Joe Scarborough of MSNBC urged Republicans to take a stand against Donald Trump in defense of American democracy. The former president was recently arraigned on four felony charges related to his attempt to overturn the election results. On his show “Morning Joe,” Scarborough criticized GOP allies who supported Trump’s First Amendment right to unlawfully stay in office, stating that it was a weak and foolish argument, and telling them “it’s not worth betraying your country” to keep their jobs.
“At the top of the indictment, what do we have?” the ‘Morning Joe’ host said. “We have [special counsel] Jack Smith saying, ‘Hey, anybody’s free to say what they want to say about the election, even if they want to lie that it was rigged – that’s his First Amendment right.’ That’s in the first couple paragraphs, they start by talking about the First Amendment. It doesn’t hold water, and it’s such a stupid argument if you actually read this indictment, which a lot of people on Fox News don’t – they doodle on it. You know why? Because they don’t want to read it.”
He particularly called out the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board for describing the Jan. 6 indictment as a partisan spectacle aimed at framing the 2024 election around Trump’s alleged misdeeds. Scarborough found their defense “shameful and sad,” likening it to going “full Trump.”
“You never want to go full Trump, if you’re the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and they went full Trump today,” Scarborough said. “You never go full Trump. They blame it on the Democrats, [and] you’re not going to believe this – they say Joe Biden is old.”
Scarborough also pointed out Senator Lindsey Graham’s actions, who initially distanced himself from Trump after the Jan. 6 events but quickly returned to supporting him. He expressed bewilderment at the loyalty some Republicans still showed to a former president who had repeatedly caused damage to their party with his personal shortcomings.
Scarborough admitted he couldn’t fathom why Republicans were so loyal to Trump, especially when it involved betraying their country and ignoring an attempted coup. He expressed his disappointment in seeing well-educated individuals trying to blame Trump’s actions on Democrats and making baseless allegations against Joe Biden, considering they should know better.
“It’s so bizarre, man, it’s so bizarre. They’re willing to trash every American institution for a guy that’s never been loyal to them. I’ve got to say, in this case – there’s no getting this,” Scarborough said.
“I’ve been a member of Congress, it’s not worth this,” he continued. It’s not worth betraying your country. It’s not worth turning a blind eye to a coup. It’s not worth going to the best schools in America, getting one of the best editorial jobs in America, reading this and knowing better and trying to blame Donald Trump’s attempted coup, coup attempt, on Democrats that want to use this in an election, on the ‘Biden crime family,’ on Joe Biden being old? Come on, man. you’re better than that.”
Take a look:
