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Tavis Smiley on Tuesday said the upcoming presidential race is “going to be the ugliest, the nastiest, the most divisive, and the most racist in the history of this republic.” When MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell asked his guest on “The Last Word” why he thought so, the PBS host predictably blamed it all on the Tea Party and Donald Trump (video follows with transcript and commentary): TAVIS SMILEY, PBS: I said over a year ago that this was going to be, this presidential race, Lawrence, was going to be the ugliest, the nastiest, the most divisive, and the most racist, the most racist, in the history of this republic. I did not know that that race to the bottom would begin so quickly. One can disagree with the Tea Party… LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, HOST: Why did you see this coming? SMILEY: I saw it coming because it’s pretty clear given how the Tea Party has acted, given that Donald Trump is now playing to the worst in the Tea Party, that this would be possible. I don’t want to demonize or cast aspersions on the Tea Party broadly. I believe that there’s a certain angst that many people in that entity feel, and I share that angst about government. I don’t believe that it’s the solution to reduce government. Government does have a role to play. We’ve got to figure out, we can figure out and debate what that role is, but there have been semantics they’ve engaged in that made it clear to me: showing up at rallies with guns, and the Secret Service, you know, working overtime to protect this president. More threats against his life than any president in the history of the nation, indeed, presidents combined. So the evidence is pretty clear that they would do anything and say anything in order to make sure he does not get reelected. Of course, Smiley and his host chose not to address the evidence that they and most of the liberal media would do anything and say anything in order to make sure Obama DOES get reelected. This includes playing the race card whenever possible much as former President Bill Clinton accused the former junior senator from Illinois of doing in 2008. With this in mind, Smiley was 100 percent correct – and his side of the aisle will see to it that he ends up being right. For the next eighteen-plus months, just as the previous 51, whenever anyone anywhere expresses any criticism of Barack Obama, it will solely be because of the color of his skin. This is as obvious today as it was in February 2007 when Obama first threw his name into the presidential ring. We should sincerely thank Smiley for once again making this perfectly clear.