On Thursday's Morning Joe, former Congressman and embittered ex-Republican Joe Scarborough again sounded like he's never been a conservative as he railed against the possibility of Republicans cutting Medicaid and recalled lecturing his Republican colleagues when he was in Congress.
He went on to accuse Republicans of "voting against their own constituents' interests."
As Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) appeared as a guest and was answering a question from Scarborough about Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY) criticizing her over the issue of congestion pricing, she began ranting about how Republicans have voted on Medicaid in Congress:
HOCHUL: I'd be happier if someone like a Mike Lawler and his six colleagues in Congress, the Republicans, instead of making sure that we have people in our state without health care, taking away thousands of individuals' -- millions of individuals' right to be able to get chemo treatments and insulin and to be able to get the health care that they need like they voted on the other day, saying, "We don't care about Medicaid," I'd rather they focus on that. But let me get back to congestion pricing --
Scarborough, who sometimes still claims to be a fiscal conservative, jumped back in and picked up on her attack on Republicans to pile on, sounding like a Democrat:
SCARBOROUOGH: Since you talked about that -- I'm really glad you talked about that because this is a common misperception among Republicans -- and I know because I used to be one -- most Republicans don't understand how much rural health care is controlled -- is powered -- is supported by Medicaid. Hospitals are shutting down when there are Medicaid cuts. Providers massively underserved in rural communities like Upstate New York and areas where I've lived in Upstate New York. Medicaid often is where people send their parents in Upstate New York if they need long-term care.
Scarborough's family lived in Elmira, New York for a few years when he was a child. He then posed:
And so I am curious -- you look at a map of America, and you see the dark blue spots where Medicaid is used. Upstate New York is one of those places. I'm wondering: What would these Medicaid cuts that Republicans are promising right now -- what would these Medicaid cuts do to people who lived in communities like I lived in in Upstate New York?
Hochul eagerly continued her trashing of Republicans, and claimed that, back in 2011, she was elected to Congress because then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) "declared war on Medicare." After she concluded her rant accusing Republicans of threatening health care, the MSNBC host resumed going after his former party:
...again, I don't think most Republicans that voted this way know -- or, if they do know, man, it sure is a vote against their own constituents. If they're from rural areas and they represent Upstate New York, in rural America, almost 50 percent of children get their health care through Medicaid. About 20 percent of adults under the age of 65 get their health care from Medicaid. More people, especially children -- a higher percentage of children and adults get their health care in rural America from Medicaid than do people in urban areas. So they are specifically going after their own constituents whether it's Upstate New York, whether it's upstate in Michigan. I mean, it is -- it is -- it's remarkable that they're voting against their own constituents' interests.
Governor Hochul charged that Republicans "betrayed" their constituents, and then, even though President Donald Trump has only been in office for one month, she complained that he has not yet fixed the problem of inflated egg prices.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's Morning Joe
February 27, 2025
7:26 a.m. Eastern
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): Well, first of all, I'd be happier if someone like a Mike Lawler and his six colleagues in Congress, the Republicans, instead of making sure that we have people in our state without health care, taking away thousands of individuals' -- millions of individuals' right to be able to get chemo treatments and insulin and to be able to get the health care that they need like they voted on the other day, saying, "We don't care about Medicaid," I'd rather they focus on that. But let me get back to congestion pricing --
SCARBOROUGH: Governor, can I -- since you talked about that -- I'm really glad you talked about that because this is a common misperception among Republicans -- and I know because I used to be one -- most Republicans don't understand how much rural health care is controlled -- is powered -- is supported by Medicaid. Hospitals are shutting down when there are Medicaid cuts. Providers massively underserved in rural communities like Upstate New York and areas where I've lived in Upstate New York. Medicaid often is where people send their parents in Upstate New York if they need long-term care. And so I am curious -- you look at a map of America, and you see the dark blue spots where Medicaid is used. Upstate New York is one of those places. I'm wondering: What would these Medicaid cuts that Republicans are promising right now -- what would these Medicaid cuts do to people who lived in communities like I lived in in Upstate New York?
GOVERNOR HOCHUL: Joe, you hit on something that is so profound, is that the red parts of even New York and across America -- these are the people that will be hit hardest by what the Republican members of Congress did. And by drinking the kool-aid and not even questioning the merits of destroying the program that so many of their own constituents -- their own constituents rely on. If go back, memory lane, 2011, I got elected to Congress in the most Republican district in the state of New York -- large swaths of Upstate New York.
You know how I did that? The Paul Ryan budget came out and declared war on Medicare, and I was able to take that as a long-shot Democrat that no one thought I had a chance to win and weaponize that and say, "You did this to these seniors up in Wyoming County and Orleans County and Niagara County. You've hurt the health care system. You've made sure this little child who's got leukemia can never get treatment again because now the insurance company can drop them."
That's how I won by a fairly good margin in a district that I had no chance. That's what we have to remember. These Republicans need to own that vote starting now. Show up at their offices and say, "Did you ask what the impact is, Joe? I have hospitals on the verge of collapse. Doctors don't want to go there, but that does not mean I don't have high pockets of poverty. I have people with major dental problems. I'm trying so hard to eradicate this, and I've got my own Republicans from New York working against me -- against their constituents.
This is all about basic health care, maternal health care. This is about getting your insulin treatments. This is about trying to take care of your cancer. And this is about your grandma and grandpa and maybe your parents sitting in a nursing home because that's the largest expense for Medicaid. So that's what they need to own. As I've said before, Joe, "They break it -- they own it." And you now own this.
SCARBOROUGH: And we're going to get to congestion pricing. I just want to finish on one thought that, again, I don't think most Republicans that voted this way know -- or, if they do know, man, it sure is a vote against their own constituents. If they're from rural areas and they represent Upstate New York, in rural America, almost 50 percent of children get their health care through Medicaid. About 20 percent of adults under the age of 65 get their health care from Medicaid. More people, especially children -- a higher percentage of children and adults get their health care in rural America from Medicaid than do people in urban areas. So they are specifically going after their own constituents whether it's Upstate New York, whether it's upstate in Michigan. I mean, it is -- it is -- it's remarkable that they're voting against their own constituents' interests.
GOVERNOR HOCHUL: And I'm very happy to remind their constituents of that very fact -- that their own elected leaders have betrayed them. And everything that was promised -- remember how on day one of the Trump administration, prices are going to go down. You know what the cost of eggs is in New York City or if you can even find them? It went up 40 percent since Donald Trump was elected. So, instead of going down, they're going up even higher, so people are starting to wake up. They're saying, "Wait a minute, this is not what I thought I was voting for." But it's happening even sooner than I thought. I mean, literally, in the first few months here. I thought this would take a little longer, but, my God, they're self-destructing so fast.
