During Thursday’s edition of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” host Joe Scarborough condemned conservatives for reflexively criticizing President Joe Biden for showing support for Ukraine in its war against Russia before visiting an Ohio town where a train derailment spilled toxic chemicals into the atmosphere.
Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv two days before Donald Trump made his own visit to East Palestine, where he handed out bottles of water branded with his own name, and even Fox News broadcaster Brit Hume admitted that an appearance by Biden administration officials at the poisoned village would be merely a political gesture.
“You know, it’s a very good point. The president of the United States, the commander in chief, his preeminent responsibility constitutionally, you know, is to protect this country, protect the country as commander in chief. You can do two things at once,” Scarborough said.
He added: “As Brit also said, just because officials show up to get their pictures taken doesn’t really mean anything. The question is, what policies are being put in place?”
“Now, listen, could Pete Buttigieg and other officials in the Biden administration gone there sooner?” he continued. “Yeah, even Pete Buttigieg says he could have gone there sooner. A lot of them should have gone there sooner. It is just idiocy to be attacking a president of the United States for risking his life, going into a war zone to send a strong message, pushing back against Russian tyranny. I mean, hell, do we go back and look at every time Ronald Reagan was going across the world to push back against communism, to see what disaster was going on in America and criticize him? I didn’t hear Republicans do that.”
The “Morning Joe” host then expressed his disgust at Trump showing up in East Palestine wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat bragging about the branded water he was donating to the town.
“The guy is so gross, he really is, talking about Trump water, branded Trump water,” Scarborough said. “By the way, he’s such a hypocrite, too, talking about attacking Joe Biden while Joe Biden is going, you know, risking his life fighting for western democracy, something he doesn’t give a damn about. The guy who talks about suspending the Constitution. It’s just absolutely insane. By the way, where was that guy when there were disasters, when there were train disasters when he was president of the United States? I never saw him out, I never saw him out. Where was he? Why did he decide to go here?”
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
