MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough does not know what “whataboutism” means. On the Wednesday installment of Morning Joe, he declared that whataboutism explains why “the Trump right” is so fixated on the scandal surrounding Hunter Biden and his laptop is to distract from former President Trump’s corruption.
Scarborough declared, “And Claire [McCaskill], it also provides many on the Trump right a wonderful opportunity to engage in what whataboutism. You look at — at the corruption of Donald Trump. You look at — you look at the crimes committed, that he, it appears that he’s is going to get away with whether it's the Manhattan D.A. not having the stomach to go after.
By shifting the conversation to Trump, it is Scarborough engaging in whataboutism:
You just, look — look at what happened with Trump Hotel. Look what, I mean I, we could go down the list. But it does provide many on the Trump right a wonderful opportunity to engage in what whataboutism. That doesn't excuse the media for not aggressively going after this story. That does not excuse social media for banning this story at a critical time during the campaign, but if people want to know why they're pushing this so hard, that's one of the reasons.
It is fair to say that Scarborough has consistently criticized Twitter’s decision to censor the original New York Post story, but that is only because he originally thought it was so outrageously “false” that people need to be able to “sit there and laugh at the hokie story of a computer repairman looking at a computer, going, ‘This sure does look suspicious to me. I’m going to call Rudy Giuliani.’"
Such proclamations that were so bold yet so wrong are one reason the story matters. Another is that the vice president’s kid was making money off his father’s name, which was something that went completely went over McCaskill’s head: “Yeah, but let’s look at the difference between Trump and Biden in this situation. Trump's kids are out there making all kind of money off his name.”
If anything comes out of the scandal, McCaskill declared, it should be that it shows Joe Biden’s supposed integrity:
...the point is, if Donald Trump was in this situation, you know what he would’ve done? He would have fired that U.S. Attorney in Delaware. He would have shut down this investigation or tried to. What did Joe Biden do? Joe Biden not only has been hands-off in this investigation; he's allowed the Trump appointee that is handling this investigation to stay in place. That's the difference between integrity and corruption.
Now, if there’s any story to laugh at, it would be that one.
This segment was sponsored by Applebee’s
Here is a transcript of the April 6 show:
MSNBC Morning Joe
4/6/2022
7:45 AM ET
SCARBOROUGH: And Claire, it also provides many on the Trump right a wonderful opportunity to engage in what whataboutism. You look at—at-- the corruption of Donald Trump. You look at—you look at-- the crimes committed, that he, it appears that he’s is going to get away with whether it's the Manhattan D.A. not having the stomach to go after. You just, look—look-- at what happened with Trump Hotel. Look what, I mean I, we could go down the list. But it does provide many on the Trump right a wonderful opportunity to engage in what whataboutism. That doesn't excuse the media for not aggressively going after this story. That does not excuse social media for banning this story at a critical time during the campaign, but if people want to know why they're pushing this so hard, that's one of the reasons.
CLAIRE MCCASKILL: Yeah, but let’s look at the difference between Trump and Biden in this situation. Trump's kids are out there making all kind of money off his name. I mean, Jared Kushner’s erected a pup tent in Saudi Arabia—
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Yup. Yes, he has.
MCCASKILL: to make billions of dollars off—off—his name. And what would’ve--
SCARBOROUGH: By the way I mean,--
BRZEZINSKI: It's more than a pup tent.
SCARBOROUGH: It is important to say this, though, Jared has a lot more money than Donald and always has, but go ahead.
MCCASKILL: That’s probably true, but the point is, if Donald Trump was in this situation, you know what he would’ve done? He would have fired that U.S. Attorney in Delaware. He would have shut down this investigation or tried to. What did Joe Biden do? Joe Biden not only has been hands off—
BRZEZINSKI: Yup
MCCASKILL: --in this investigation; he's allowed the Trump appointee that is handling this investigation to stay in place. That's the difference between integrity and corruption.
