Joe Scarborough Blasts Trump for Racist Comments While Saying He Was ‘Kowtowing’ to China

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough criticized President Donald Trump for racist comments on Tuesday and then accused Trump of ‘kowtowing’ to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Though the phrase is not an uncommon way describe grovelling, it has taken on a racial dimension.

“I don’t know if you knew this or not, Willie [Geist], but January 22, the President said in Davos, ‘We only have one person. They came in from China. And, well, it’s going away. We’re going to be fine. We got it completely under control,'” Scarborough said.

“Then right after that, he talked about how great President Xi was. I don’t know if you knew that. There’s a lot of talk about China right now. The President, of course, making a racist comment to an American reporter, trying to somehow insult because of her heritage, just like Judge Curiel.”

“Couple days later, President Trump thanked President Xi, sort of bent over backwards, in fact, thanking President Xi, saying that he was completely transparent and China, completely transparent.”

“In particular, on behalf of the American people, Donald Trump said,  I want to thank President Xi,” Scarborough went on.

“That didn’t happened. At the same time he was kowtowing President Xi, people in his administration were trying to get President Xi’s people to work with them so that we could prepare for the hurricane. They refused to do it.”

Kowtowing was a traditional form deep bowing to show respect that was very common in imperial China. It took on a very negative connotation in English as a form of excessive deference. The practice is still used but no longer common in China, where the Communist Party discouraged the practice.

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.