After Joe Biden’s disastrous debate in June, Joe Scarborough was among the first to try to push him out of the race. On the very next day’s Morning Joe, Scarborough disagreed with David Plouffe’s position that Dems should wait several days before deciding whether to boot Biden.
Instead, Scarborough voiced the fear that Trump would win the election “unless things change.” Translation: don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Joe!
But on today’s Morning Joe, Scarborough expressed a form of buyer’s remorse over the Dems’ defenestration of Biden and his replacement by Kamala Harris on the top of the ticket.
Commenting on a number of swing state polls that show Trump with a narrow lead or tied with Harris, Scarborough said:
“This election is tied. I will say, I’m almost getting the feeling, I don’t want anybody to throw tomatoes at me, I almost get the feeling that if Joe Biden had somehow managed to stay in the race, it would still be tied.”
So, despite fearing that fellow liberal media members and Dems would attack him for saying so, Scarborough expressed the opinion that if Biden hadn’t been forced out, he would be doing just as well as Harris.
Dance with the one who brung ya, Joe?
Scarborough’s statement was in line with the claim that Biden expressed in his recent appearance on The View, where he bragged, “I was confident I would beat Trump. He’s a loser.”
There was another striking statement that Biden made during his View appearance that hasn’t garnered much attention. He said [The View video at 15:15] :
“There were some folks who would like to see me step aside so they had a chance to move on. I get that. That’s just human nature.”
Move “on” should be understood as move “up.” And there was only one person who moved up — in a monumental way — from Biden quitting the race. Biden called the urge to advance “human nature.” But in his unsubtle way, Biden was pointing the finger at his Vice President for plotting to get rid of him. Et tu, Kamala?
Later, Willie Geist attempted to keep Scarborough from getting depressed, suggesting the Democrats are hoping to win Senate races in Texas and Florida, and Kamala’s raised “gobs” of money for the Democrats.
Here’s the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
9/26/24
7:04 am EDTMIKA BRZEZINSKI: We do have new polls from three key battleground states. The latest Marist poll of likely voters in Arizona finds former President Donald Trump ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris, 50% to 49%.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Of course, the New York Times/Siena poll had Donald Trump up 73 points a couple of days ago. Shocking, it was an outlier.
MIKA: It’s the same story with likely voters in Georgia, where the latest Marist poll from there also finds Trump ahead, 50% to 49%.
SCARBOROUGH: One point, okay.
MIKA: North Carolina, Trump and Harris deadlocked, 49% each. All of these polls fall within their margins of error, of course.
SCARBOROUGH: Willie, it is shocking news. We should put “breaking news” at the bottom here. This election [dramatic pause] is tied.
And I will say, I’m almost getting the feeling—I don’t want anybody to throw tomatoes at me—I’m almost, I almost get the feeling that if Joe Biden had somehow managed to stay in the race [Mika makes dubious sounds] it would still be tied.
Donald Trump’s numbers aren’t moving. It’s just, how many people eventually find their way back to the Democratic party?