Macho Joe Scarborough strikes again!
Morning Joe devoted Thursday's first segment to tearing into Mitch McConnell for having endorsed Donald Trump yesterday despite McConnell, shortly after January 6th, having denounced his actions on that day, and despite Trump having frequently insulted McConnell and used language condemned as racist about his wife.
The panel also ripped other Republicans who have endorsed Trump despite his insults, including Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham.
Predictably, leading the pack of McConnell critics was Scarborough. As we've often documented, as here, Joe has proven himself one of the toughest hombres in the Nantucket loafers-with-no-socks summering gang.
Scarborough shouted that "as a man!" he wouldn't have endorsed Trump in similar circumstances.
Scarborough recounted a story about a powerful Republican who took him aside to ask him to "stop," twenty years after the Republican had, in Scarborough's words, "slandered" one of Joe's friends. "It's been 20 years!," pleaded the Republican, per Joe. Scarborough says he replied, "You shouldn't have said that about my friend. It's going to be 20 more years."
An elephant never forgets -- and neither does Macho Joe! Remember this when they complain that Trump shouldn't govern with "vengeance."
Scarborough said "hey y'all" were the first words out of Lindsey Graham after Trump had mocked him at a campaign event. Declared Macho Joe:
"My first two words if somebody did that to me would be markedly different."
Scarborough didn't specify just what those first two words would be—but we can guess. Just yesterday, we caught Joe telling his viewers "f-you" if they didn't agree with him that Joe Biden is the best he's ever been!
The irony is that while Scarborough trashes Republicans for their obeisance to Trump, Joe has turned himself into a leading Biden lickspittle. So much so that he's been willing to sacrifice any remaining credibility Morning Joe might have had. As we've observed at NewsBusters, when he goes on his Biden-boosting, Trump-bashing rants, Scarborough has an audience of one: the Big Guy nodding off in the Oval Office.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
3/7/24
6:06 am ETJOE SCARBOROUGH: I'm sorry, I'm just gonna ask, and I say this of Cruz, I say it of Lindsey, I say it of all of them. I say it of just all the people Trump insulted.
[Shouts] What man! I'd say -- or woman. But as a man I say, what man would put up with that?
I had a very powerful Republican slander a friend of mine. Twenty years later, 20 years later, he pulls me aside before a speech and begs me to stop. And he says, Jesus Christ, Joe, it's been 20 years! It's been 20 years. I said, you shouldn't have said that about my friend. It's going to be 20 more years.
A man! I mean, that's what we would all do! Well, except for my friends.
GEORGE CONWAY: But even --
SCARBOROUGH: No, hold on, except for my friends.
When Donald Trump said I was a murderer and should be executed, a lot of them voted for Donald Trump. [Shouts] But, the rest of us here! This is -- but that even raises a question, Willie. What is it about Donald Trump?
CONWAY: It's his brilliance.
SCARBOROUGH: People can insult someone's wife or husband, in Mitch McConnell's case, continue racist slurs against his wife! And they're just fine with it.
I just -- that's not -- I'm not even looking at Donald Trump there. I'm looking at these people. I'm looking at my former friends. They're like, yeah, he called you a murderer, but I'm voting for him anyway. Regulations. You know, they're going to be down under Trump. It's crazy.
WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, you and I have talked about this on and off the air. What are those looks in the mirror like in the morning or at night for Lindsey graham, or for Ted Cruz, of ro any of those guys? Do they have any personal pride? Not talking about politics here. If you have any personal pride, how do you do it? How do you swallow all that down and then go out and support the guy who's attacked you relentlessly? I mean, he attacks Lindsey Graham in his home state during the primary.
SCARBOROUGH: Liberal!
GEIST: The crowd boos Lindsey Graham.
SCARBOROUGH: Gets the crowd to boo Lindsey!
GEIST: Mocks them. Takes their support for granted. And then he should because, there's nothing he can do to them that they wouldn't fall in line anyway. But it is, again, it's not politics, as, as a person who has personal pride, how do you do it? I don't know. I don't know.
SCARBOROUGH: Lindsey's first words are, hey y'all. My first two words if somebody said, did that to me, would be markedly different!
