know him,” Mohyeldin replied.

“Well, when you do, you’ll know what I'm talking about,” Matthews said.

You can watch Matthews’ remarks on MSNBC below, courtesy of the Media Research Center:

(H/T Newsbusters)

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