During a discussion on Monday’s Morning Joe about the upcoming debate in Congress over raising the debt ceiling, host Joe Scarborough and his entire panel of liberal journalists agreed that Republican leaders would have to make a “full capitulation to Nancy Pelosi” in order to increase the nation’s borrowing limit and overcome opposition from conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus.
The exchange began with Scarborough noting that President Trump has “a horrible calendar ahead of him” with “looming crises, legislative crises, coming up in September and October on the Hill.” USA Today Senior Politics Reporter Heidi Przybyla declared: “...there’s a whole faction in the House that is going to make this no easier on him than they did on President Barack Obama.” “This is how we spent the past five to eight years, Joe, was arguing over these spending bill increases, these so-called continuing resolutions, and that is what I would predict is that we’re going to have a food fight,” she added.
Later in the discussion, political analyst Mark Halperin proclaimed: “That’s why the most likely outcome is a full capitulation to Nancy Pelosi to let her get what she wants to raise the debt ceiling.” Scarborough agreed: “They are going to have to work with Democrats.”
Halperin went on to reiterate that the left’s demands were all that mattered on the issue: “The question isn’t, will the Freedom Caucus vote for a clean debt ceiling? They’re not going to be asked to. The question is, will the Democrat – what will the Democratic left demand Nancy Pelosi insist on to get her cooperation?”
Scarborough chimed in: “And which is why I said Donald Trump’s first call this morning needs to be Chuck Schumer. And they need to figure out how do they move forward and get 15, 20, 30 Democratic votes in a way that doesn’t sell out Donald Trump’s base.”
Ironically, throughout the conversation, Scarborough repeatedly voiced his support for the position of conservatives:
I'm just telling you right now, a lot of people think I’ve gone moderate or squishy, I wouldn’t make that vote unless I got a lot in return. If you're talking about long-term entitlement reform....So how does a member of the Freedom Caucus go back to their districts and go to town hall meetings through the end of the year and say, “Yeah, we did nothing on ObamaCare, we’ve done nothing on tax reform, and hey, look at me, I’m your guy, I just raised the debt ceiling so we can spend more than $20 trillion in debt”? Ain’t gonna happen, and it shouldn’t happen for those members of the Freedom Caucus....
There’s no – listen, let tell – let me just tell editorial writers, let me just tell, like EPs and people that run networks, just mark it down right now, if you’re a member of the Freedom Caucus, Jeremy, you can’t vote for a clean [debt ceiling raise]. You know and everybody’s going, “Just vote for a clean, the full faith and credit of the United States.” I’m just telling you, that’s like telling Nancy Pelosi to go to her people and say, “You know what? We really need to pass that pro-life bill.” It’s just – they can’t do it politically....
And by the way, I’ll tell you what, I didn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling. You know why? Because when they were trying to raise the debt ceiling, they weren’t doing anything in return. They were saying, “Oh, we just want a clean debt ceiling this time.” I think I – our vote was to like raise it $4 trillion, we're at $20 trillion. And they keep going, “Oh, oh, we need a clean – ” Why? Why do you need a clean debt ceiling increase? Why can’t people say, “You’re going to take care of America’s long-term entitlement program? Then show me how you’re going to do that and then talk to me about raising the debt ceiling.”
The biased discussion was brought to viewers by Honda, Purina, and Fidelity Investments.
Here are excerpts of the August 21 segment:
7:02 AM ET
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JOE SCARBOROUGH: And Heidi, horrible [poll] numbers, but also a horrible calendar ahead of him [Trump]. As you pointed out last hour, he can’t huddle everybody together and start talking about passing health care reform because he’s got some looming crises, legislative crises, coming up in September and October on the Hill.
HEIDI PRZYBYLA [SR. POLITICS REPORTER, USA TODAY]: Right, and like I said, there’s a whole faction in the House that is going to make this no easier on him than they did on President Barack Obama. This is how we spent the past five to eight years, Joe, was arguing over these spending bill increases, these so-called continuing resolutions, and that is what I would predict is that we’re going to have a food fight. We’re going to get some kind of a temporary patch that gets us through maybe til Christmas. But it’s going to be time consuming and consume a lot of the energy up here on Capitol Hill.
The President has not shown that he’s willing to go out and take to the bully pulpit and go to places like Arizona to stump for those things like infrastructure that could be the things that would bring both sides of the aisle together and get something done.
SCARBOROUGH: And, Harold, if you’re a member of the Freedom Caucus, you’ve got to go back to your district. And everybody’s gonna say, “Wait a second, we still have ObamaCare. You’ve been promising me for seven years we were going to get rid of ObamaCare. And, let me get this straight, we got a $20 trillion national debt and you voted to raise the debt ceiling?”
I'm just telling you right now, a lot of people think I’ve gone moderate or squishy, I wouldn’t make that vote unless I got a lot in return. If you're talking about long-term entitlement reform, I’ll talk about raising the debt ceiling. But I’m not going to do it by cutting 7% of the budget, I’m not going to do it by cutting funding for Big Bird, I’m not going to do it by National Institutes of Health. If you want to talk about real spending restraint over the next 20 years, then talk to me.
They’re never going to do that. So how does a member of the Freedom Caucus go back to their districts and go to town hall meetings through the end of the year and say, “Yeah, we did nothing on ObamaCare, we’ve done nothing on tax reform, and hey, look at me, I’m your guy, I just raised the debt ceiling so we can spend more than $20 trillion in debt”? Ain’t gonna happen, and it shouldn’t happen for those members of the Freedom Caucus.
(...)
HAROLD FORD JR.: I think Heidi’s right, they’re going to punt this debt ceiling and I would imagine those Freedom Caucus members are going to say, “We will not vote for a clean, permanent one for the bill into next year unless you deal with some sort of spending reform.” Because I don’t know how they do it. I’m agreeing with you, I don’t know how they do it.
SCARBOROUGH: There’s no – listen, let tell – let me just tell editorial writers, let me just tell, like EPs and people that run networks, just mark it down right now, if you’re a member of the Freedom Caucus, Jeremy, you can’t vote for a clean [debt ceiling raise]. You know and everybody’s going, “Just vote for a clean, the full faith and credit of the United States.” I’m just telling you, that’s like telling Nancy Pelosi to go to her people and say, “You know what? We really need to pass that pro-life bill.” It’s just – they can’t do it politically.
(...)
SCARBOROUGH: So if I’m running against a member of the Freedom Caucus who votes to raise the debt ceiling, just to sort of make this a little easier for everybody to understand, I would go out and say, “Look, look, look what he has done. Or what he hasn’t done. He said – for seven years he’s been telling us we’re going to get rid of ObamaCare. We haven’t gotten rid of ObamaCare. He said he was going to build the wall. There ain’t to wall. He said, you know, tax reform. Have they passed tax reform? No. Congressman so and so hasn’t done it, but you know what he has done? You know what he has done? He stole more money from our children and grandchildren. We had a $20 trillion national debt. He won’t do what it takes to save Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, but he will raise the debt ceiling.” I’m telling you –
MARK HALPERIN: That’s why the most likely outcome is a full capitulation to Nancy Pelosi to let her get what she wants to raise the debt ceiling.
SCARBOROUGH: They are going to have to work with Democrats. Because I’m just telling you, if you’re a member of the Freedom Caucus and you vote for a clean debt ceiling increase, all the do-gooders on editorial boards across the northeast and on both coasts, nothing they say is going to ring true to anybody.
KATTY KAY: And by the way, you probably signed a pledge saying that you were never gonna raise the debt ceiling.
SCARBOROUGH: And by the way, I’ll tell you what, I didn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling. You know why? Because when they were trying to raise the debt ceiling, they weren’t doing anything in return. They were saying, “Oh, we just want a clean debt ceiling this time.” I think I – our vote was to like raise it $4 trillion, we're at $20 trillion. And they keep going, “Oh, oh, we need a clean – ” Why? Why do you need a clean debt ceiling increase? Why can’t people say, “You’re going to take care of America’s long-term entitlement program? Then show me how you’re going to do that and then talk to me about raising the debt ceiling.”
(...)
HALPERIN: The question isn’t, will the Freedom Caucus vote for a clean debt ceiling? They’re not going to be asked to. The question is, will the Democrat – what will the Democratic left demand Nancy Pelosi insist on to get her cooperation?
SCARBOROUGH: And which is why I said Donald Trump’s first call this morning needs to be Chuck Schumer. And they need to figure out how do they move forward and get 15, 20, 30 Democratic votes in a way that doesn’t sell out Donald Trump’s base.
(...)
