Scarborough Backtracks on Protesters: I Was Only Mocking 'White Woke Pampered Elitist' Kids

It wasn't exactly a mea culpa. But on today's Morning Joe, Scarborough did a modified walk-back of his strong criticism that we noted yesterday of campus protesters and the failure of administrators to discipline them, and how it will all lead to Biden  losing in November.  Scarborough mentioned that after his comments yesterday, he had received critical comments from "well-intentioned" critics who said it was right to protest the Vietnam War, and right to protest Israel's war after the October 7 slaughter by Hamas. So he backtracked to suggest he only meant to mock rich white kids. [?] I'm certainly not saying this of all the student protesters that are out there. And certainly not children of Palestinian families who have lost loved ones through the years in this war, in this conflict. I will say, though, among, again -- and I've spoken with some of them. I want to be careful. But among these white, woke, pampered, elitist -- I'm not supposed to use that word. Let's say children from wealthy families that decide, as Dr. Brzezinski said so many years ago, that they're going to play radical for a weekend and then go home to Mommy and Daddy's mansion, there's a complete ignorance about the complexities of this issue.   Why did Scarborough single out "white," woke, elitists? Surely there are black and brown woke elitists who are cluelessly protesting on campus. Why does Scarborough give them a pass, hmmm? Sounds like Scarborough is between the same rock and hard place as Biden: wanting to express solidarity with Israel, but without overly offending his left-wing base.  Willie Geist then came in repeated everything Scarborough just said. "You go, guy!" Both Scarborough and Geist stressed that they have been very critical of Netanyahu's handling of the war -- which would seem to be required at MSNBC.  To their credit, Scarborough and Geist did express that Jewish students don't feel safe on campus, and described how clueless many of the protesters are, with no understanding of the genocidal implications for Jews of "from the river to the sea," or of the generous two-state deal that Israel offered the Palestinians 2000, but which the Palestinians peremptorily rejected.     Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 4/30/24 6:11 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: I had a lot of nice, wonderful, well-intentioned people that watch this show, love this show, write me yesterday, and I wrote a lot of them back, called one or two back, saying, you know, Joe, the Vietnam war was a bad war, Joe; you were talking. And this Gaza thing, we understand the kids and what they're doing. I understand, obviously, the protest to an unjust war. And we've, of course, been bitterly critical of Netanyahu's response in Gaza. So we understand all that. I'm curious what your thoughts are on -- and we're going to talk to Jonathan Greenblatt in one moment -- but how you balance that with not just outside agitators but also a rising sense of antisemitism on college campuses and social life. And I will tell you, I know, I know first-hand from friends and family members that Jews are being pushed to the side socially. And, and that, that woke white girls and boys coming from elite families are telling their friends that they can't hang out with Jewish friends.  And I could go on. I've been -- and maybe one of the reasons I was engaged as I was yesterday is, I've been hearing about this now for three, four, five, six months. Where Jewish students don't feel safe on college campuses. And this isn't a bubble wrap or snowflake moment. This is people talking about genocide, screaming at them as they try to go to their English class on campus. . . .  You know, Willie, the thing is, and I'm certainly not saying this of all the student protesters that are out there. And certainly not children of Palestinian families who have lost loved ones through the years in this war, in this conflict. I will say, though, among, again -- and I've spoken with some of them. I want to be careful. But among these white, woke, pampered, elitist -- I'm not supposed to use that word. Let's say children from wealthy families that decide, as Dr. Brzezinski said so many years ago, that they're going to play radical for a weekend and then go home to mommy and daddy's mansion, there's a complete ignorance about the complexities of this issue. Now, of course, if you listen to the show, you would understand many of the complexities of this issue, because we have been really tough on Israeli officials that come on this show. We have asked why they've continued to allow illegal settlements in the West Bank over the decade. Why they have continued to fight against a two-state solution for peace. Why they have done what they have done in Gaza. Why they did with Hamas, why Netanyahu was Hamas' ally leading up to October the 7th. So, it is very complicated. That's lost, though, in a lot of those things. And when you start talking about even West Bank settlements with a lot of these students, their eyes glaze over. They -- because that's not in the TikTok video. Again, I'm not saying this about all the students. But I will tell you, I'm saying it about a hell of a lot of students I have spoken with. When you go, well, you know, in 2000 there was an Oslo Accord where Bill Clinton had gotten together, and they were giving 97% of the West Bank to the Palestinians, and the other 3% they were going to make up with Israeli land. And they had figured out, you know, a capital in East Jerusalem. And they sit there with their eyes glazed because they have no idea what happened in this peace process, what happened through the years. They just, they see something on TikTok, and they're like, Israel bad, and Hamas good. And they go out and they start shouting at Jews -- some. WILLIE GEIST: Yeah, and you don't even have to go that deep. You can ask, what does it mean to chant, from the river to the sea, and they don't know.  And then when you tell them what it is, and we've seen this from reporters asking some of them --again, not all of them. Some of them have a deep understanding of this -- they don't understand that that means the elimination of the State of Israel and the people who live within that state. So, I've been having a lot of these same conversations as you, Joe. So if you watch our show, you know how critical we've been of Netanyahu, of the prosecution of the war. That we grieve and mourn for children and women who have been killed in this war, that are starving in this war. It's a terrible, terrible thing. But that does not give kids on college campuses license to chant, from the river to the sea, and to say that Jewish kids should not exist, in some cases, at Columbia, for example.

Scarborough Scolds: College Administrator Failure To Quell Protests Could Elect Trump!

Joe Scarborough started today's Morning Joe with a rant against weak college administrators who are failing to put down pro-Hamas campus protests. Scarborough's central beef was that their fecklessness could lead to . . . the election of Donald Trump! Scarborough analogized today's situation to that of the student protests of the 1960s that led to the election of Richard Nixon in 1968 and "five more years of war." As if "Happy Warrior" Hubert Humphrey would have ended the Vietnam war more quickly? And in a bit of ultimate scaremongering, Scarborough dropped the usual End of Democracy bomb: "Let's see if they're now going to elect Donald Trump for, I don't know, maybe the last election in American history. If so, good job. Way to go. Way to go!"  Does Scarborough seriously believe that? And was Scarborough's rather authoritarian rant about the need for college administrators to enforce discipline and rules, or else "leave!", sincere? Or was it simply the reflection of his partisan angst that the campus turmoil could lead to the defeat of his phone buddy, Joe Biden? Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 4/29/24 6:03 am EDT MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Also ahead, the latest on the protests over Gaza that are spreading to more and more college campuses. And, we're going to have an exclusive, first look at Forbes' list of the new Ivies, universities who are poised to replace the elite institutions, in part because of their handling of the protest. It is a much bigger story. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Even before, even before these protests. MIKA: This is a trend. SCARBOROUGH: And I've got to say, just the absolute weakness of the administration, the cowardice of the administration, and, unfortunately, on these elite colleges, having people that are now running these elite colleges on faculty boards that, that, that burned down college campuses in the 1960s, that were responsible for the election in part of Richard Nixon in 1968 because of the chaos on college campuses, because of the chaos in Chicago.  And they gave America Richard Nixon and five more years of war. Good job. Let's see if these administrators, the ones that, like, tried to levitate the Pentagon in the 1960s with Abbie Hoffman. The ones who took over presidents' offices in the 1960s, that, that trashed college campuses. Let's see if they're now going to elect Donald Trump for, I don't know, maybe the last election in American history. If so, good job. Way to go. Way to go, by not being able to discipline students that violate your rules. You either have rules or you don't have rules. You either have standards or you don't have standards. And if you can't live by them, leave!  And let's get some adults in these universities that actually teach students that there are consequences when they break the rules, when they break the laws, and when they spout genocidal chants over and over again.

MSNBC Bites Biden From The Left For Failing To Pack The Supreme Court

On Saturday's edition of MSNBC's The Weekend, hosts and guests alike bemoaned Biden's failure to seek to pack the Supreme Court. Their comments came in response to oral arguments at the Court this past week on the case regarding Trump's claim of presidential immunity. The panel expressed fears that the Court might expand presidential immunity -- if not to the extent of the right to assassinate political rivals, as Trump's lawyer suggested could be an immune act.  Co-host Alicia Menendez teed up the packing notion, saying that in light of what happened in the Court last week, clearly something "structural"--packing or court "reform" is necessary. Guest Ankush Khadori strongly agreed, calling Biden's failure to push for packing a "historic political miscalculation."   Co-anchor Symone Sanders Townsend, mentioning that she had worked for Biden, said that he is someone who believes in "the rule of law." But Sanders suggested that it is "time to do things differently." Again Khadori agreed, flatly saying that in supporting the rule of law, Biden "is holding the wrong view. I hate to say that about the president. He's been wrong about this the whole time." Wait a second! Isn't the Democrats' big beef against Trump that he refuses to accept the rule of law? But discarding the rule of law is a good—indeed a necessary—thing if it benefits Democrats? Khadori claimed "this Court, over the last few years, is systematically running roughshod through our Constitution. They, in just the last few years, they overturned Roe, they've invalidated affirmative action in higher education, and they basically legalized same sex discrimination. They threw out part of the Biden administration's signature domestic policy effort on the student loan forgiveness plan." But even legal scholars on the left have acknowledged that Roe was poorly decided. Indeed, MSNBC's own legal analyst Danny Cevallos opined, before the Dobbs decision came down, that Roe was "ripe" to be overturned because "the right to privacy [upon which Roe was based] does not exist either in the history or the text of the Constitution, and that Roe "stands on a weak foundational basis." As for affirmative action, the phrase itself is a euphemism for reverse racial discrimination, a clear-cut violation of the Equal Protection clause and legislative prohibitions of racial discrimination. The "student loan forgiveness" Biden has granted by ignoring Congress and court rulings against him. Who's "running roughshod through our Constitution" again?  Here's the transcript. MSNBC The Weekend 4/27/24 8:22 am EDT ALICIA MENENDEZ: If you were part of the 70% of Americans who agree that the president should not have absolute immunity, and then you watched what transpired this week in court, what is left as recourse, right? There's court reform, there's stacking the Court? What do you see as the path forward, because clearly something more structural is necessary. ANKUSH KHADORI: Yeah, I agree with that. I think, actually, as we think about this administration and its legacy, I think it was -- it will go down as having been a historic political miscalculation. MENENDEZ: You're talking about the Biden administration. KHADORI: Biden administration, to not have made a real, earnest effort at Supreme Court reform. They put together a commission that produced a report that nobody read. It was not a serious effort to actually pursue Supreme Court reform, and now -- SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: Why? Because the president, President Biden, I mean, I worked for him at that time. I was a part of the transition, and I worked in the White House, and I know for a fact, and Eugene, you've been asking the questions too -- I was there.  He himself does not believe that that is an avenue that should be explored. Joe Biden is somebody that believes that, in the rules of law and laws the systems. And one could argue, I [inaudiable], whew!--it's time, it's time to do things differently. KHADORI: Well look. I mean, yeah, I am aware he has that view. He is holding the wrong view. I hate to say that about the president. He's been wrong about this the whole time. And now, this Court, over the last few years, is systematically running roughshod through our Constitution. They, in just the last few years, they overturned Roe, they've invalidated affirmative action in higher education, and they basically legalized same sex discrimination. They threw out part of the Biden administration's signature domestic policy effort on the student loan forgiveness plan.  And now they seem poised to issue some sort of ruling that will change the law which has already been in place for a couple hundred years. We all assumed a president could be criminally charged after he, leaving office, to now come up with some crazy new doctrine. And -- MENENDEZ: To say nothing of the Idaho case that they are listening to right now, which is like all of their chickens coming home to roost. SANDERS TOWNSEND: Yeah, and its like yeah, we don't want to save women. KHADORI: All of the cases coming back to them after Dobbs is a mess. And this, this immunity ruling, if it comes out as most of us are expecting, it will go down in history as a practical effect, as a practical matter, as a sequel to Bush versus Gore.

Morning Joe Hails Colleges Cracking Down on Pro-Hamas Protesters!

On Thursday, Morning Joe treated us to surprising praise for Speaker Mike Johnson -- albeit regarding his support for aid to Ukraine, something dear to Joe Scarborough. Friday brought another surprise: tough talk about the pro-Hamas protesters wreaking havoc on American campuses, and praise for university administrators taking action to curb their excesses. Thus, Joe Scarborough condemned students occupying the offices of college presidents, even suggesting that any president who tolerates that should "seek employment elsewhere." At one point, Scarborough even called protesters who blocked graduation speakers "brats." Willie Geist spoke positively about the chancellor of his alma mater, Vanderbilt, who actually expelled three students who had occupied his office. New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters has written an article on the matter: "Colleges Warn Student Demonstrators: Enough." As a panelist on Morning Joe, he criticized protesters at the University of Michigan, his alma mater, who had marred what was supposed to be a joyful event for outstanding students. He also acknowledged that college administrators have been slow in dealing with these problems. He cited the Trump years during which speakers who were conservative, or affiliated with Trump, were often canceled or shouted down.  President Biden is reported to be "obsessed" with Morning Joe, so much so that he has made Scarborough a frequent phone buddy and informal adviser. But if Biden tuned in on Friday, he couldn't have been thrilled with the panel's take. Biden's already under pressure from the Pro-Hamas/River to the Sea wing of the Democrat party.  And now even the liberal media is starting to call for crackdowns on those protesters? Oy vey! Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe  4/19/24 6:47 am EDT WILLIE GEIST: So Joe, yesterday, you saw another case, several in recent weeks, where heads of school, chancellors, administrators, have said, there is a line now between free speech. We've allowed you to protest, we've allowed you to go to certain places. We've opened dialogues on our  campus, given you a place to have these debates.  But when it comes to harassment of Jewish students, when it comes to interrupting the operations of, say, a class, or a speaker, or people moving through the campus, we're now saying, you can't do that anymore. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, exactly. Whether you're talking about the, the interruption of the functioning of the Golden Gate Bridge, or the normal functioning of Columbia University, you know, it's, it's too much. It's too much. You can have free speech without, again, stopping the normal functioning of these institutions.  . . .  And so, I'm glad the president of Columbia University has stepped forward. You know, some people may call allowing students to take over president's offices at Columbia in the 1960s a storied tradition. I don't. I call that anarchy. Like, if you're a president of the university and you're letting students take over your office, maybe, maybe you should seek employment elsewhere.  Because I guarantee you there are a lot of parents that send their children to schools who don't want students running the place. They'd like grown-ups to run the place. And it looks like that's what's happening in Columbia. GEIST: Yeah. I'll speak for -- you know, I went to Vanderbilt University. They've had a lot of this on their campus in recent weeks. And a group of students a couple of weeks ago pushed their way into Kirkland Hall, where the chancellor's office is. They pushed aside an unarmed security guard, they sat there for 20 hours doing exactly what you're talking about, Joe. And Chancellor Diermeier, who runs Vanderbilt, ultimately said, okay, you're all suspended. And then one by one, reviewed their cases and expelled three of the students. SCARBOROUGH: Good! GEIST: And said, we've given you a place to have free speech. We've given you a place to protest. We've given you a place to voice your opinion. We've created symposiums where both sides of this discussion can be heard. You didn't participate in that, but you broke into our office and sat here. So now, three of you are no longer students of Vanderbilt University. And that was one of the first schools, actually, to do that, and I think you've seen more if it now since then.  Jeremy Peters, the national reporter for the New York Times is writing about this. He's got new reporting on how those administrators are now responding to a surge in anti-Israel protests on campus. Also with us, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt. His group is out with new data on antisemitic incidents in the United States in the last year. Good morning to you both. Jeremy, I'll begin with you. It does seem to have been, just within the last couple of weeks even, a bit of a change in the approach that some, not all, that some leaders of campuses, of universities across the country, are taking with these protests. What did you find in your reporting? JEREMY PETERS: That's exactly right, Willie. Schools have had enough. And Vanderbilt issued what are believed to be the first expulsions of student protesters related to demonstrations stemming from the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel.And from Vanderbilt to NYU, to Columbia, to the University of Michigan, to Pomona, schools are saying, basically, look, this is not about free speech. You have a right to speak up. You have a right to demonstrate. What you don't have is a right to harass and disrupt. And that's what's really been impeding these universities core mission, which is to educate your students. And you can't have an environment that is constantly disrupted, where students are subject to harassment, where they're spit upon, where they're yelled at.  Where graduation ceremonies, or like the incident I wrote about at my alma mater, the University of Michigan, this honors convocation that was supposed to be this kind of lovely, celebratory moment where kids who were the highest-achieving students are honored. Their parents and grandparents are there. And shat happened? It got disrupted and had to be shut down early because of pro-Palestinian protesters were standing up and shouting down speakers and unfurling banners. And this is something I think universities have been slow to acknowledge. I mean, remember during the Trump years, universities really became this, this cauldron of protest activity, where this kind of overly censorious culture developed. Where if there was a speaker who was conservative, or aligned with Trump, instead of letting that person speak, a lot of times the speach would be canceled out of fear for the safety of that speaker. Or people would interrupt the speaker. And now, you know, I think universities are saying, we didn't do enough to rein that in, but now they are. SCARBOROUGH: And, you know, the thing is, that's happened over the past couple of years. But this has been a problem for a long time. I'll just say it, brats who are protesting when, say, Christine Lagarde tries to speak at a graduation, or Condi Rice tries to speak at a graduation, or I think even Christine Todd Whitman one time was canceled from speaking at the graduation!  I gotta say, you're either the adult running the campus, or you're the child, that is incapable of controlling students. The students are there to learn. That means IIall the students are there to learn. Not just students who decide this one issue is the most important issue to them. And I certainly understand, if Gaza is the most important issue, especially to Palestinian students in America. But it goes well beyond that. You can't shut down an entire campus.Your right to free speech doesn't mean your right to impinge upon everybody else's free speech and their ability to unction in a university setting.

'Credit Where Due'—Scarborough Lauds Reaganesque Speaker Johnson On Ukraine

"Hear hear! Good on him. Credit where credit is due, and credit is definitely due with Speaker Johnson."  -- Joe Scarborough It's often said that it can be a kiss of death for a politician to be praised by a political opponent.  But that adage might not hold true in the case of Joe Scarborough's praise of Speaker Mike Johnson. Because on today's Morning Joe, Scarborough lauded Johnson not for agreeing with some liberal icon, but for upholding the principles of . . . Ronald Reagan. Scarborough's commending of Johnson came in the context of the Speaker's advocacy of aid for Ukraine.  And in doing so, Johnson described himself as a Reagan Republican, a believer in peace through strength, wanting to send a message to adversaries like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, and seeing the US as the greatest country in the world. Marjorie Taylor Greene and others will find a way to criticize Johnson's statement, but it's a tricky needle to thread. Does a Republican really want to speak out against Ronald Reagan? Note: Speaking of Johnson's stance, Scarborough called himself a Baptist, and thus as someone who embraces conversions. He even quoted from the Just As I Am hymn.The irony was lost on Scarborough that he's had quite the conversion himself. Going from being a hardcore pro-life, pro-Second Amendment congressman from Florida's conservative panhandle, to decrying the overturning of Roe and beating the drums for more gun control.  Scarborough's conversion has been so complete that he's become a Biden phone buddy and informal adviser. Just as you were, Joe Scarborough: please! Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 4/18/24 6:03 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: In a few minutes, Willie, we're going to be talking about Speaker Johnson and Ukraine. I must say, he has had a conversion. You know, it's, it's like A Christmas Carol. That the ghost of the Republican party past came to visit him in the middle of the night and said to him, [imitates voice of Ronald Reagan] "Well," and he said,"Yes, sir." MIKA BRZEZINSKI: No, I think -- SCARBOROUGH: No, listen. What do I say about conversions? MIKA: I'll take 'em. SCARBOROUGH: I'm a Baptist. MIKA: Yeah. SCARBOROUGH: We love deathbed conversions, we love midlife conversions. You want to convert? Just as I am, and waiting not, to cleanse my soul of one dark spot. Well, okay, we'll take Speaker Johnson, who sounds like Ronald Reagan. And I will say, in defense of some of the leaders in that House GOP, like some of those leaders that run important committees. It sounds like they're actually concerned about China, Iran, and Russia! WILLIE GEIST: And this might literally be a political deathbed conversion for Mike Johnson, as the threats to his job continue from that faction. But Joe, Speaker Johnson invoked Ronald Reagan's name -- SCARBOROUGH: Hear, hear. GEIST: -- finally said it out loud. It's something we've been talking about for months now on this show: the party of Ronald Reagan turning its back on Ukraine in a fight against Russia.  Speaker Johnson said yesterday, "I am a child of the '80s. I am a child of the Reagan era. We have to do what's right here. We have to give Ukraine what it needs." Where was that over the last couple of months? Unclear. But he's come around. The question will be, have enoug hother Republicans come around to that position to clear this funding and get it to Ukraine? Perhaps as early as Saturday night, when Speaker Johnson says there will be a vote. MIKA: Hope to see Democrats step up. SCARBOROUGH: Maybe he'll go to the floor. MIKA: No. SCARBOROUGH: Maybe he'll say -- MIKA: Listen -- SCARBOROUGH: MTG, tear down that wall! I mean, there's so many options now. MIKA: Yeah, there's a lot to say. SCARBOROUGH: He can borrow so much from Ronald Reagan. . . .  MIKAL And despite the threats from his Republican colleagues, Johnson is pushing forward. MIKE JOHNSON [speaking with Jake Tapper on CNN]: We're going to stand for freedom and make sure that Vladimir Putin doesn't March through Europe. We're an exceptional nation. We're the greatest nation on the planet, and we have to act like it. And we have to project to Putin and Xi and Iran and North Korea and anybody else that we will defend freedom. It doesn't mean boots on the ground. We're not the world's policemen, but we're going to do the right thing. And I think the Congress is going to take an important stand here. JAKE TAPPER: Are you going to have to rely on Democrats to pass the rule in order to bring these bills to the floor, and also the legislation itself? JOHNSON: Well, I hope not. I hope our Republican colleagues will stand together, stick together on this. I think we understand, look, I'm a child of the '80s. I regard myself as a Reagan Republican. I understand the concept of maintaining peace through strength. That's one of our guiding principles. It's a really important philosophy. And it's a big part of our party and our world view. And I think here is an opportunity to make that stand at a really critical time in world history. SCARBOROUGH: I mean, this is like a movie for me. I went to sleep last night, and we were living in the age of Trump. And I woke up this morning, and now we're in the age of Reagan again. Listen to this. Peace through strength. Huh. MIKA: That sounds good. SCARBOROUGH: And you knowm, a couple days ago, I kind of got heated up about how Republicans hate on America so much. I was talking about how horrible America is. And I said America is the greatest country in the world. And they need to start saying it. Well, the Speaker said, "We're the greatest nation in the world." Good on him. Like, we don't hear this from Republicans.  We certainly don't hear that we have to actually fund people who are fighting against Russian aggression much these days. Except from, again, those responsible leaders, whether you're talking about the chairman of the intel committee or the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, people who are actually talking like grown-ups. But I've got to say, give credit where credit is due, and credit is definitely due with Speaker Johnson talking like a Reagan Republican, talking about the need to protect freedom in this fight between western democracy and what's going on in Russia.  

Metaphor Amnesia? Morning Joe Calls Trump an 'Animal,' Ready to 'Lash Out'

When Donald Trump referred to the illegal immigrant accused of killing 22-year-old Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus as an "animal," the liberal media went aflame with outrage. Thus on MSNBC, Joy Reid condemned Trump's "dehumanizing and degrading" language [see clip at 2:00.] So, surely, no one on MSNBC would ever use the a-for-animal word in describing Donald Trump! Oh, wait. On today's Morning Joe, Mara Gay, an MSNBC analyst and member of the editorial board of the New York Times, said of Trump: "He's like a caged animal. And that's a dangerous situation. He's feeling very threatened. He's out of control. And so we do expect him to lash out." Oh no! Not just an animal, but an out-of-control animal! Creating a "dangerous situation" in which "we expect him to lash out." Yet for some reason, no one on the panel castigated Gay for her use of such "degrading and dehumanizing" language. Huh! Remind me to tune into Joy Reid's show later. Surely she will apply the same standard to Trump critics as she did to Trump himself! Or not. Notes: Gay's calling Trump an "animal" was preceded by a discussion of Trump's reported lack of discipline. Jonathan Lemire noted one exception to that rule -- that in the days prior to the 2016 election, Trump was persuaded to stay off Twitter and stay on message, which helped him win the election. But Lemire managed to work in a dig, saying that in addition to Trump's discipline, what contributed to his victory was "an assist from FBI Director Comey." That was a reference to the letter Comey sent days before the allegation saying that some of Hillary's emails had come to light that were pertinent to the FBI's investigation. Some in the liberal media blame Hillary's loss on that letter.  Scarborough admitted that, like Trump, he too finds it difficult to sit for hours on end, and that therefore "Mika lets me talk all the time to stay awake!" That might have been a peace offering from Joe toward Mika, who is reportedly fed up with his constant big-footing of her on the show.  Amateur psychiatrist Mika diagnosed Trump with an "ADD mentality." Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 4/17/24 6:18 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: Jonathan Lemire, obviously you've been covering Donald Trump a very long time. You understand that his lack of discipline is legendary. His [in]ability to sit still, legendary. He wrote, even in "The Art of the Deal" that, basically, that he didn't have the discipline to sit down and make plans for a day. He just kind of showed up in the office, answered phones, moved around, did things. Drudge puts it this way, "Don in Hell," [Mika laughs] with a picture of Donald Trump inside the courtroom. And for anybody that knows him, reported on him, that's been around him. The fact that this guy has to sit in a courtroom, six, seven, eight hours a day. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Oh, that's not good for him. SCARBOROUGH: Required to. It's just, it's something he has never done his entire life. JONATHAN LEMIRE: He has a legendary short attention span, ricocheting from one thought to the next, would always frustrate his business advisers, and certainly his White House staff. He's been, best I can tell, disciplined, only a handful of times in his life. Once, famously, in the last week or so of the 2016 election. The one time he was convinced to stay off Twitter, and he, mostly, stayed on message at rallies, and we know that helped him win there in those last few days—with an assist from FBI Director Comey. But that is certainly the exception rather than the rule.  SCARBOROUGH: And I will just say, yeah, anybody sitting six, seven, eight hours. You know me: if I were sitting somewhere for eight hours, I would, I would be falling asleep. I would be -- MIKA: You can't even get through four! [A reference to the daily length of Morning Joe.] SCARBOROUGH: I would be writing songs! Yeah, it's hard to even get through four, and Mika lets me talk all the time to stay awake! So I can't imagine: what a, what a physical toll for anybody. MIKA: This is where also it helps to have real firsthand knowledge of Donald Trump over the course of over a decade. And the guy has no attention span. We've seen it up front, and how we've known people who've worked for him, and they have to work around this sort of ADD mentality that he has, and the need for attention. Constant attention. Making moments. . . .  MARA GAY: And you saw yesterday that the judge recognized that concern in admonishing him and saying, I'm not going to have, you know, mumblings in my courtroom that could intimidate potential jurors. So, obviously that is a concern shared by many. I do agree with George [Conway.] I think that his pr capabilities are going to be somewhat limited in New York City, or maybe it was Jon that mentioned that a moment ago. That's absolutely true.  It's an ongoing concern. Because essentially, he's like a caged animal. And that's a dangerous situation. He's feeling very threatened. He's out of control. And so we do expect him to lash out. Anybody who has covered him over the past decade can expect that.

CNN's Acosta Worries Team Anti-Trump Won't Get a Perfectly Nasty Jury, But Analyst Counters

Happy Tax Return Deadline Day to all who celebrate! Such an empathetic guy, that Jim Acosta! As NewsBusters has documented, Acosta is a hard-left "journalist" and a Trump antagonist to the bitter end. On today's CNN This Morning, Acosta expressed a touching concern for the prosecutors in Trump's hush money trial. In particular, Acosta fretted over the tough job the prosecutors face in selecting jurors. After all, he said, it would take only one juror refusing to vote for conviction to cause a hung jury and thus a mistrial. True. But that possibility is something prosecutors face in every trial in every locale across the country. And if there's one place in all America where that could be the least likely to happen, it's the site of this trial—the liberal hotbed of Manhattan! As CNN legal analyst Elie Honig pointed out: "It's gonna be a challenge both ways. First of all, from Trump's perspective, this is not a great jury pool for him, right? This is Manhattan-only. No Bronx, no Brooklyn, no Queens, no Staten Island. Manhattan only. A borough, a county where Donald Trump got 12% of the vote in 2020. So he's worried about that." Exactly. Biden carried Manhattan by 87% to 12%. It's a dream jury pool for prosecutors. In contrast, how would you like to be a Trump defense lawyer trying to get 12 impartial jurors in Manhattan's seething, anti-Trump political environment? Naturally, Acosta's solicitous concern was only extended to the prosecution! Note: Honig, a former assistant US attorney, has a history of diverging at times from CNN's liberal line.  For example we've noted him arguing that the charges against him in this case are either misdemeanors akin to a shoplifting crime, or the lowest level of felony, which wouldn't result in prison time. On another occasion, Honig ripped into Stacey Abrams when she claimed that Fani Willis's investigation of Trump was "meticulous and very thoughtful." Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 4/15/24 6:06 am EDT JIM ACOSTA: Guys, busy morning, busy day.  Elie, we got a look last week at the jury questionnaire. How are they looking to root out the candidates? I mean, this is gonna be a challenge, I mean, for these prosecutors. It just takes one person to, to grind this to a halt. ELIE HONIG: It's gonna be a challenge both ways. First of all, from Trump's perspective, this is not a great jury pool for him, right? This is Manhattan only. No Bronx, no Brooklyn, no Queens, no Staten Island. Manhattan only. A borough, a county where Donald Trump got 12% of the vote in 2020. So he's worried about that. But you're right, prosecutors—I've been in this situation—are terrified about one lone juror sneaking through who could hang a jury. You need all 12 in order to convict.  The questionnaire is really interesting, because what the questionnaire is trying to do is get at is, first of all, which way do you lean. It doesn't come out and just ask it. I kinda wish it did, just say like, did you vote for A or B or are you Republican or Democrat?  But there's all these other proxies for that. Have you ever participated in political activity for or against Trump? Have you ever contributed? That kind of thing. But it asks a couple of important questions. It says, wherever what you lean, can you still be impartial in this case? Now, some people are going to say, I can't be impartial. I just lean too strongly. That's it. And they're going to be out. But then there's gonna be a lot of people who say, I do have feelings, but I can put those aside and still be impartial. And that's where the instinct kicks in. That's where the judge is going to have to ask, do I believe this person? And more importantly, the parties, who have a limited number, ten each, ten strikes each. They're going to have to make the decision, do we use one of those ten precious strikes to remove this particular person? It's a guessing game. 

No, Symone! A Third-Party Candidate Won't Deprive Biden or Trump of 270 Electoral Votes

I don't mean to pick on Symone Sanders Townsend. But for the second time in as many weeks, the co-anchor of MSNBC's The Weekend has exposed a disturbing knowledge deficit. Last week, we caught Symone accusing Donald Trump, in his inaugural address, of "promising carnage." In fact, he promised to "stop" carnage, of the sort that keeps "mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities." Today, in a segment devoted to trashing third-party candidates because of the likelihood that they would take votes from Biden, Sanders revealed her unfamiliarity with the way that Electoral College votes are awarded. Sanders: "I think now more than any of our past recent elections, that third-party candidates are a true, true threat to Joe Biden, but also to 270, period. Our Constitution says, to be the President of the United States, you have to win 270 Electoral College votes. Not 269, not that majority rules all . . . Now, what if Joe Biden is denied 270? Or Donald Trump? Well, according to the 12th Amendment, the House gets to pick who the president is."  What Sanders fails to grasp is that in every state but Nebraska and Maine, whoever wins a plurality of the popular vote wins all of the state's Electoral College votes. So even if a third-party candidate denied either Trump or Biden an outright majority in a given state [or in one of Nebraska or Maine's electoral districts], so long as either Trump or Biden got more votes than any other candidate, they'd get all of the state's electoral votes [or the electoral vote in the Nebraska or Maine district.] Thus, the only way that Sanders' nightmare scenario could come to pass would be if one of the third-party candidates actually won a state, or one of Nebraska or Maine's districts. And not even the most fevered conspiracy-mongers have suggested that RFK, Jr., let alone Cornel West or Jill Stein, have any hope of pulling off such a miracle. So Symone can sleep easy. But before next week's show, it would truly behoove her to study up on the topics at hand! Note: Steele told Symone that there wouldn't be a problem "if the Democrats win the House in November." That's not necessarily true. Per the 12th Amendment, "Rather than voting individually, House members vote as state delegations. Each state delegation gets a single vote, and a candidate becomes president with the support of a majority (26) of state delegations." So, even if in November Democrats won a majority of House seats, it's possible that Republicans would have the majority in more state delegations, and thus could have the power to elect the president. It's called a "contingent election." Here's the transcript. MSNBC The Weekend 4/13/24 8:19 am EDT JOE WALSH: [Third-party candidates are] so dangerous. MICHAEL STEELE: And it's just, if enough of those people to go to that place, to their happy place, where they can, where they think that that vote is going to do what? SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: Let me say this. Because I think that there is a, I think now more than any of our past recent elections, that third-party candidates are a true, true threat to Joe Biden, but also to 270, period.  Our Constitution says, to be the President of the United States, you have to win 270 Electoral College votes. Not 269, not that majority rules all. Now, the ballot access matters here, okay. So, RFK, Jr., Dr. West, Jill Stein. What does the ballot access program look like? RFK, Jr. is someone who is definitely -- STEELE: He's on one state right now.  SANDERS TOWNSEND: He just gained ballot access in North Carolina.  STEELE: So it's two states. SANDERS TOWNSEND: Two. And that is a -- that's an issue. Because the margins matter here. Now, what if Joe Biden is denied 270? Or Donald Trump?  STEELE: It goes to the House. SANDERS TOWNSEND: Well, according to the 12th Amendment, the House gets to pick who the president is. I just watched that episode of Scandal the other day. STEELE: Which version of the House? Is it the existing House or is the new House that is sworn in? SANDERS TOWNSEND: It is the, tt is the new House. STEELE: So if the Democrats win the House in November, you don't have a problem. SANDERS TOWNSEND: Well, that means people have to vote down ballot. STEELE: Well, there you go.

CNN Anchor Kasie Hunt Runs Two Free Democrat Ads In Lecture on Trump, Roe Repeal

On today's CNN This Morning, host Kasie Hunt danced on the latest media party line, that Donald Trump can't pose as a "moderate" on abortion now after appointing Supreme Court justices that repealed Roe vs. Wade. But then Hunt unleashed a series of pro-abortion messages, airing for free 30 seconds of a new Biden-Harris campaign ad, as well as an ad for Democrat Gov. Steve Beshear of Kentucky, and a teary interview with Texas native Kate Cox from NBC News. Hunt emphasized women telling sympathetic stories about how the overturning of Roe impaired their ability to destroy their babies. The Biden ad, in which a sobbing Amanda Zurawski displays a tiny blanket for her child, ended with this blunt attack: "Donald Trump did this." Zurawski and Kate Cox have both been hosted in First Lady Jill Biden's box during State of the Union addresses, underlining how Kasie Hunt seems like a Biden campaign surrogate.  They can't interview pro-life doctors who argue the pro-abortion forces mislead the public about state laws and miscarriage treatment. Hunt could only talk about abortions as "the care she needed." One thing CNN didn't do, and can't do, was to interview unborn babies. But if CNN could, you would hear heartbreaking stories of children who wanted to live, but had that possibility ripped away from them in unspeakably cruel fashion in states that won't protect them from abortion. Hunt talks about "protecting" abortion rights, not protecting babies. Hunt ended her pitch for Biden by dramatically claiming that "these are just three stories of countless stories like them, no doubt, unfolding across the country because of the fall of Roe vs. Wade." Perhaps. But what is undoubtedly true is that under Roe, tens of millions of unborn babies perished, babies whose stories will never be told.  Now with the overturning of Roe, some babies who otherwise would have died have been born, and in years to come will be able to express how thankful they are that the overturning of Roe gave them the chance to live. The balance between the rights of mothers and the unborn will be determined on a state-by-state basis. But CNN, like the rest of the liberal media, will only present the issue from the most heart-wrenching women's perspectives--never of that of babies whose lives have been saved.  Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 4/11/24 6:00 am EDT KASIE HUNT: This morning, Republicans in the Arizona state legislature blocking attempts to repeal the 1864 law banning all abortion there with just a single exception for the life of the mother. As outrage grows, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is trying to convince voters that he doesn't support the Arizona law, and now says he would not sign a national abortion ban if he is elected president. DONALD TRUMP [responding on the tarmac to a question]: Yeah, they did, and that'll be straightened out. As you know, it's all about states' rights, and it'll be straightened out, and I'm sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason, and that will be taken care of, I think, very quickly. REPORTER: Would you sign a national abortion ban if Congress sent it to your desk? TRUMP: [Shakes his head in the negative.] No. Hunt: No. Trump is trying to sound more moderate on an issue that has galvanized voters from Ohio to Kansas, to Kentucky to vote to protect abortion rights. But this Arizona law, and restrictions similar to it in other states, they are in force because of Donald Trump.  Recall: how did he win the Republican nomination in the first place? Back in 2016, he released a list of 11 Supreme Court Justices he would consider appointing, to convince skeptical evangelical voters, who are the bedrock of the Republican base, that he, Trump, was one of them, or at least that he would act like one of them. Then, to hammer that home, he picked the very publicly pious Mike Pence as his running mate. And then, he was elected president, and he transformed the Supreme Court TRUMP: Today, I am keeping another promise to the American people by nominating Judge Neil Gorsuch. I will nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Judge Amy Coney Barrett. HUNT: In June of 2022, after nearly 50 years, the Court struck down Roe versus Wade. And Trump, who is now trying to say that he doesn't support the strictest restrictions that have been exploding in red states across the country, he has repeatedly bragged about how he made that possible. TRUMP: We ended Roe v. Wade. We terminated Roe v. Wade. I was able to terminate Roe v. Wade after 50 years of trying.  HUNT: The results have been stories like this one, told in a Biden campaign ad, yes, but about a woman, a family. who wanted their child, wanted a child, and were devastated by the consequences of the fall of Roe. BIDEN CAMPAIGN AD: [As mother speaks in the background, screen reads] At 18 weeks, Amanda's water broke and she had a miscarriage. Because Donald Trump killed Roe v. Wade, Amanda was denied standard medical care to prevent infection: an abortion. the outfit she was gonna maybewhere home from the hospital. Doctors were forced to send her home.  WOMAN IN AD: [Sobbing] This is the blanket that she was on. AD: Donald Trump did this. HUNT: There's also Kate Cox. She's the Texas woman who also desperately wanted a baby. When she was told that her baby likely wouldn't live for more than a few days outside the womb, she sought an abortion to try to protect her ability to try again, to have a child. Here's what she told NBC News in December. KATE COX: It's a hard, hard time, you know, even with, you know, being hopeful with the decision that came from the hearing this morning. There's, there's still, we're going through the loss of a child. There's no outcome here that I take home my healthy baby girl, you know. So it's hard, you know. Cox had to leave her home state of Texas to get the care that she needed. Then there was this woman, Hadley Duvall, who told her story in a campaign ad for Kentucky's Democratic governor. BESHEAR CAMPAIGN AD: I was raped by my stepfather after years of sexual abuse. I was 12. Anyone who believes there should be no exceptions for rape and incest could never understand what it's like to stand in my shoes. HUNT: These are just three stories of countless stories like them, no doubt, unfolding across the country because of the fall of Roe versus Wade.

On Abortion, MSNBC Star Joe Scarborough Slurs 'Old, Fat, White Men In Mississippi'

UConn has notched a notable double: back-to-back NCAA men's basketball championships. But that achievement pales in comparison to the quintuple-header that Joe Scarborough has pulled off. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough slammed, for what he called their radicalism on abortion: "old, fat, white men in Mississippi." Let's see: in one phrase, Scarborough managed to engage in ageism, fat-shaming, racism, sexism, and negative Southern stereotyping! Even for the liberal media, that could represent a landmark first! Somewhere, Joy Reid is dying of envy! Scarborough also seemed to say that back in the day, it was easy for him to call himself pro-life, since he knew Roe v. Wade was in place to prevent his views from being made into law. In other words, Scarborough was thus admitting to being a cheap, unprincipled, political opportunist. Scarborough suggested that seeing the aftermath of the overturning of Roe has in effect turned him into being pro-choice. Yet he has the chutzpah to condemn Trump for being an opportunist on the issue? Note: Mika described the taking away of abortion rights as "a matter of life and death."  The irony is lost on her that yes, it's a matter of life and death . . . for the unborn child. Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 4/9/24 6:16 am EDT MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Support for abortion was always there, and it was growing over the past decade. I think, since the overturning of Roe, it has crystallized the issue for anybody who was on the fence about it, or didn't feel they had any, any men, perhaps, who didn't feel as connected with it.  Now, we are seeing the consequences of these rights being taken away. 50 years of rights that our daughters and sons, as families, don't have. And, they're brutal; they're very specific. They're a matter of life and death. And Donald Trump is on the wrong side of every position that exists, practically, on this. In a moment, we're going to show you -- JOE SCARBOROUGH: Can I go to Charlie real quickly on this before we go, go to the Lindsey clips? MIKA: Oh, yes, okay. SCARBOROUGH: Charlie, really quickly. I'd just say, and Mika is so right. There are so many people that now are, are -- that were pro-life before Dobbs that now understand the importance of Roe because of the radicalism in the states.  I always, you know, it cost me nothing to just take the position, yeah, yeah, I'm pro-life, and da-da-da, because there was that right there [via Roe]. And when, when I formulated my thoughts over it, the governors were like George Voinovich in Ohio, Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, Jeb Bush in Florida. And the thought was, well, you know, maybe it'll be 15, 16, 17 weeks with exceptions. That's just not the world we live in anymore. And I must say, this is post Dobbs, you look and you see the radicalism of—I'll just say it— these old, white, fat men in Mississippi or somewhere else that, that are driving women out of, out of, out of medical care. Because they want to appeal to the most extreme elements of their base.  Yeah, there are a lot of people, and I would guess you're like me, there are a lot of people who, who have really been transformed by the radicalism of the last three, four years.

No Symone, Trump Didn't 'Promise' American Carnage—He Promised To Stop It!

Was Symone Sanders Townsend woefully misinformed—or was she intentionally trampling the truth? On Saturday's edition of MSNBC's The Weekend which she co-anchors, Sanders Townsend said: "In his remarks during his inauguration, [Trump] promised American carnage. He is now making -- he tried to make good on that promise throughout his presidency, on January 6th after he lost. And now, if he is afforded another term by the American people, he is going to triple down on that. " Sanders Townsend then asked: "Am I making it up?" Answer: Yes, Symone: you were making it up. Because what Trump actually said during his "remarks during his inauguration" [otherwise known as his Inaugural Address], was the absolute, diametrical, total and complete OPPOSITE of what you claimed! Rather than "promising" American carnage, Trump promised to "stop" the carnage--"right here and right now." And the carnage Trump promised to stop was that of "mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities," of our "young, beautiful students" being poorly served by our education system, and crime that has "stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential." In other words, Trump was expressing the desire to help, above all, the very Americans that Sanders Townsend would most want to see helped. Both of the guests on the show dutifully agreed with Sanders Townsend's egregious misrepresentation of Trump's statement on carnage. Rashawn Rae, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, replying to Sanders Townsend's "am I making it up?," assured her, "not at all." Later, substitute co-anchor Alexi McCammond said: "Symone's right. From that inauguration speech, we all were like, wow, American carnage! This is what we all signed up for." Note: For the edification of Sanders Townsend, or anyone else unfamiliar with Trump's inaugural address, here's the complete transcript. His promise to stop carnage right here and right now comes in the fifth paragraph. Here's the transcript. MSNBC The Weekend 4/6/24 8:14 am EDT MICHAEL STEELE: Donald Trump is leaning into a dark and dystopian version of America. And his distorsion of reality is reaching a new low when it comes to immigration. He's now embracing the word bloodbath to falsely blame migrants for crime waves that, guess what?, just not happening. And he described President Biden's economic record as, quote, a migrant job fair. . . .  SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: When Donald Trump announced -- not even that, when he, on his inauguration, we're just steps from the Capitol, um, over here. In his remarks during his inauguration, he promised American carnage. He is now making -- he tried to make good on that promise throughout his presidency, on January 6th after he lost. And now, if he is afforded another term by the American people, he is going to triple down on that.  STEE{E: Who's that to? SANDERS TOWNSEND: Anybody! Cause I'm -- am I making it up? STEELE: Who do you want to send that to? RASHWAN RAE: Not at all. . . .  JOE WALSH: Immigration's a big issue. And the Biden team needs to know that. And Trump is going to go lower and lower and lower to appeal to the worst of us. This is not normal. And Biden's gotta call that out. ALEXI MCCAMMOND: I'm curious what you think, or Dr. Ray. It's certainly perpetuated by Donald Trump. I mean, he is saying the craziest stuff. Symone's right. From that inauguration speech, we all were like, wow, American carnage! This is what we all signed up for.

Wild-Eyed Scarborough: Netanyahu Intentionally Starving Gaza, Like STALIN Starved Ukraine

Joe Scarborough is notorious for his incessant Trump = Hitler analogies. Now, for purposes of smearing Benjamin Netanyahu, Scarborough has devised an analogy to another mass-murdering dictator. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough began by claiming that Netanyahu "had a plan to force famine on the Palestinian people, on the Gazan people." Scarborough then upped the ante, claiming that Netanyahu's plan is "calculated, and let me say, it's calculated just like Stalin's starvation of Ukrainians was calculated. This is calculated by Benjamin Netanyahu." Scarborough's mention of Stalin's starvation of Ukraine was a reference to the Holomodor, a famine imposed on Ukraine in 1932-33 by Stalin in which an estimated 3.9 million Ukrainians perished. As the maxim goes, in war, truth is the first casualty. Various anti-Israel organizations have accused Israel of intentionally starving Gazans, but hard facts are hard to find. Often, headlines are cleverly couched: starvation "looms," starvation is "stalking." Consider that here at home, left-wing groups regularly push nonsenical notions like "More than 44 million people in the US face hunger, including 1 in 5 children." In fact, in the Unites States, as worldwide, by far the bigger health threat is not hunger, but obesity. Note that Scarborough offered no evidence in support of his scurrilous accusation that Netanyahu is intentionally starving Gazans. By implication though, he could be buying into the insinuation that MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire made on Morning Joe earlier this week, that Israel's strike on the World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza was intentional. And Scarborough also repeated today his cynical twist on a phrase fashioned by those seeking the total destruction of Israel, which we noted yesterday, that Netanyahu's plan is for an Israel, "from the river to the sea."  Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 4/5/24 6:17 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: It is increasingly looking like Benjamin Netanyahu had a plan to force famine on the Palestinian people, on the Gazan people, to amp up the pressure on Hamas. Of course, it seems to me that the hostages aren't even secondary in his mind because, of course, and people say, well, Hamas could release hostages. Yeah, they could! They're terrorists! They're terrorists! And they're not going to release the hostages unless the conditions are right. Which the conditions most likely are a cease fire and the allowing of the worst terrorists to escape out of Gaza with their lives. But, but this whole idea that if we starve the Gazan people, that's going to somehow help Israel in the long run, that's going to help the hostages? No! It's hurting the hostages, it's hurting Israel. And of course you're, you're starving women and children in Gaza, and as Katty said yesterday, they're now having to grind up dog food and cat food and, and eat that, and, and drink salt water. I mean, it's savage conditions, and it's calculated.  And let me say, it's calculated just like Stalin's starvation of, of, of Ukrainians was calculated. This is calculated by Benjamin Netanyahu, and somebody needs to ask me, why the hell the United States shouldn't intervene with a guy that has a 20% approval rating and knows that when the war is over, he could be going to jail.

Scarborough: Netanyahu Wants An Israel 'From The River To The Sea'

Every time the issue of Israel's war with Hamas arises on the Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough touts his pro-Israel record. But now that Biden's support for Israel is costing him in battleground states and among certain demographics, Scarborough has become a fierce critic of Israel's conduct of the war, and of Benjamin Netanyahu in particular. During a long, angry, rant on Thursday's Morning Joe, Scarborough, in a grotesque variation of the slogan of those calling for the destruction of Israel, claimed that Netanyahu's vision is for "an Israel from the river to the sea." Careful, Joe: Rashida Tlaib might sue for copyright infringement! And speaking of Squad members, Scarborough is sounding increasingly like them, as he also accused Israel of "the systematic killing of [Gaza] civilians." What's next, Joe: accusing Israel of genocide? Macho Joe Scarborough also put in an appearance. First, after warning parents to put earmuffs on their kids, Scarborough declared that it is time for Biden and others to "call bull----" on the choice that Netanyahu is supposedly offering.  Next, Scarborough said that anyone disagreeing with his recommended approach on Israel "can go straight to Hell." Then, commenting on Israeli minister Ron Dermer reportedly yelling at U.S. officials during a virtual meeting yesterday, Scarborough said: "I'll tell you what, yell at me on the phone, and I'm a U.S. official -- I hang up on you. Seriously. They can call back and apologize and keep talking." Tough talk, Macho Joe! Scarborough did stop short, though, of claiming that he would have reached through the ether and made Dermer eat his phone, as Joe once claimed he'd do if he found a Capitol tourist taking photos somewhere Scarborough didn't like. It's been reported that Scarborough has become a frequent Biden phone buddy, and an informal adviser to the president. Do we think Scarborough advised Biden to break out the "river to the sea" line against Bibi? Wonder how that'd go down? Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 4/4/24 6:31 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: His dream has been an Israel from the river to the sea. You know, Israelis rightly, Israeli rightly are offended when people talk about the need for a Palestine that's from the river to the sea, because it's talking about wiping out Israel. Well, the shoe's on the other foot here. Because this is Benjamin Netanyahu's vision, to push Palestinians out, and have Israelis from the river to the sea. And he presents the United States a false choice. You either support my twisted vision of what I'm doing in Gaza and what I've been doing in the West Bank now for over a decade, robbing Palestinians of their homes. Allowing religious extremists to set up illegal settlements. Running roughshod over all Palestinian rights in the West Bank, because it helps Benjamin Netanyahu politically with those religious extremists.  Either do that, or you're not a true defender of Israel. It is time, moms, dads, please, put earmuffs on your children right now. It is time for Joe Biden! It is the time for the United States Congress. It is time for Americans to call bullshit on that. Because that has led us to where we are today. And enough is enough. We can have two things at once.  You know, if Netanyahu wants to do this, he has his choice. If he wants to continue taking Israel off a cliff. He has a choice. He can do that. But we Americans, we have a choice, too. And our choice is not defined by what Benjamin Netanyahu says our choice is. Our choice is to say, we will continue to support Israel, but we're not going to continue to support the systematic killing of civilians. And if you want our support, you're going to need to do this, this, and this. And anybody that says, after what we've seen, Willie, over the past couple months. Anybody who says that that's anti-Israeli, they can go straight to hell, because they're dead wrong. . . . You know, Ron Dermer was the guy yelling on the phone yesterday at administration officials. I'll tell you what, yell at me on the phone, and I'm a U.S. official -- I hang up on you. Seriously. They can call back and apologize and keep talking.

MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire Suggests Israel's Strike On Gaza Aid Workers Was Intentional

"This 'mistake' hit comes a day after the precision strike that killed the Iranian general in Syria. It's hard to reconcile those two things." That was Jonathan Lemire on today's Morning Joe. In saying that it's hard to "reconcile" Israel's "mistake" hit on the World Central Kitchen aid workers with the "precision" hit on the Iranian general, Lemire is hinting strongly this wasn't a mistake at all, but rather, an intentional act by Israel. As Israel has acknowledged, the strike was a "grave mistake." But while Lemire focused on the vehicles being well-marked with logos, he failed to mention that the strike happened at night -- when logos would be less visible, if visible at all.   MSNBC Republican Elise Jordan reacted angrily after Lemire said that, behind the scenes, Biden is furious at Netanyahu.  Said a visibly upset Jordan: "I'm so sick of hearing how upset President Biden is. The buck stops with him. If he wants to stop arms sales, if he wants to stop the bombs that are indiscriminately killing civilians, he can. He has the power. We don't need him and his aides going to reporters and talking on background about how upset they are." Meanwhile, Joe Scarborough claimed he was staunchly pro-Israel and then called for a "permanent cease-fire," while also calling for two things that a permanent cease-fire would make unlikely: the release of hostages and the elimination of Hamas.  If a permanent cease-fire were declared, the pressure on Hamas to release hostages would dissipate. And how would Scarborough expect Hamas to be eliminated if a permanent cease-fire—which would leave about one-quarter of its battalions intact—were declared?  Scarborough also called for a two-state solution. That is another practical impossibility, given the implacable rejection of the idea by an overwhelming proportion of Palestinians.  Just two days ago, the New York Times published an op-ed by Tareq Baconi, the president of the Palestinian Policy Network, entitled: "The Two-State Solution Is an Unjust, Impossible Fantasy."  Baconi ended his piece by declaring that the only solution is "A single state from the river to the sea." That equates to a call for the total destruction of the Jewish state of Israel. Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 4/3/24 6:08 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: Israel, and the supporters of Israel, which I am, have been, always will be, will be fooling themselves if they don't think that the overwhelming number of Americans agree with Jose Andres, that this is just enough, and they need to focus on, on a permanent cease-fire. They need to focus, focus on getting the hostages home, and they need to focus on creating a world moving forward, without Hamas, and of course in Israel it will be without Benjamin Netanyahu, and maybe, just maybe then, we can take the first step of a thousand steps toward a two-state solution. . . .  JONATHAN LEMIRE: Those vehicles couldn't have been better marked. In fact, it looks like, from the footage of the destroyed van, one of the missiles went right through the logo of the World Central Kitchen. [Image of van displayed] Right there, and just killed everyone inside. And it should be noted to Richard's point earlier, this mistake hit comes a day after the precision strike that killed the Iranian general in Syria. It's hard to reconcile those two things. . . .  And now, Elise, we have a moment where the president, and this has been bubbling up behind the scenes for a while. President Biden, frankly, is furious at Prime Minister Netanyahu. But yet, still, his administration has not conditioned sales, weapons sales, has not conditioned aid. They haven't done it yet. Now, maybe,  this is the moment that comes. This also happens, we think, a week or two perhaps before this Rafah offensive, which really could be a flash point. ELISE JORDAN: Okay, I'm so sick of hearing how upset President Biden is. The buck stops with him. If he wants to stop arms sales, if he wants to stop the bombs that are indiscriminately killing civilians, he can. He has the power. We don't need him and his aides going to reporters and talking on background about how upset they are. What happened yesterday is still going to happen. 

Ex-Biden Flack Bedingfield on CNN: Israel Bombing Aid Workers Is 'Good' for Biden

"I personally think it's good for them." Kate Bedingfield couldn't possibly have meant what that sounded like, even though she's a communications professional--Biden's former communications director. Surely she's not so heartless as to describe the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza in an Israeli strike as being "good for" the Biden administration. But however she meant her shocking line, one thing was clear: Bedingfield did see the tragedy as a good opportunity for the Biden administration [read, campaign] to distance itself from Bibi Netanyahu and his policies. As Bedingfield put it in an appearance on Tuesday's CNN This Morning: "Every instance of horror like this gives the Biden administration more opening to put clear contrast between what they're trying to do, what they would argue they're trying to do responsibly in the region, and what Netanyahu has been unwilling to do.  I, I personally think it's good for them." Even seen in the most forgiving light, that is some stone-cold realpolitik. Could the vulture not have waited a bit longer before swooping down to exploit the tragedy for its maximum political benefit for her former boss?  Far from pushing back on Bedingfield's callous take, Hunt accused Israel of "starv[ing]" Gaza's population. Panelist Jonah Goldberg refuted Hunt's accusation, saying, "It's very difficult to feed a population that is being used as essentially human shields by a terrorist organization," and that "there's this expectation that Israel should be actually carrying more about Palestinians than the supposed leadership of Gaza. And that expectation puts Israel in an impossible situation."  Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 4/2/24 6:14 am EDT IDF SPOKESMAN DANIEL HAGARI: The work of WCK is critical. They are the front lines of humanity. We will get to the bottom of this, and we will share our findings transparently. KASIE HUNT: Well, the IDF launching an investigation into the death of seven aid workers from José Andrés' World Central Kitchen. They were killed in an Israeli air strike, in an Israeli strike, excuse me, in central Gaza. The organization says that they had coordinated their movements with the IDF, and that they were in marked vehicles with their logo on them.  World Central Kitchen is one of the few aid organizations providing desperately needed food to those in Gaza. The organization now pausing operations there. The White House this morning calling this tragedy deeply troubling. . . .  Kate Bedingfield, I want to start with you, because look, this, the World Central Kitchen, José Andrés' operation, has become world renowned for showing up in the moments when humanity is having some of its toughest experiences, and helping people. They are known throughout the country in this way it, it's clear from that video that we showed at the top, the IDF just put that out as this is unfolding, that they understand just how horrible this is. And certainly just how horrible also that it looks.  KATE BEDINGFIELD: Oh yeah. HUNT: What is the impact here for the Biden administration? Because the politics of this are already so tough for them. BEDINGFIELD: Yeah, well look, obviously this is a horrific tragedy, a true humanitarian disaster, I mean, it's fair to say. You know, for the Biden administration, obviously, this is an incredibly fraught issue. I think the more space they can continue to draw between themselves and Bibi Netanyahu, and Netanhyahu's government, the better for them politically. From a policy perspective, I think they've been trying to drive toward a longstanding, sort of post-conflict plan. I think Bibi's own domestic politics have made it so that he is unwilling to engage in that in a serious way. And so every instance of horror like this gives the Biden administration more opening to put clear contrast between what they're trying to do, what they would argue they're trying to do responsibly in the region, and what Netanyahu has been unwilling to do. I, I personally think it's good for them. So, I think they need to be clear that this was unacceptable. It was horrific. They need to move to support Israel's investigation into what happened happened, and to take a very tough line on this. And I think this is a moment for them to do that.

CNN Women Praise Burgum PR Man for Being 'Evolved' on the Press and Female Coaches

Aww: isn't he sweet? Good boy! On Monday's CNN This Morning, CNN's Dana Bash and Kasie Hunt gave Republican Lance Trover a pat on the head for being "evolved" about the supposedly disparate press treatment of male and female sports coaches. The matter arose in the context of a long Washington Post profile of LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey. After noting that the article "details her kind of pugnacious coaching personality,"  Hunt skeptically wondered: "Would we talk about that with a male coach? I don't know." Republican strategist Lance Trover, who recently toiled for Doug Burgum for President, replied:  "I completely agree with you  . . . I read it and I thought, man, would a man have gotten the same treatment, right?" That warmed the feminist cockles of Bash's heart.  But first, she had to double-check Trover's truthfulness: "Did you really read that and think to yourself, would this be written about a man?" When Trover confirmed that he actually did, "absolutely," think that, Bash responded: "That is very 2024. The fact that you did that. I mean, I want to be hopeful to think that other men are as evolved as you are. But the fact that you did is pretty cool." Hunt pitched in: "Yeah, for sure: props for that." So Hunt and Bash are skeptical that articles profiling the pugnacious style of male coaches would be written? Hello?  For starters, for every such Mulkey article, there have surely been many more ripping the late Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight for his pugnacious/combative style. Even upon his death last year, prominent sports columnist  Mitch Albom wrote that the normal rule of not speaking ill about the dead should be waived!   Indeed, trashing the allegedly unpleasant personalities of male coaches has become a sport in itself, the subject of many listicle articles, as in: 20 Most Despicable Coaches, The 20 Angriest Coaches in Sports, and The 10 angriest coaches in college basketball. And every single coach mentioned in those articles was of the XY chromosome ilk. To offer some examples, would the names of these oft-reviled coaches ring a bell with Hunt and Bash: Bill Belichick, Lane Kiffin, Nick Saban, Billy Martin, Woody Hayes, Earl Weaver? The patronizing condescension of the CNN pair was off the charts. Imagine the feminist outrage if a couple of male sportswriters had similarly condescendingly congratulated a female political operative on her understanding of, say, the intricacies of the infield fly rule? Note: Bash even managed to somehow work in a shot at Donald Trump, saying that Mulkey's approach of preemptively criticizing the WaPo article before its publication represented the "Trumpization" of dealing with such situations. Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 4/1/24 6:54 am EDT KASIE HUNT: Mulkey has been out there, Lance, basically pushing back ahead of a story that came out over the weekend which was in the Washington Post, was a long profile of her and looking at her personality in away that clearly Mulkey thought, she ahead of time called it a hit piece, attacks the journalist in the Washington Post. I think if you read the story, I'm not sure that the things that she said might be in there ended up being in the story. It was kind of a portrait of how Mulkey came to be. But, you know, I kind of go back and forth, because on the one hand, it details her kind of pugnacious coaching personality. Would we talk about that with a male coach? I don't know. On the other hand, we are getting a massive profile in a national publication of a women's basketball coach. And I actually think that's pretty good. LANCE TROVER: I completely agree with you on both counts. I sometimes, I read it and I thought, man, would a man have gotten the same treatment, right? But at the same time, it's bringing attention to it. I also think this is a lesson, PR 101 in 2024. Get in front of a story that's coming that you think is bad, and if you don't like what's in it, get out there and talk about it. Look what happened. She got a [inaudible.] DANA BASH: I mean, it is the Trumpization of the way to approach--and I'm sure you think about this in your line of work all the time. But the way to approach something that's coming is just to get out there and own it, and, frankly, appropriate it and, or to try to quash it in this case. I just want to co-sign, as the kids say, what you said about the fact that we're talking about women's basketball and women's sports in general. I mean this is really great. HUNT: I freaking love it.  BASH: It really great. It's the Caitlin Clark of it all. It's -- LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO: They're making money. They have fans. They have controversies [laughter]. HUNT: It's happening, it's happening. Guess what? It's just like men's, but again, I mean, look Lance, I'm sorry, you're the you're the man at this table for TROVER: I'm all in! BASH: What Lance said, what Lance said: that you actually. Did you really read that and think to yourself, would this be written about a man? TROVER: Yes, I did. Yeah, absolutely. BASH: First of all, that is very 2024. The fact that you did that. I mean, I want to be hopeful to think that other men are as evolved as you are. But the fact that you did is pretty cool. HUNT: Yeah, no, for sure. Props for that.

MSNBC Analyst Fantasizes Trump Reading His God Bless The USA Bible In Prison Next Easter

What better way for the Trump haters at MSNBC to celebrate Easter than to fantasize about Donald Trump spending next Easter in "a prison cell," reading his God Bless the USA Bible? As we've noted here, former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross loved to fantasize about Trump being subjected to a COPS-style arrest: "dragged out on the White House lawn," and his head pushed down to shove him into the back seat of a cop car. On Easter Sunday's episode of The Weekend, MSNBC legal analyst Kristy Greenberg perpetuated Cross's inglorious tradition. Discussing Trump's criticisms of Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump's trial in the Stormy Daniels hush money case brought against him by far-left Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and Mercham's daughter, Greenberg said: "It's just so dumb for this defendant to antagonize judges. He got a $464 million judgment against him the last time he tried it. And now, he's antagonizing a judge who could, you know, have his liberty at stake.  Next Easter, he could be looking at reading his -- having nothing to do but read his God Bless the USA Bible in a prison cell if he keeps this up." Greenberg's snarky shot about the God Bless America Bible that Trump has been promoting reflects her animus, and the anticipatory schadenfreude she was experiencing at the prospect of Trump behind bars. Co-anchor Michael Steele was sadly pessimistic that any judge would have the courage to jail Trump, demanding to know, "at what point do we say enough is enough?" Later, co-anchor Symone Sanders-Townsend suggested that Trump should be accosted by the Secret Service in connection with his posting of an image of President Biden tied up in the back of a pick-up truck. She also called on Senate Democrats to take related action against Trump. Tim O'Brien, another MSNBC analyst, agreed, saying "what he says isn't just speech, and it isn't just criticism. In a sense, he is inciting people to commit violence and to erode the system of governance and the rule of law, and he should be held accountable immediately." Here's the transcript. MSNBC The Weekend 3/31/24 8:01 am EDT ALICIA MENENDEZ: Let's start this hour with MSNBC political analyst and Bloomberg senior executive opinion editor Tim O'Brien. Also joining us, former federal former prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst Kristy Greenberg. Good morning to you both. SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Good morning, guys. Look, I think what was most concerning for me in the most recent post from Donald Trump is that the post that we -- and we obviously didn't put this up on the screen, but the post that we showed, he also included pictures of the judge's daughter there. And the question that I had is why? Why would he include the photos of his daughter? Why does Donald Trump continuously attack the judge? And it, perhaps it just boils down to that he is trying to intimidate them. Intimidate the judge. Intimidate the court and legal system. But that's just my theory. Kristy, what say you?  . . .  KRISTY GREENBERG: So, I think what you'll see is the imposition of a condition to his pre-trial release, saying you cannot threaten or incite violence against anyone. And if you violate that pre-trial condition, then you are going to get the stiffest sanction that I can impose, and that would include jail time. I mean, again, it's just so dumb for this defendant to antagonize judges. He got a $464 million judgment against him the last time he tried it. And now, he's antagonizing a judge who could, you know, have his liberty at stake.  Next Easter, he could be looking at reading hus -- having nothing to do but read his God Bless the USA Bible in a prison cell if he keeps this up. . . .  MICHAEL STEELE: Tim, on that last point, I'm sorry, I just don't believe it. I don't believe Donald Trump, none of these judges are gonna put this man in jail. I mean, for me, at what point do we say enough is enough? . . .  SANDERS-TOWNSEND: We brought up the Secret Service a couple of times. And I think it's worth noting that this is -- and someone can, feel free to fact check me on this but I feel confident in stating, this is the first time that it is a current protectee the of the United States Secret Service, i.e., Donald Trump, who is issuing the real threats against another protectee of the United States Secret Service, the current President of the United States, Joe Biden. And I would just note, the Secret Service doesn't have to go visit Donald Trump, because he is currently under Secret Service protection. Now, the folks on his detail, those are the people who are with him all the time, you cannot possibly expect his own detail to reprimand him. But I think this begs the question, what is the director the Secret Service, the folks at the top, what are they doing? Because Joe Biden is the President of the United States of America. Not Donald Trump. It is Joe Biden, the President of the United States, who is being directly threatened by someone that -- sure, you can say Donald Trump is not going to carry out the attack, but someone else potentially could. And they have visited folks for less. So, like, Tim, I don't know what the view is from Trump -- you know Trump world better than anybody that I know here. What do you think the view is from Trump world on this, and frankly, do you think we're going to see anything from the director of the Secret Service? Congress maybe should place a call? Hello: calling Dems in the Senate. . . .  TIM O'BRIEN: We should just be very clear that given his power, his rank, and his past, what he says isn't just speech, and it isn't just criticism. In a sense, he is inciting people to commit violence and to erode the system of governance and the rule of law, and he should be held accountable immediately.