![Chris Matthews: 'There Is A Troll-Like Quality' To Ted Cruz [VIDEO].mp4](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Chris-Matthews-screen-shot-MSNBC-e1457719573748.jpg "Chris Matthews: 'There Is A Troll-Like Quality' To Ted Cruz [VIDEO].mp4")
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, host of “Hardball,” slammed Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore], claiming “There is a troll-like quality to Cruz.”
Wednesday on “Morning Joe,” Matthews said, “There’s something about [Cruz] who’s always reminded me of Joe McCarthy and there’s something that is negative and menacing.” (RELATED: Hillary Donors Helping Chris Matthews’ Wife Into Congress)
Host Joe Scarborough began the segment by asking Matthews, “Let me ask you this question, who has taken on Donald Trump and come out well?”
“Nobody. The thing about — there is a troll-like quality to Cruz,” Matthews claimed. “He operates below the level of human life.” (RELATED: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Says John Sununu Knows His ‘S**t’ [VIDEO])
“Okay Chris, that’s a little tough. You have not gotten sleep. We’re going to try that again,” Scarborough said.
Matthews replied, “Am I allowed to have a opinion?” (RELATED: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Suggests That Trump Pays Off The Mafia To Build In NYC [VIDEO])
Scarborough shot back, “Well, not that opinion. No, you’re not allowed to have that opinion.”
“Let me clarify it. I think he appeals — I think he appeals to people’s negativity rather than their joy,” Matthews claimed. “I don’t think people feel good about voting for Cruz, I think they feel — I don’t know what it is he appeals to. Now, people keep telling me he has inherited the libertarian crowd. I don’t see how. He doesn’t seem libertarian to me. He’s appealed to the Baptists up here, I don’t understand that. What is he, a theocrat? Maybe he is. I serious about the guy, there’s something that’s enlivening about these other candidates that makes you feel good.”
“There’s something about that guy who’s always reminded me of Joe McCarthy and there’s something that is negative and menacing,” Matthews insisted. “When I say below the level of human life I mean the good nature of human life not just being a person.”
The Washington Post’s Robert Costa interjected, “No, you’ve seen some human sides of Cruz, remember at that last debate when he talked about his sister and struggles with drug abuse. You see Cruz trying to open up a little bit. I mean he’s been so tight and disciplined in his public career.”
Matthews shot back, “Somebody just asked him about addiction and of course he had a family experience about it. That doesn’t show anything.”
Costa replied, “I think he showed a human side we haven’t seen of Cruz. Cruz is someone who is always on message, you’re right.”
Scarborough then attempted to defend Cruz from Matthews’ barbs.
“So let me try to answer your question. The people that Ted Cruz appeals to are the conservatives that have been betrayed by the Washington establishment for 30 years, by Republican candidates that run for office saying they’re going to balance a budget and lie. Republican candidates that run and say they’re going to overturn Obamacare and lie. Republican candidates who say vote for me and I’m going to have a humble foreign policy and lie. The Republican establishment in Washington, D.C.– hold on — has been lying,” he said.
“They’ve been lying to the Republican base for 30 years and that is who is going for Ted Cruz because if you’re that person you’re not going to vote for [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore] because Marco Rubio is a big government Republican. You’re not going to vote for Jeb Bush because Jeb Bush is Bush. You’re not going to vote for Donald Trump because Donald Trump has been a Democrat most of your life. Who are you going to vote for if you are a Republican who is sick and tired of being lied to and the Republicans in Washington have spent three decades of lying.”
Matthews replied, “Because [Cruz’s] entree into national politics was to accuse Chuck Hagel a combat veteran of Vietnam which ted cruz is not of being a basic trader, of taking $200,000 from the North Koreans. That was McCarthyite. Inexcusable and that’s the kind of guy he is. And I’m telling you, if you think, if you’re that conservative and that angry and you think he’s as good as it gets you are really sad. That is a low estimate of the potential of our candidates.”
Later in the segment, Matthews suggested that if Cruz wins, “A darkness will come over America.”