'Trump’s not on the ballot': Morning Joe warns GOP faces 'bad news' going into midterms

20 August

Joe Scarborough, Image via Screengrab.

At an event in Plattsburgh, New York near the Canadian border, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) — a once-moderate Republican who gave herself a far-right MAGA makeover — was repeatedly booed. And some Never Trump conservatives have no sympathy for her. Former GOP strategist Tim Miller, in a video for The Bulwark, argued that the booing was well-deserved. And MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, on the Wednesday, August 20 broadcast of "Morning Joe," pointed to the booing as a demonstration of how unpopular the GOP brand is in 2025.

Scarborough, a former GOP congressman, emphasized that while the Democratic Party is struggling, voter frustration with Republicans is "bad news" for Stefanik and other members of her party.

Recalling his years in Congress, Scarborough argued, "I would just say, I probably held 200 or 300 town hall meetings. Nothing would have ever happened like that. Over all my time in Congress, it wouldn't have happened that way because I would have had a lot more people out supporting me. And if they ever heard I went somewhere where I got booed, there would be ten times as many people cheering."

Scarborough stressed that Republicans are going into the 2026 midterms with very unpopular policies — and without President Donald Trump himself being on the ballot.

The MSNBC host his colleague Jonathan Lemire, "You take away health care from people who are on Medicaid…. The cost of health care, which is already skyrocketing, continues to skyrocket. They have a couple of other problems here, Jonathan Lemire. The biggest problem is Donald Trump's not going to be on the ballot next year. Republicans don't do well when Donald Trump's not on the ballot. They just don't do well."

Scarborough continued, "They didn't do well in 2017, 2018, 2019. They even lost in 2020. They didn't do well in '21, '22 or '23. He got on the ballot in '24, and they did OK."

The former GOP congressman stressed that Democrats may do well in 2026 despite the unpopularity.

"He's not on the ballot now," Scarborough said of Trump. "And you look at the generic ballot test. I mean, Democrats have their lowest approval ratings ever. Let me say that again: Democrats have their lowest approval ratings ever. They've worked hard to get those low approval ratings, and yet, they're still beating the Republicans by five points."

Watch the full video below or at this link.

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