In a whirlwind of emotions Wednesday morning, Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s Morning Joe opened up about his friends and loved ones who are voting to re-elect President Trump. Plagued by feelings of personal betrayal, Scarborough received no comfort from wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski, who only poured gas on his emotional dumpster fire.
As the show began, Scarborough shared the thoughts that had likely cost him sleep several hours prior: “You know, Willie, I’m surrounded. Most of the people that I see every day are voting for Donald Trump. Most of the friends I grew up with are voting for Donald Trump. And it's good talking to ‘em and just saying, ‘So why are you voting for this man?’” According to Scarborough, they would answer: “‘Well, he's a terrible guy, he's a horrible example for my kids, I'd never invite him over to the house, he's despicable. I hate him. I just hate him, BUT—,’ and then fill in the blank, ‘AOC, or Nancy Pelosi, or Bernie Sanders, or regulations, or tax cuts, or 401(k)s.’”
The host then struggled to disqualify the excuses of his friends and family for voting for Trump, but as he rambled on, it became clear that he would not arrive at any sort of understanding:
Yeah, but I'm just wondering, Mika, really, so if somebody says, ‘Well, you know, Donald Trump will probably be better for my 401(k) Than Joe Biden,’ even though Moody's and others on Wall Street suggest that's really not the case because we'll have stability in the White House, we'll have stability in the markets, we'll have stability in trade negotiations, we'll have stability across the globe.
But even if they make that argument, so, you know, the 401(k) maybe went down 20% this year. Are they saying that electing a president who's trying to arrest his political opponent in America two weeks before an election, are they saying that maybe they'd lose 25% of their 401(k) Under Biden but 20% under Trump and that 5% is worth throwing away American democracy on a guy who claims to have unlimited powers because of Article II?
Realizing that numbers were only confusing him more, he invoked the names of several Eastern European nations before revealing the root cause of his anguish:
And let me remind you all, my friends and loved ones, in the United States of America. Not in Belarus, not in Hungary, not in Russia. In the United States of America. What is worth that? I -- you know, I've heard also, Mika, this other excuse. ‘The press is liberal.’ So, okay, so you're voting for a guy who's trying to arrest his political opponent because you don't like what Don Lemon says on CNN? You’re -- you want to appoint a man who says he has unlimited powers and can do whatever he wants to do, and calls for the arrests of journalists who question him like Jeff Mason and also, well, like me, repeatedly?
Now we know why Scarborough’s friends and relatives insult Trump’s character when they uncomfortably try to explain why they’re voting for him: they’re trying to spare Scarborough’s feelings. They may be honest enough to admit that they support Trump in the current election, but they can’t support him wholeheartedly because doing so would challenge their personal loyalty to Scarborough. He continued to lament: “I don't get it. You're my best friends, you're my family members, and you're going to believe garbage that you read on Facebook.”
Blinded by her own hatred for Trump, co-host and wife Mika Brzezinski offered Scarborough no real consolation during the segment. Rather, she kept him going: “They [Scarborough’s friends and loved ones] don’t even care that (…) he accused you of murder and tried to get you investigated.”
Devastated Scarborough wrapped up the segment by wailing: “I’m talking about friends and loved ones, again, who—would give their lives for me, for my family, and yet- they’re still voting for him…sometimes we have to completely love those we don’t completely understand. And that’s what I work on every day now. Especially for the next two weeks.”
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Read the transcript below:
Morning Joe
10/21/20
6:02:00 AM
JOE SCARBOROUGH: You know, Willie, I’m surrounded. Most of the people that I see every day are voting for Donald Trump. Most of the friends I grew up with are voting for Donald Trump. And it's good talking to ‘em and just saying, ‘So why are you voting for this man?’ ‘Well, he's a terrible guy, he's a horrible example for my kids, I'd never invite him over to the house, he's despicable. I hate him. I just hate him, BUT—,‘ and then fill in the blank, AOC, or Nancy Pelosi, or Bernie Sanders, or regulations, or tax cuts, or 401(k)s.
And I say, so, well, we have right now a President of the United States who is demanding that his attorney general arrest the vice president -- former Vice President of the United States, his chief political competitor. This is something that happens, or happened in the former Soviet Union. This is something that happens still in Russia. This is not what soft totalitarian looks like, this is what a full blown autocracy looks like, at least if you just focus on the actions of the President of the United States. And you're telling me you're more concerned about Nancy Pelosi? As -- outside of the White House than you are an autocrat inside of the White House? It's really -- there's -- the justifications from, again, my friends are extraordinary. But, this is just one of a hundred examples that we can cite that shows just this massive disconnect between what are actions that the president's taking that are un-American and the justification for voting for this man who is trying to arrest his political rivals on the eve of what he believes to be an election defeat.
WILLIE GEIST: Part of the challenge of the Trump years has been that there are so many outrageous claims and there are so many outrageous statements from the president that it's hard to stop sometimes and look one in the eye before the next one comes. But as you say right now, the President of the United States, less than two weeks ahead of the election, is calling for the Attorney General of the United States to launch an investigation that I think he somehow thinks will be resolved before the end- Election Day in some way or at least just to muddy the waters before Election Day. And he goes farther than that in his rallies calling for Joe Biden to be locked up. You get the sense if he could, he would direct Attorney General Barr to just throw Joe Biden into prison and be on with it. But this is a man, Donald Trump, who is desperate. This is a man who’s looking at the polls, this is a man who’s spending his days calling for Joe Biden to be locked up, attacking a 60 Minutes interviewer, attacking debate moderators, anything can he do to change the conversation from coronavirus, which is what will decide this election, perhaps, to his peril.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, but I'm just wondering, Mika, really, so if somebody says, ‘Well, you know, Donald Trump will probably be better for my 401(k) Than Joe Biden,’ even though Moody's and others on Wall Street suggest that's really not the case because we'll have stability in the White House, we'll have stability in the markets, we'll have stability in trade negotiations, we'll have stability across the globe. But even if they make that argument, so, you know, the 401(k) maybe went down 20% this year. Are they saying that electing a president who's trying to arrest his political opponent in America two weeks before an election, are they saying that maybe they'd lose 25 percent of their 401(k) Under Biden but 20% under Trump and that 5% is worth throwing away American democracy on a guy who claims to have unlimited powers because of Article II? A guy that questions the federal judiciary's Independence and a guy who is trying the best he can to have his political opponent arrested two weeks before a free election.
And let me remind you all, my friends and loved ones, in the United States of America. Not in Belarus, not in Hungary, not in Russia, in the United States of America. What is worth that? I- you know, I've heard also, Mika, this other excuse. ‘The press is liberal.’ So, okay, so you're voting for a guy who's trying to arrest his political opponent because you don't like what Don Lemon says on CNN? You’re- you want to appoint a man who says he has unlimited powers and can do whatever he wants to do, and calls for the arrests of journalists who question him like Jeff Mason and also, well, like me, repeatedly? You're going to vote for him because Lawrence O'Donnell makes you mad? Because you don't like New York Times? It's, again, it really -- there is no logic to it. This is you desperately trying to justify something that you know can't really rationally be justified.
I haven't even gotten to the racism, to the Muslim registry, to the president calling Hispanics ‘breeders’. I haven't even gotten to that. Haven't even gotten to Charlottesville, to the president telling white supremacists to, quote, “stand by”. To the president talking about assassinating his political rivals with Second Amendment solutions to stop them from appointing judges to the Supreme Court. Haven't even gotten through four or five years of violent rhetoric. I haven't even talked about the President of the United States saying that he would not guarantee, repeatedly in debates, the peaceful transfer of power. He did eventually after the fifth or sixth time.
BRZEZINSKI: Not really.
SCARBOROUGH: But, yeah. It's always sort of, ‘oh, yeah, sure, sure, I'll guarantee that BUT what about Antifa? What about this? What about that?’ So I haven't even talked about all of those things. And you add it up, this is a man, and you know this, would be an autocrat if he could. Would be a dictator if he could. You know that. You've said that to me. Many of you have said you know that if he loses he can't leave America, because our government would be afraid that he would sell state secrets. Our most classified secrets to other countries. Some of you tell me you think he's going to end up in jail. But you're going to vote for him anyway. You know, I'm Tom Hanks in Big. I don't get it. I don’t get it. You’re- I don't get it. You're my best friends, you're my family members, and you're going to believe garbage that you read on Facebook.
BRZEZINSKI: They don’t even care that—
SCARBOROUGH: You still—
BRZEZINSKI: He accused you of murder and tried to get you investigated.
SCARBOROUGH: You still are telling me, even though I’ve told you repeatedly it’s a lie, and sent you evidence. You’re still saying you may not take a vaccine next year, because Anthony Fauci has a financial stake in it. That's just a lie. And I love you, but you have to be really, really stupid or willfully ignorant if you still believe that lie. Because it's not the truth. You just send Facebook posts to each other that- that exacerbate these lies.
BRZEZINSKI: Facebook.
SCARBOROUGH: It’s really- it’s something. But yeah Mika, but—
BRZEZINSKI: Well, this is what Madeleine Albright warned about, it’s the fire hose of corruption and ugliness that comes at you from a person with so much power like President Trump, who can turn this country into a very different place.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, this is a challenge. This is a challenge for democracy. Again, I'm not talking about people over there.
BRZEZINSKI: No.
SCARBOROUGH: I’m talking about friends and loved ones, again, who—
BRZEZINSKI: We got it.
SCARBOROUGH: Would give their lives for me, for my family, and yet- they're still voting for him -- it's something, again, I'm reminded -- you know Willie and I often on Friday nights when, you know, you're out with your bowling league, Mika, Willie and I often get together, and you and Christina are bowling, and we'll sit and we'll watch A River Runs Through It and we'll weep at the end when Tom Skerritt says that sometimes we have to completely love those we don't completely understand. And that's what I work on every day now. Especially for the next two weeks.
