Chris Matthews: 'Idiots' vote for 'numbskull' third party candidates

Chris Matthews let everyone watching MSNBC's NOW with Alex Wagner know that people who vote for third parties or refrain from voting are "idiots."

“If you don’t vote you’re an idiot,” he began.

"The haters all voted, they always vote. The haters will show up," Matthews explained. "It's the lovers -- oh, I had to check my email, I had to text something, or I thought I'd work out or meet somebody for a drink. Drop it. Vote," Matthews said.

But Matthews went further than simply criticizing those who don't cast a ballot, moving on to lambast people who decline to vote for Republican or Democratic candidates.

"And if you vote for one of these numbskull third or fourth party candidates like Gary Johnson or Jill Stein and say, oh I was so surprised at what happened -- no you shouldn't be, because idiots like you who voted for third and fourth party candidates, and they don't know how the system works. You have two choices."

Johnson is running on the Libertarian ticket, while Stein is the Green Party's candidate.

He argued that "people being so NPR, so PBS, so hoity-toity" by voting for other parties have ruined elections.

Matthews continued, "If you want to participate, go vote. If you want to watch, go to another country, because this is the country you're allowed to vote in."

"People who think they're better than democracy are really a joke on themselves," he said.

Watch the video, from MSNBC on Nov. 6, below.

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