Hardball with Chris Matthews

The program premiered on the now-defunct America's Talking network in 1994 (as Politics with Chris Matthews) before moving on CNBC, and then to MSNBC, where it continued to air until its end in 2020.

[1] On March 2, 2020, Matthews announced that he had left the program, effective immediately, stating that the "younger generation" was "ready to take the reins", but that he would still "continue to write and talk about politics and cheer on my producers and crew here in Washington in New York and my MSNBC colleagues."

He claimed that the Bush administration—specifically Vice President Cheney's office—had tried to "silence" him by pressuring MSNBC executives to put a stop to Matthews' criticism of the Iraq War.

On October 17, 2008, Minnesota representative Michele Bachmann gave an interview on Hardball in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain.

"[6] When asked by Matthews about Democratic Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid, Bachmann said, "I am not going to say if they are anti-American or pro-American.

Matthews repeatedly asked Malkin if she thought that Kerry "shot himself on purpose" in order to avoid combat or to gain accolades, noting that such an act would constitute a criminal offense.

Matthews took Miller to task for his statement that soldiers, not reporters, are responsible for freedom of the press, accusing the senator of making the comment only "to get an applause line against the media at a conservative convention."

During a heated exchange in which each man interrupted the other several times, Miller shouted at Matthews to "get out of my face" and angrily stated that he wished "we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel."

Coulter had made a speech days earlier in which she said, "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot'.

Coulter responded that Edwards' complaints were an attempt to raise money for the presidential campaign, and questioned why the candidate himself was not making the call.

He interviews fictional Republican presidential candidate Arnold Vinick (played by Alan Alda) and pressures him about his views on immigration.

The tough nature of Matthews' questions prompts the character of Josh Lyman, a strategist for Vinick's opponent, to shout: "Yeah!