Chris Matthews on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” said Iran will try to “decapitate” President Donald Trump, similar to how the hostage crisis undermined President Jimmy Carter. “They decapitated Carter,” Matthews said. “And I’ve got to tell you, they’re doing the same thing to Trump. They know exactly what the Strait of Hormuz is doing to the oil markets, to the markets generally. They know what we’re up to, because Trump is on television all the time. They see him. They know how he works and how to hurt him, and they’re trying to decapitate him.”

JONATHAN LEMIRE, ‘MORNING JOE’ CO-HOST: And as much as the President is looking, starting to talk about wins, it’s hard for him to have an off-ramp to declare victory if the same regime is in power, and potentially, the actual son more hard-lined than his father, and now, of course, embittered because most of his family has been killed by the Americans and the Israelis. So Chris Matthews, you’re also writing about the war in Iran for your Hardball, Substack. And you say this, “It’s back at U.S. again, this deep-seated hatred for what we did in 1953, when the CIA overthrew their government and inserted the monarchy of the Shah. It has been this way ever since 1979. Expect the same persistent hatred this time around. It is consistent with our history, but more so. They will bomb their neighbors, choke the Strait of Hormuz, whack back at Israel. Most frightening, they know us. They know what hurts us most, what angers Donald Trump most, oil, the market generally, and they will play nasty.” And Chris, you write about your own experience. Of course, you know 1979, what happened then. And it’s a real warning, you say, for this present. CHRIS MATTHEWS: It’s amazing. David French said it so well, the enemy gets a vote. Back in 79 and 80, we spent a horrendous year of 1980. All those days and nights. Every time you turn on the television, it would be America held hostage at 1130 at night in the East Coast. It became a nightline, of course, later on. Cronkite would end his show with how many days the hostages have been held. They knew exactly what they’re doing. They were decapitating Jimmy Carter. And so the hostage-watch how every day they had the flag burnings. Every day, they had the trooping of the diplomats, the 50 diplomats, walking around blindfolded to humiliate them. They were humiliating Carter every single day. And it was on our television. It was hurting Carter, and he ended up losing. And finally, a couple days before the election, I was on Air Force One, and I got to tell you, we get a word from Turan. Oh, the mullahs are meeting. They may be making ready for a deal. So everybody flew back to Washington, and Carter finds out they weren’t going to make a deal. They were just teasing, just to humiliate him. He went on national television the Sunday before the election-I will never forget this-and said, I wish I could tell you when the hostages are coming home. I can’t. And by the way, on Election Eve, as we sat on Air Force One, we had to tell him on the Cronkite report that evening, the next day’s election was not the number one news story. The number one news story, right at the top of the news budget, was the anniversary of the hostage-taking. That was bigger news. Carter was screwed. They never put-they never sent the hostages back until after he’d been beaten by Reagan. And then, when he had left office, they knew exactly what they’re doing. They decapitated Carter. And I’ve got to tell you, they’re doing the same thing to Trump. They know exactly what the Strait of Hormuz is doing to the oil markets, to the markets generally. They know what we’re up to, because Trump is on television all the time. They see him. They know how he works and how to hurt him, and they’re trying to decapitate him.

RealClearPolitics Videos