On Friday, as socialists continued their rise as a part of the Democratic Party through primary election victories, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough took his own route with socialism claims of his own and instead claimed the Republicans were actually the socialists. He also seemed to minimize the actual rise of socialists in the Democratic Party, a topic his show has recently covered extensively, as he called the DSA “fringe.”
The conversation started at the very beginning of the premier liberal morning show as, between Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s bickering about who would lead the segment, Scarborough remarked, “Let’s start with the socialists… that nobody’s talking about.”
After Brzezinski agreed, Scarborough continued, “but everybody should be talking about it because socialists are taking over some of the most important companies in America's economy.”
On Friday’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough labeled Republicans as “the socialists that nobody’s talking about" amid the rise of the DSA.
He then downplayed the DSA as a “radical fringe group” even as they continue to be poised for more victories in Democratic primaries. pic.twitter.com/zLNc8v8cP0— Nick (@nspin310) July 31, 2026
The focus of the show’s socialism claims was based on government investment into AI and semiconductor chip companies through funds from the congressionally passed CHIPS Act.
Brzezinski detailed the investment, and Scarborough interrupted, “Also known as socialism.”
Scarborough turned to formulate a long-winded “question” to frequent guest Richard Haass, and claimed Republicans were the actual socialists: “...This is socialism. This is pre-Thatcher style socialism.”
He then blamed Republicans solely for high budgets and high debt, even though greater blame could be placed on high spending in recent Democrat administrations, especially in the Biden years:
“And the great irony. Here you have Republicans, small government Republicans running up the biggest deficits, the biggest debt ever, crippling this country. Not future generations. They're going to cripple this generation with the biggest budgets ever, the biggest spending ever, the biggest socialized schemes ever. “
Scarborough went on to read his own tweet about the topic, a new trend of lazy content on the show, as he proclaimed, “Trump socialism schemes spread as Republicans seize control of seven more private companies.”
Then, in the second attempt to formulate an actual question to Haass, Scarborough mocked fears of a DSA rise because they were a “fringe” small group:
Richard, they point at a radical fringe group in the Democratic Party and claim, ‘oh, this is what Democrats are doing, they’re socialists.’ And yet you actually have Republicans practicing socialism.
Haass responded, “What it does show more than anything is it just underscores that today's Republican Party has ceased to be a conservative party.”
Later, Scarborough ended the Republican socialism discussion, “But Republicans, in the most socialist of ways, are picking winners and losers now.”
After they spent months downplaying the actual rise of the DSA and defending socialist-aligned candidates like the now-disgraced Graham Platner before finally being forced to cover controversies of DSA candidates like Darializa Avila Chevalier, Morning Joe and Scarborough himself have taken the route of gaslighting and ‘Hey, look over there’ in the socialism fight.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW's Morning Joe
July 31, 2026
06:03:31 AM Eastern
(...)
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So, we begin.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah
BRZEZINSKI: May I? Oh wow!
SCARBOROUGH: Let's start with the socialists -
BRZEZINSKI: Oh, okay.
SCARBOROUGH: That nobody’s talking about –
BRZEZINSKI: Okay. We can do that.
SCARBOROUGH: – but everybody should be talking about because socialists are taking over some of the most important companies in America's economy.
BRZEZINSKI: The Department of Commerce is taking equity stakes in seven companies, developing semiconductor technologies for artificial intelligence and advanced computing systems -
SCARBOROUGH: Also known as socialism.
BRZEZINSKI: The department announced yesterday that it would designate more than $870 million in federal incentives under the Chips and Science Act in exchange for minor equity stakes in those companies. This practice has drawn criticism from lawmakers, including some Republicans like Senator Todd Young, who has said that the CHIPS Act was never intended to let the federal government take major stakes in private companies.
SCARBOROUGH: Richard Haass, this is socialism. This is pre-Thatcher style socialism. And the great irony. Here you have Republicans, small government Republicans running up the biggest deficits, the biggest debt ever, crippling this country. Not future generations. They're going to cripple this generation with the biggest budgets ever, the biggest spending ever, the biggest socialized schemes ever.
And now you have these same Republicans – “Trump socialism schemes spread as Republicans seize control of seven more private companies,” I wrote yesterday. “This is a policy that poisoned pre-Thatcher Britain. That Republicans keep spreading socialism across the tech sector businesses is deeply disturbing. So too are the record deficits and debt.”
Richard, They point at a radical fringe group in the Democratic Party and claim, ‘oh, this is what Democrats are doing to socialists.’ And yet you actually have Republicans practicing socialism.
First, they practice socialism with Intel, then they practice socialism by forcing other companies to do business with the federal government, or else they're going to get cut out.
And now the same thing here. Oh yeah, you can be involved in the CHIPS Act, but you've got to engage in a little act of socialism with us and let us take over stakes in your company. This is outrageous. I - every Republican, every Democrat, every small government conservative should be against this.
RICHARD HAASS: Yeah. What it does show more than anything is it just underscores that today's Republican Party has ceased to be a conservative party.
Everything it is doing is antithetical to the principles of Thatcher, of Reagan, Hayek, you name it. Milton Friedman.
This is not a conservative party anymore. The whole idea of government was to be minimal, to simply set the context for which the private sector would, would do its thing. And instead, the government is essentially making the private sector a quasi-public sector.
And history suggests it's expensive, it's inefficient, it's bad for the economy. It's bad for democracy. It leads to corruption. It leads to inefficiency. And yet we're doing it, and there's no pushback. So, again, we don't have a conservative party. We have a populist party. We have a personalist party, and this is an extension of it.
(...)
6:08:35 AM Eastern
SCARBOROUGH: What have conservatives like myself said forever about this? The government should not pick winners and losers. The government should allow everybody an equal opportunity for their small business, for their startup, for their company to succeed. But Republicans, in the most socialist of ways, are picking winners and losers now.
(...)
