MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough tore into Donald Trump for weakening America’s global edge by pushing anti-science policies that are both unpopular at home and legally shaky.
Speaking from the U.K., Scarborough didn’t hold back. He said that just a few months ago, Europe looked up to America’s leadership in economics and innovation. Now, he says, that perception has flipped—and fast.
“If I could sum up everything I learned yesterday… three months after I was here… all I heard in Britain and Europe was about America’s supremacy, economic supremacy, and how they wanted to be more like us,” Scarborough said. “That was three months ago… Things have changed so dramatically.”
He pointed to China and Europe jumping at the chance to take advantage of America’s missteps. Countries that were once lagging behind now see the U.S. slowing down—and they’re ready to leap ahead.
“Institutions here, whether you’re talking about Cambridge, Oxford, all across Europe, they can’t believe their luck,” Scarborough said. “They can’t believe that America is dumb enough to cut funding to [the National Institutes of Health]… dumb enough to cut… [research and development] funding. They’re dumb enough to chase off the best and the brightest students.”
Scarborough slammed Trump’s attack on universities, like the White House’s attempt to force Harvard to shut down its DEI programs and screen international students for their political views. Harvard rejected the demands. In retaliation, Trump pulled $2.3 billion in federal funding.
He didn’t stop there. Scarborough warned that these moves are giving away America’s competitive edge—for free.
“That Harvard story, they think they’re owning Harvard, they think they’re owning Columbia, they think they’re owning these schools,” Scarborough said. “All they’re doing by cutting those grants is they’re helping China, they’re helping the EU, they’re helping Britain.”
Scarborough said this isn’t just bad policy—it’s national self-sabotage.
“We’re going after an ideological agenda,” he said. “And you can have the best and brightest minds in tech, you can have the best and brightest minds in AI, you can have the best and brightest minds and bio research. It’s really, again, they cannot believe what we are doing to ourselves.”
His final take?
“So dumb.”
Watch the segment below from MSNBC:
