Joe Scarborough To Trump: “You’re Acting Like A Bush League Loser…Like A Racist”
Throughout much of this election season, Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough have take quite a bit of heat — especially from this site — for being in the tank for Donald Trump. Early on in his campaign, the duo constantly had the ex-Apprentice host on for extended interviews. And when he wasn’t calling in, they’d spend huge chunks of program time slurping up to The Donald, remarking how amazing his candidacy was, pointing out how great his poll numbers were. And let’s not even get started on the sycophantic infomercial that was the town hall event they hosted.
However, over the past few weeks, there’s been a noticeable change when it comes to Trump coverage. Last month, after Scarborough was mildly critical of The Donald and said conservatives should run a third-party candidate, Trump ridiculed Morning Joe on Twitter, claiming he was boycotting them, leading to a tweet storm from Joe. While the Republican nominee would eventually appear for an interview a couple of weeks later, the truce lasted only a short time, as the real estate mogul got pissed off over Mika’s criticism of Paul Ryan’s endorsement, leading to another so-called boycott.
Since then, Trump has been under a firestorm over his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, and Joe and Mika realize they are free to be as critical as they want to be towards the Orange One. Therefore, we’ve been presented with a few days of Scarborough ranting against his one-time dominant over his bigotry, culminating with Wednesday’s trademarked faux outrage tirade.
Following the final round of primaries (there is still a relatively meaningless primary in D.C. next Tuesday) and Trump trying to appease GOPers by using a teleprompter to deliver a mediocre speech, JoeScar noted that Trump still hasn’t done anything to rectify the damage he’s done regarding his rampant racism. Therefore, there will be no endorsement forthcoming from him, and he can’t use the possibility of a Hillary presidency to scare him anymore.
“Donald, guess what, I’m not going to support you until you get your act together. You’re acting like bush-league loser, you’re acting like a racist, you’re acting like a bigot. This is called art of the deal. I’m taking my deal off the table. Until you come to the table and get on the other side of the table and prove to me you’re not a bigot and you don’t take my party down in the ditch, you don’t have my endorsement.
[…]
I’m taking the gun away from my head. I’m putting it on the table and now it is in your hands on whether you are going to prove to the Republican Party and me personally that you’re not a bigot. So, don’t use Hillary Clinton as a threat against me. Don’t use Hillary Clinton as an excuse, as your blank check to say racist things about people born in Indiana. No, Donald, you don’t get to play it that way. I’m not scared of you and I’m not scared of the base because they are just as pissed off as me. Walk away. It’s called the art of the deal. It’s what Donald Trump has been preaching all his life. They are — I can’t say the word they are. … They’re weak.”
(Yeah, Scarborough wanted so say Republicans were pussies right there.)
Look, this was nothing more than kabuki theater. Joe was just playing for the cameras, like he is wont to do. And it is likely that, in the end, he’ll end up making up to Daddy just in time for November’s election.
However, it is still semi-remarkable. A few months ago, JoeScar or Mika wouldn’t have been so forceful with their words against the sausage-fingered scam artist. They would have found excuses for his behavior or just rattled off some poll numbers to justify his actions. At the very least, this is progress.
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of MSNBC:
