U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on the economy, at the General Motors Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan, U.S. July 27, 2026. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
President Donald Trump made an eye-popping boast at his Michigan rally on Monday — and it left a panel on MS NOW's "The Weeknight" flabbergasted.
"We're 99 days away, and he's all over the place," said anchor Luke Russert, speaking to Media Matters chief Angelo Carusone. He then played a clip of Trump speaking at the rally.
"I've done more for you than your parents, okay?" said Trump. "Your parents are good. I'm not going to knock your parents, but I have been better to you than your parents. That I can tell you. The Golden Age of America is upon us. We're in the Golden Age. This is an age like no other. We're having the single greatest year we've ever had as a country."
"I've done more for you than your parents," said Russert, as the rest of the table chattered. "That sounds almost like Chairman Mao. It sounds like the father of the homeland. And what have I done for you, my children? It's really weird stuff."
Carusone concurred.
This speech, he said, is "a reflection of how he's currently thinking about himself. He's thinking about himself in those terms. He's totally high on his own supply ... he really does see himself as that type of historic figure."
The whole talking point doesn't even make much sense, considering the elderly audience there to listen, he continued. "A lot of those people's parents are probably not there, and they're not really thinking about their parents; they're thinking about their kids. So it would work if he was speaking to younger people. But that's the group of his supporters that he's lost the fastest."
That Trump didn't even think that through, Carusone added, is "sort of like a reflection of just how disconnected he is from the space, how much they've sort of been turning on him ... they know that he's not doing anything that they actually want."
Trump has often reacted favorably when compared to dictators like Mao, Stalin, or Hitler, at one point taking to his Truth Social platform to praise a supposed "historian" who had made such a comparison.