UPDATE: Looks like Scarborough was parroting a Clinton campaign talking point. John Podesta, chair of the Hillary for America PAC, had put out a press release entitled “Trump Choked,” and repeating that c-word a couple of times in the release. Maybe Morning Joe can cut out the middleman, dispense with hosts, and just run a looping feed of Clinton campaign press releases.
Like Bulgarian and Ukrainian Olympic judges back in Soviet Union days who gave American ice skaters a crummy score after a strong performance, on today’s Morning Joe Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough totally trashed Donald Trump on his visit with the Mexican president.
For not raising the issue of who would pay for the wall, Scarborough screamed “he choked! I can’t stand people that choke under pressure!” Brzezinski was reluctant to discuss the trip at all, dismissing Trump as a “fringe, alt-right Republican candidate . . . let’s not pretend this is some sort of foreign policy discussion.”
Scarborough even censored a panelist who used a respectful term to describe Trump. Trying to explain why the issue of who pays for the wall didn’t come up at the meeting, Nicolle Wallace explained that “there were some issues that were pre-wired before this meeting and that was one of them. And that happens in meetings with leaders all the time.” Interrupted Scarborough: “with people. Don’t say leaders.” Wallace meekly went along: “with people,” she revised.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: In joint remarks in a press availability after the meeting, Donald Trump said he and the Mexican president did not discuss his promise to make Mexico pay for the wall.DONALD TRUMP: We didn’t discuss that. We didn’t discuss who pays for the wall. We didn’t discuss. We did discuss the wall, we didn’t discuss payment of the wall. That will be for a later date. This was a very preliminary meeting. I think it was an excellent meeting.. . .JOE SCARBOROUGH: If that’s the center of your campaign, how do you not get the job done when you’re there?MIKE BARNICLE: He said that six hours laterWILLIE GEIST: He did, he showed up, and for anyone who doubted it because of what he did in Mexico City he went to Phoenix and said it about ten times. 100% they’ll pay for the wall.JOE: Exactly! But he was just there a couple hours earlier and he had the guy in front of him across the table. And you know what he was doing? [makes gestures of nervously shaking]MIKA: Oh my God. Can you guys just stop?JOE: He choked! No, he choked! No, no, no. I can’t stand people that choke under pressure.MIKA: And you think about the Brent Scowcrofts and the Bob Gates and the Kissingers of the world and the meetings that we’ve covered and this is a joke. We’re trying to make this into something it’s not. Can we please just get it over with. I’m going to continue.JOE: Get what over with? What are you talking about?MIKA: This stupidity. This ridiculous session a fringe alt-right Republican candidate had with the president of Mexico about a wall that’s never going to happen. Please, let’s not pretend this is some sort of foreign policy discussion. This is stupidity.
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