MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell unloaded on Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley for attempting to use what he called "Trumpian insult comedy" by questioning Joe Biden's ability to stand for 90 minutes in a debate.
Hawley — a long shot to become Trump's running mate this year — did his best to imitate former President Donald Trump's style of hurling insults, recirculating a debunked claim from right-wing media outlets that President Joe Biden did not want to stand for the CNN-hosted debate.
"He can’t stand for 90 minutes - but he’s 100% able to be President? Have fun explaining that," Hawley wrote in a post on X, resharing an article from Washington Reporter.
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CNN quickly denied the reporting, calling the report "not accurate" and noting that both Biden and Trump agreed to the network's proposed format when they accepted the debate invitation.
In his blistering remarks Tuesday night, O'Donnell slammed Hawley's snide remark, saying, "I can explain it in three words: Franklin Delano Roosevelt."
Roosevelt served four consecutive terms, making him the nation's longest-serving president.
"And in every day of his 13 years as president, Franklin Roosevelt was in a wheelchair," O'Donnell said. "The same wheelchair he was in in his two terms as governor of New York."
FDR lost the ability to walk when he was struck by polio at 39.
"So, no, standing for 90 minutes is not a presidential job requirement," O'Donnell said, noting that among the former president's greatest accomplishments — completed from his wheelchair — was winning World War II.
"Adolf Hitler was a younger, healthier man than Franklin Roosevelt, but from his wheelchair President Franklin Delano Roosevelt forced Adolf Hitler in Berlin to commit suicide in his bunker as the allies, commanded by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, were closing in on the German capital city."
And it's here where O'Donnell arguably hit Hawley the hardest.
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"Hitler could stand for 90 minutes. He did it all the time," O'Donnell said. "90 minutes was a short speech for Adolf Hitler. Josh Hawley would have loved Adolf Hitler if standing for 90 minutes and ranting incoherently is something Josh Hawley truly admires as presidential."
Hawley, he said, "knows it doesn't matter how long a president can stand."
The MSNBC host also pointed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair following a life-threatening accident in 1984, and who "Republicans believe is the greatest Texas governor in history."
"But wise-guy Josh Hawley wants to do his punk joke about standing for 90 minutes so that he can impress the world's worst insult comedian, Donald Trump," O'Donnell said. "Sen. Hawley is one of the unindicted participants in Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Sen. Hawley was the first member of the Senate to agree to join Republican House members in their plan to challenge the electoral votes won by Joe Biden."
Watch the searing takedown below or at this link.