Morning Joe: Republicans’ ‘Massive Moral Collapse’ Is ‘The Beginning Of The End’ For The GOP
Joe Scarborough gave a long, impassioned speech on Friday’s Morning Joe, strongly criticizing Republicans in Congress and the state of the party. Scarborough, who is a former Republican congressman, expressed doubts about the GOP’s chances of survival.
“The government shutdown is an important story. We’re going to be talking about that at length this morning, but I don’t want any of us to lose sight of what’s happening at the same time, what’s simultaneously unfolding right before our very eyes,” Scarborough said.
“We’re watching the continued political, ideological and moral collapse of my old party, the Republican Party,” Scarborough said. “And make no mistake, Donald Trump’s governing immorality and amorality is the engine that’s driving this collapse and has been driving this collapse for some time, but his Republican allies on Capitol Hill and in powerful positions across America are too eager and too willing to be his accomplices.”
Scarborough then tore into Senator Lindsey Graham, the new Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Graham has changed from being a critic of President Donald Trump to one of his strongest supporters, even calling on the President to declare a national emergency.
“As a presidential candidate in 2016, [Graham] routinely warned us of the moral rot that the election of Donald Trump as the party’s nominee would bring to the Republican Party and he said that that unhinged Manhattan developer would destroy the GOP if he were elected. Well, Lindsey was right. Then,” Scarborough said.
“But now he’s one of the administration’s leading henchmen in hatching plots to run rough shod over our nation’s traditions and to turn the Republican Party into a rudderless, unprincipled collection of Mini-Me Donald Trumps,” he said.
Scarborough discussed Graham’s former commitment to the Constitution and checks and balances, before turning to his views on the suggested state of emergency.
“Well, now that same Lindsey Graham who actually followed John McCain’s lead for so long is actually the Republican who’s using his position as Senate Chairman of the Judiciary Committee to encourage Donald Trump to declare a national emergency and illegally seize Article I powers if he doesn’t get his way on the border wall.”
“Think about that for a second. And it is illegal. It will be overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States and if Lindsey doesn’t know that, then he really shouldn’t even be in Congress. It’s that obvious. The courts will overturn this because in the midst of the kind of negotiations that Donald Trump is going through with Nancy Pelosi, it’s the first time that this spoiled, pampered brat, who inherited $200 million from his father and then blew through it, that brat has now grown up to be president of the United States and he’s 72, 73 […] this is the first time anybody has ever stood up to him.”
“You know what that’s called? That’s called Madisonian democracy. And It’s been the norm of this constitutional republic for 240 years. And that’s just been a balance between two co-equal branches of government. But Lindsey says it’s not going Donald’s way so let’s just declare a national emergency. We can rob money from people who are suffering in Puerto Rico, we can rob money from people who are suffering in California. We can rob money from our military men and women, even though the Armed Services Chairman has said that would be deplorable. It is truly deplorable.”
Scarborough then criticized Republican Congressman Steve King for his recent remarks apparently defending white nationalism. He used King as an example of how much the Republicans’ moral compass has changed.
“Conservatives like me can only now watch and wait in horror to see the awful legacy and the moral destruction that Donald Trump is going to have on the party that I once loved and that he hijacked to win the White House. But I can tell you this today – Trump is leading this horror show but you know who I hold accountable? Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Steve King and all the Republicans on Capitol Hill that are ducking their heads.”
“They are the co-conspirators, complicit by their action or, more importantly, by their silence. The party of Lincoln and the party of Reagan, they’re suffering through a massive moral collapse. It is sad and it is dangerous for this country and I believe it is the beginning of the end of my old party.”
Watch the video above, via MSNBC.
