MSNBC's Scarborough Rips Dems for 'Disastrous' Debate: 'My Only Hope Is People Were Not Watching'
The second half of the first Democratic 2020 primary debate took place Thursday night in Miami, and while it proved to be more feisty and entertaining than Wednesday’s affair, and a handful of candidates had a stand-out moment — overall, the event was a mess.
That was pretty much the takeaway of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, who surprisingly offered up a stunningly realistic assessment of how the whole debate was a “disaster” for the Democratic Party and its chances to defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Scarborough took off his “nice” hat — being an open partisan in favor of anyone opposing Trump — and donned his journalistic hat for a moment to deliver the frank and “unpopular” news to viewers and the candidates of how royally Democrats had screwed up.
“Last night was a disaster for the Democratic Party. My only hope is people were not watching, and I’ll tell you why,” Scarborough said.
“First of all, on policy — well, let’s talk about the goal which every Democrat believes, which is ‘We have to beat Donald Trump,’ right?” Scarborough said.
“So, they’re lined up in trench warfare, ready to get out of the trenches and charge and fight Donald Trump. Instead, they all turn their guns on each other and shoot each other. And everybody’s yelling at each other all night, everybody,” he continued.
“If you were watching, if you’re an American and this is your introduction to these candidates and the Democratic Party and all you see are twelve people yelling at each other, trying to interrupt each other, insulting each other, you’re like, ‘You know what? I thought Donald Trump was a clown show. I’m changing the channel,'” he said.
Scarborough was far from finished with his righteous rant against the Democratic candidates’ performance in the debate, however, and focused on the one key moment that may have all but guaranteed Trump’s re-election — open-ended support for illegal aliens, with taxpayer money, no less.
“That’s the first thing, here’s the second thing — won’t be popular among the base, but if you want to beat Donald Trump, you may want to listen,” Scarborough said.
“It is the position of every Democrat on that stage that illegal immigrants, if they cross the border illegally, should get health care for life. It is then the position of every Democrat on that stage, that if they cross the border illegally, it’s not even illegal anymore,” he continued.
“Now, that may make Democrats feel really good about themselves, right? But that loses Wisconsin, that loses Pennsylvania, that loses Florida, that loses North Carolina, that may lose Virginia,” Scarborough said.
Scarborough noted that there was a “vast middle ground” among the American people on the issue of illegal immigration and that — while many weren’t in favor of the Trump administration’s strict policies at the border — they also were not in favor of the “free-for-all immigration policies that were pushed last night.”
He further stated that former Vice President Joe Biden was “off his game” and slammed his performance. Scarborough also noted that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was “yelling all night” and unprepared, as he seemed to be delivering the same debate performance this year as he did four years ago against failed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
To be sure, there is no question that Joe Scarborough wants nothing more than for a Democrat to defeat President Trump in 2020. His rant belied his great disappointment that, at least based on their performances in the twin debates in Miami, there doesn’t appear to be a Democratic candidate who appeared capable of doing so — and made the task more difficult by tacking far to the left on the immigration issue.
You know things are not going well for Democrats when even a highly partisan anti-Trump commentator such as Joe Scarborough is ripping them for being a “clown shoe.”
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