'Pathetic!’ Scarborough Demands Head of Financially Failing DNC Chair Ken Martin

Morning Joe 7-27-26

Nothing is more apt to enrage Joe Scarborough than Democrats losing an election that by all rights, in his view, they should win.

And thus it was that on today's Morning Joe, Scarborough unleashed one of his patented screaming, table-pounding rants. The object of his ire was DNC Chair Ken Martin.

Mika Brzezinski reported that on Martin's watch, the DNC is $2 million in debt, and last year was reduced to mortgaging its headquarters for a loan! In contrast, noted Mika, the Republicans are awash in cash, with President Trump controlling a PAC with $400 million, and the RNC sitting on top of another $130 million.

Finally, Mika shared a report that Martin, in a fit of anger, had hurled a telephone, his target being either a junior aide, or the aide's desk. Given polling numbers currently looking favorable for the Dems, this was all too much for Scarborough. Are they about to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?" he angrily wondered.

Scarborough went off: 

"John Heilemann, I’m going to you because I know you saw Tropic Thunder. Who knew the DNC would pick Les Grossman as the head of their party? You never go full Les Grossman!"

For those [like me] who need a refresher: Les Grossman was the foul-mouthed, object-throwing, permanently enraged Hollywood studio boss Tom Cruise played in the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder — a character of pure, unhinged intensity who never met a problem he couldn’t scream at. 

Scarborough's blunt solution: fire Martin and hire Rahm Emanuel, a guy who "knows how to win elections, to fight, win, and raise money."
 

Ken Martin right now would be flipping patties on the back grill at the Capitol Hill Club. There’s no way Republicans would keep a guy like this...How does this guy have his job?...Rahm knows how to fight, win, and raise money. Get him or somebody else that’s done this before, who knows how to win, and get the phone-throwing Les Grossman guy, get him flipping patties at the DNC fundraiser next week.

Will Scarborough's rant be the patty that broke Martin's back? Stay tuned!

Here's the transcript.

MS NOW
Morning Joe
7/27/26
7:07 am EDT

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So we move now from things making a lot of money to things losing a lot of money. At seven minutes past the top of the hour, there is new reporting this morning on the dire financial situation for the Democratic National Committee, now less than one hundred days until the midterm elections.

The New York Times reports the Democratic Party is so short on cash that leaders are asking vendors not to send bills until after the midterms. 

JOE SCARBOROUGH: That’s not good. 

MIKA: The paper spoke to three people briefed on the move, who called it a bookkeeping maneuver. The paper highlights a cash disparity between the two parties, noting that President Trump controls a $400 million super PAC, the Republican National Committee is sitting on nearly $130 million, while the DNC is $2 million in debt.

The news outlet NOTUS also has new reporting on the DNC putting its physical headquarters up for collateral last year in order to obtain a $15 million line of credit to help it invest in off-year elections. 

SCARBOROUGH: This is just so pathetic. This is so pathetic.

MIKA: The paper also reports that in a pique of frustration earlier this month, Martin threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the DNC’s HR department. None of the people the Times spoke to witnessed the encounter, and there was some dispute over how aggressively the phone was tossed.

SCARBOROUGH: See, that’s the key. How aggressively was the phone tossed? 

MIKA: Are we really in the weeds this deep? As Mr. Martin was said to have thrown the phone at the desk rather than at the aide.

SCARBOROUGH: Oh, okay.

MIKA: Oh my God.

. . . 

SCARBOROUGH: First of all, John Heilemann, I’m going to you because I know you saw Tropic Thunder. Who knew the DNC would pick Les Grossman as the head of their party — he is Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder.

And not only that — I’m sorry — with the president’s approval ratings at an all-time low, with the ballot test at an all-time high for Democrats, with Democratic candidates raising money — John Ossoff, I mean good lord, they’re raising money left and right — but they still are at this huge disadvantage because Ken Martin is -- Get this. When Democrats should be doing better than ever, Ken Martin is mortgaging the DNC to be able to pay bills. Let’s say that again. You have a DNC head that is mortgaging the building so he can take out a loan. 

And when he’s not doing that, the New York Times reports that he’s going full — and you never go full Les Grossman — but he’s gone full Les Grossman, throwing the phone at desks.

JOHN HEILEMANN: You don’t want to go full Les Grossman. You don’t want to go full Les Grossman.

MIKA: Okay, even I know what you’re talking about.

SCARBOROUGH: Never go full -- you never go full Les Grossman. You don’t go full Les Grossman. 

HEILEMANN: You don’t do it.

SCARBOROUGH: Can I ask you this question, though, about Democrats? For a Republican who had raised no money like three or four months ago — this is not a new story. Three or four months ago I was asking people, “Why does this guy still have a job?” I don’t know Ken Martin. I’m sure he’s a wonderful guy. I’d like to play parcheesi with him sometime. 

[Screaming] But if you're in debt, while the Republicans have almost $200 million, you gotta go.

Why is this guy still in his job? Will Democrats once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? What a Democratic thing to do — to say, “Well, if we lose, if we hand full ultimate power, autocratic power over to Donald Trump over the next two years, instead of taking control of the House and the Senate, which we should do if you look at every single poll that’s out there, well then we’ll change this bureaucrat that nobody’s heard of or nobody knows.”

Republicans, let me tell you: Ken Martin right now would be flipping patties on the back grill at the Capitol Hill Club. There’s no way Republicans would keep a guy like this, who had his party in debt, still running that party. It’s not a close call. 

[Pounding the table] How does this guy have his job?

And if Democrats don’t get rid of him right away and put somebody like Rahm -- somebody like Rahm -- who a lot of people in the party hates — but you know, Rahm knows how to win elections. I know that for some people that just doesn’t matter. But Rahm knows how to fight, win, and raise money. Get him or somebody else that’s done this before, who knows how to win, and get the phone-throwing Les Grossman guy, get him flipping patties at the DNC fundraiser next week.