'South Park Stunt?' Joe Scarborough Mocks Trump Statue as 'Blasphemous' Golden Calf

Over the years, Joe Scarborough has often mounted his Morning Joe pulpit to proclaim on a variety of religious subjects from his Baptist upbringing. He was on "blasphemy" watch on Monday mocking a new statue of Donald Trump as a "blasphemous" Golden Calf on his Doral golf course in Miami.

"This is Old Testament stuff, I tell you. That kinda looks like, Moses comes down from the mountain with the tablets, and that's what's there."

Scarborough sarcastically surmised that the statue was "so blasphemous" that it had to be something out of South Park. 

SCARBOROUGH: Was this a South Park stunt? Is this Matt Parker and Trey Stone behind this? Matt Parker and Trey Stone have to be behind something so blasphemous.

I’m sorry, is this not a South Park episode, where you have somebody that keeps pushing the town of South Park, and pushing the town of South Park, and they keep getting more and more blasphemous until they go, “Okay, let’s just do the Golden Calf statue.”

Quick reality check for Joe: A calf is a baby cow. The statue is clearly a full-grown man. But Trump posed heroically in gold for a statue named "Don Colossus" is far too much for the Bluesky Brigade to handle. All the people who want to separate the church as far as possible from the state are lecturing about Moses. MS NOW displayed the headline from a Newsweek article, "Pastor Defends Golden Trump Statue From Biblical Backlash."

Look for the head of the seminary to call Joe back to retake that course on "Blasphemy and the Golden Calf." Come to think of it, just a secular course in Comparative Mammalian Anatomy 101 would suffice.

When Jonathan Lemire read a tweet from Pastor Mark Burns, who was involved in the statue project, declaring the obvious: that the statue is not a Golden Calf, Lemire sneered over the Nixonian "I am not a crook" metaphor: "If you have to say 'Let me be clear, this is not a Golden Calf,' then I think your defense is raising more questions than it answers."

Here's the transcript.

MS NOW
Morning Joe
5/11/26
5:59 am EDT

JAMES HANSON [LBC YouTube host]: Is somehow a false idol, you know? Because people talk about the Golden Calf. Well, is this the golden Trump?

MARK BURNS: Yeah, well of course it’s preposterous. It’s blasphemy to even think that. I mean, if you knew me, of course, I don’t know anybody who worships Donald Trump as a god.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: That was evangelical pastor Mark Burns -- 

JOE SCARBOROUGH: (interrupting, sarcastic): -- talking about. No, certainly nobody would pray before a golden idol.

MIKA: Yeah, well he’s an advisor to President Trump.

SCARBOROUGH: No! But you just wouldn't — I mean, that’s very obvious. It’s like, this is Old Testament stuff, I tell you. You do not --

MIKA: Yeah. He was defending a twenty-two foot golden statue of the president… .

SCARBOROUGH: I'm sorry, but that kinda looks like, Moses comes down from the mountain with the tablets, and that's what's there.

MIKA: The pastor helped unveil the golden --

SCARBOROUGH: -- is there a Golden Calf--

MIKA: The Don Colussus last week at Trump National Doral Golf Course in Miami.

SCARBOROUGH: Hold it, hold it — can we stop for a second? Hey, can Alex — was this a South Park stunt? Is this Matt Parker and Trey Stone behind this? Matt Parker and Trey Stone have to be behind something so blasphemous.

I’m sorry, is this not a South Park episode, where you have somebody that keeps pushing the town of South Park, and pushing the town of South Park, and they keep getting more and more blasphemous until they go, “Okay, let’s just do the Golden Calf statue.”

JONATHAN LEMIRE: So Pastor Mark Burns, who we just heard from there, also went on social media and wrote this phrase: “Let me be clear, this is not a Golden Calf.”

And I’ll just say, if you have to say “Let me be clear, this is not a Golden Calf,” then I think your defense is raising more questions than it answers.

MIKA: They say the monument is meant to symbolize resilience and patriotism. 

SCARBOROUGH: Resilience? That's resilience?

MIKA: Reports say the project cost about $450,000 and was funded by crypto investors who promoted a patriot meme coin.

MIKA: Happy Monday everybody. 

SCARBOROUGH: Again, again, it’s early. I reversed their names, but that is Trey Parker and Matt Stone, straight out of South Park, is it not?

LEMIRE: If it’s Donald Trump, it’s gotta be a gold-plated calf at best. 

MIKA: I mean, my parents would say “Cuckoo Namunyo.” 

SCARBOROUGH: That is really crazy.

LEMIRE: But the pastor was clear. He answered it.

SCARBOROUGH: This is not a golden calf.