On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough repeatedly claimed that, judging by the big caucus results in Iowa, Republicans there "like candidates who have raped women," as it was ruled by a New York judge in the E. Jean Carroll civil suit in New York.
Back in 2018, in a previous attack on Trump, Scarborough turned heads by asking "How did Democrats split the difference on Bill Clinton when they knew, or many believed and would tell me off the air that he raped Juanita Broaddrick?"
Broaddrick could name a date and a place, and NBC's Lisa Myers placed Clinton there on that day. Carroll claimed Trump assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store, but cannot remember precisely when in 1995 or 1996 the alleged assault occurred. “I wish to heaven we could give you a date,” she replied in court.
Scarborough began by joking "usually, candidates who judges say are rapists don't usually get this far. But what we found in Iowa a couple nights ago was, well, Iowa Republicans that voted, those 14%, they like their presidential candidates that are called rapists by judges."
Scarborough also snidely said of the Iowa Republicans' supposed preference for candidates who rape women, "That's Iowa nice, baby. That's Iowa nice as defined in 2024."
Sports commentator Jim Rome, after describing at length a criminal accusation against an athlete or celebrity, will typically add a sarcastic "allegedly," to cover himself. In a similar CYA move, Scarborough, after claiming that Republicans like candidates who rape women, added variations on, "as judges say." The jury in the civil Carroll defamation case found that Trump did not commit rape, but had committed sexual abuse. The judge in the case -- Lewis Kaplan, a Clinton appointee -- expressed his view that the two terms are interchangeable.
Scarborough also subjected viewers to yet another dose of his false-modesty shtick, once again describing himself as having fallen off a turnip truck, and thanking Willie Geist for explaining politics to him. If Scarborough's gimmick was ever funny, it is—way—past its use-by date. Give it a rest, Joe!
The segment also illustrated a classic Morning Joe phenomenon. As Scarborough drones on, Mika Brzezinski, ensconced in the peanut gallery, will frequently cut in to add her two cents. Her focus today was to emphasize that in addition to rape [sexual abuse], Trump "repeatedly defamed" E. Jean Carroll. One senses that Scarborough doesn't particularly appreciate Mika's interruptions, but, for the sake of conjugal tranquility, will sometimes incorporate his wife's comments into his spiel.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
1/17/23
6:00 am ETDONALD TRUMP: I come here, I meet with great groups in New Hampshire. I then get on a plane late at night when it's snowing and freezing out, wonderful, and the pilots say, sir, it's going to be tough. And I get there early in the morning. I go to a Biden witch hunt, and then I come here in the afternoon and I stop and we make speeches and we get your votes and all that stuff. But nobody's ever had to do this before.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, people didn't do it before because, usually, candidates who judges say are rapists don't usually get this far.
But what we found in Iowa a couple nights ago was, well, Iowa Republicans that voted, those 14%, they like their presidential candidates that are called rapists by judges. And they like their presidential candidates that steal nuclear secrets --
MIKA BRZEZINSKI -- And repeatedly defame women.
SCARBOROUGH: And they like their presidential candidates that repeatedly defame women. Now, you know, Willie, I'm new to this political thing.
WILLIE GEIST: Yes. Let me help you through this.
SCARBOROUGH: You actually brushed me off yesterday when I fell off the turnip truck and I thank you that, right in front of an icy patch of snow outside of 30 Rock. You dusted me off.
MIKA: That was nice of him.
SCARBOROUGH: I grabbed a turnip as we were leaving and going up into 30 Rock. And I was chewing on it. And he said, well, here's the deal. And he explained politics to me.
MIKA: That's good. You need to hear it.
SCARBOROUGH: Willie, I still don't get it, though. Like, this guy's complaining because, you know, as the judge said, under any definition of rape, he raped a woman.
MIKA: Right. And then decided to defame her again. He just didn't have to be in court today.
SCARBOROUGH: And so that's why he's going to court. Not, that's not a Biden witch hunt. That's, that's Donald Trump's past finally catching up with him.
But again, we could keep going over the Iowa results, but people in Iowa said not only do they like their candidates that judges say raped women, they're more likely to vote for their candidates if judges say they raped women --
MIKA: I wish we were joking.
SCARBOROUGH: -- and they stole nuclear secrets and they, they gave away plans, let, let people in their own campaign hear --
MIKA: It's actually not a joke --
SCARBOROUGH: -- Hear top secret plans on America's plans to invade Iran. That's, that's Iowa nice, baby. That's Iowa nice as defined in 2024.
. . .
Republicans, again, in 2024, they like guys that like break the law and rape women, according to fed -- according to judges in New York, and then as you say, defame them.
