MSNBC Panel Says Biden Plays Chess While Trump is Stuck Playing Hungry Hungry Hippo

An MSNBC panel praised President Joe Biden's performance at the G7 summit. However, while they highlighted his enthusiastic appearance on the world stage, they slammed former President Donald Trump. The segment aired on MSNBC's The Weekend on Saturday. Hosts Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez, and Symone Sanders-Townsend welcomed guests Eugene Daniels from Politico and Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project.

Steele argued that Biden had a 'great week' at the summit, with the United States economy showing strength. He wondered how Biden's team should promote the same. Subsequently, he contrasted Biden with the "indicted former president running against him, wailing and speaking incoherently at rallies." As the guests weighed in, Menendez took a harsh swipe at Trump. Alluding to the Hasbro game, she opined, "It's amazing, because you think about the fact that the president is playing chess, and the former president at best is playing, like, hungry, hungry hippo." Her fellow host, Sanders-Townsend, piled on, arguing Trump was playing the card game Uno instead, where 'somebody keeps telling him Draw Four,' as per HuffPost. 

As the panel laughed, Sanders-Townsend praised Biden's stamina: "And again, for everyone that’s saying, ‘Joe Biden seems a little too old.’ I don’t know about you, but from France, doing all these things, coming back to America, going back out to the G7 in Italy, now he’s on his way to L.A. right now as we speak to do another event. And I don’t know where Donald Trump has been. Oh yes, I do know where he’s been..." 

She added that he had been 'railing against the machine on a stage.' Galen, however, delivered perhaps the most over-the-top kudos to the current POTUS. "He [Biden] met his moment at the beginning. He met his moment with the economic crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He met his moment with Ukraine. He has met his moment over and over and over again."

Only a few days had passed since Biden returned to the US from a trip to Normandy, France, to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, when he went to Italy for the G7 conference. The Hill reported that on Saturday night, he went to an illustrious event in Los Angeles that helped fund almost $30 million for his campaign. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand, Kathryn Hahn, and Jason Bateman were among those who headlined for Biden alongside late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and former President Barack Obama. The fundraiser also included singing by Jack Black and Sheryl Lee Ralph. According to a recent poll, Biden has been gaining momentum with older voters. On the other hand, Trump is starting to win favor with younger people, decreasing the President's margin among those aged 18 to 29 by more than 20 points.