Following President Joe Biden’s debate performance, Joe Scarborough was sad to admit that “unless there’s a change,” former President Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.
The Morning Joe host said of the widely criticized performance, Biden “tragically did not rise to the occasion” of Thursday night’s debate, to which co-host Mika Brzezinski admitted, “Biden had a terrible night.”
It’s a stunning development for close observers of the MSNBC morning show, whose hosts have consistently defended President Biden’s mental acuity while condemning reports criticizing his clear decline and stiffening over the past three and a half years in office. And like a loving family member couching bad news in as nice a way as possible, Scarborough clearly explained how difficult this was for him.
“Well….” Scarborough opened with a long pause. “I think I should start by saying, without any apologies, that I love Joe Biden…and Jill. And I will gladly debate anybody any time, any place, anywhere over the issue of whether Joe Biden has been the most effective president in passing bipartisan legislation and expanding NATO and responding to the rising threat coming from China by flexing America’s strength, around China by having the strongest economy in the world, bar none.”
And is his wont, he spent quite a bit of time talking about what a unique threat Trump is to the country, as he sees it, but that Biden was clearly not up to the task.
“I’ll debate that issue with anyone and I will win — I will destroy anybody that wants to debate Joe Biden’s record over the past three and a half years,” Scarborough said, He can run the White House. He can run the country effectively, despite the barrage of lies that constantly come at him like Donald Trump’s lies last night.”
“But can he run for president in 2024?” Scarborough asked rhetorically, casting doubt on Biden’s prospects. “Donald Trump lied over and over and over and over again, and Joe Biden couldn’t respond to any of those lies.”
“In fact, as The New York Times said, he spent much of the night with his mouth agape and his eyes starting back and forth,” Scarborough said. “He couldn’t fact-check anything Donald Trump said. Not only that, but he missed one layup after another. He couldn’t respond effectively to Donald Trump trying to overthrow American democracy on January 6th. He couldn’t respond effectively to Donald Trump’s continued stream of lies about his own record, and he couldn’t even respond effectively on the issue of abortion, where, for some reason, he darted wildly to the issue of immigration.”
“But the door was open so many times this race should not be close,” he continued, “We’ve been asking, why is this race close? We have no idea why this race is close. We saw last night why this race has been close, and why I fear Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States, unless things change.”
Scarborough did not explain what precisely needed to change, leaving it to the viewers’ imagination whether he was talking about who should be the Democratic nominee or Biden’s cognitive skills, but the tone in his voice suggested the most dire of situations.
Scarborough then gave some credence to campaign aides defending Biden’s by saying he had a cold or may have been sick, saying “I’m open to that fact because I’ll just say, as I’ve said on the show, I spent three hours with this man, maybe back in March, three hours … cogent on top of the issues, on top of every issue around the world.”
“And last night, he simply was not on the biggest debate stage ever. And I think what surprised me, and what surprised a lot of people very close to Joe Biden, is the fact that this man always rises to the occasion. And last night was was sadly for him and I believe, for Democrats in this country. And again, if you believe what’s at stake in this election is what we believe is at stake. I’ll even use the word tragically, tragically did not rise to the occasion last night.”
Watch above via MNSBC.
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