Morning Joe was on brand as a daily DNC messaging board. There wasn't a positive word on tonight's anticipated Ron DeSantis campaign announcement on Twitter this evening with Elon Musk. From Mika Brezinski to Jonathan Lemire, Willie Geist, Katty Kay, and Elise Jordan, all expressed their energetic reservations and criticism of the DeSantis strategy.
But no one was as openly hostile and negative as Never Trumper Charlie Sykes, who said that DeSantis had decided:
"to launch a bid for President of the United States by bowing the knee to a tech oligarch, somebody who has been very publicly decompensating, an erratic narcissistic megalomaniac like Elon Musk . . . I think you're seeing his lack of political skills and his lack of political judgment and a whiff of desperation here."
"Decompensating?" Charlie breaking out the psychological lingo! Turns out it means, "to lose the ability to maintain normal or appropriate psychological defenses, sometimes resulting in depression, anxiety, or delusions." Yup, Musk has lost his ability—all the way to amassing a $190-billion fortune! As usual, the Morning Joe crew won't admit that they spent a bunch of the 2015-16 primaries in thrall to a "narcissistic" business titan.
Sykes also mocked DeSantis for somehow going "all in on Elon" and described Musk as displaying "brain worms"—whatever that means.
Sykes did see one upside to DeSantis making his announcement with Musk, claiming that it will "throw a certain amount of chaos into MAGA world."
One thing Sykes failed to mention was the contrast in announcement styles between DeSantis and Biden. When the latter announced his re-election bid, he did so via a carefully scripted and produced video. No live speech in which Biden's inevitable fumbles would be on full display. In contrast, DeSantis will reportedly be doing a live chat with Musk: no training wheels necessary!
Note: In his Bulwark column today on the DeSantis announcement, Sykes shoveled even more slurs Musk's way, calling him an "endlessly needy, petulant man-child." And strangely, Never Trumper Sykes repeatedly used Trump's nasty new moniker for DeSantis: "Meatball." Since Sykes is apparently taking his linguistic cues from Trump, should we expect him to start calling the incumbent president "Crooked Joe" Biden?
On Morning Joe, Never Trumper Charlie Sykes saying that in making his presidential announcement with Elon Musk, Ron DeSantis is "bowing the knee to an erratic, narcissistic megalomaniac" was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual, Chase, and Visa.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
5/24/23
6:16 am EDT
CHARLIE SYKES: Well, let's talk about launching a candidacy with Elon Musk. This is not a parody when you think about the fact that the Governor of Florida decides to launch a bid for President of the United States by bowing the knee to a tech oligarch, somebody who has been very publicly decompensating, an erratic narcissistic megalomaniac like Elon Musk.
But on the other hand, it's going to generate a huge amount of buzz. We're talking about it now. It will throw a certain amount of chaos into MAGA world, and it is going to be interesting to see how Donald Trump responds. I think it makes very unlikely that he's going to return to Twitter at this point.
But what an extraordinary choice. I mean, for, for Ron DeSantis to basically go all-in on Elon Musk at the time when Elon Musk been displaying all of his brain worms. You know, saying that working from home is immoral. Doubting whether a mass killer was really a neo-Nazi. Opening the doors to Twitter to every sort of, every sort of grifter, and bigot, and conspiracy theorist.
But Ron DeSantis clearly thought that he needed a big shift, a big pivot, something dramatic. . . .
There are so many questions about all of this. We've, we've seen Ron DeSantis' lack of interpersonal skills on display. I think now you're seeing perhaps his lack of, of political judgment doing this.
. . .
The other point to be made here is the risk/reward. Obviously, he thinks there's going to be reward by siding up to the, basically the online right. But when you align yourself with Elon Musk, there is tremendous risks. You know, I've used the word erratic several times. Just a couple of days ago, he was tweeting out praise out for Tim Scott.
Elon Musk can change his mind on a dime. A week from now he can say, yeah, Ron DeSantis, I gave him a shot and he totally fizzled out. I mean, he can cut Ron DeSantis off at the knees 48 hours from now.
. . .
But I do think you're seeing his lack of political skills and his lack of political judgment. And maybe a little bit of a whiff of desperation here. You know, how do I reset this campaign and change the narrative? \
But, boy, you would think there'd be somebody in the room saying, uh, Governor, uh, Elon Musk, really? Could we do a little bit of background here? Can I tell you exactly how this in fact might play out? Other than just triggering Donald Trump, there's a lot of downsides.
