Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough (Photo: screen capture)
"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough started Thursday morning with a rant about President Donald Trump's bizarre behavior and recalled a conversation he once had with reporter Maggie Haberman about the president's failed political calculations.
In a conversation at the top of the hour, Scarborough said he and Haberman have discussed their own speculations about the psychology behind the president's actions.
"And, you know, I remember one time asking, why? Why does he do this?" Scarborough recalled. "Like the safe thing to do — the smart thing to do would be X or Y or Z. But he always does something radically different. And her take is: he always wants to see how much he can get away with. He doesn't really care about anything else. He will just constantly push and see how much Republicans will let him get away with. How much the media will let him get away with, how much the courts will let him get away with."
Scarborough thinks that's the only explanation for taking whatever political capital he had at the start of his administration and blowing it so quickly.
He specifically cited the lead that Trump had with Hispanic voters, who supported Trump for his immigration plan to deport "the worst of the worst." The reality, of course, has been that Trump has targeted scores of people who have no criminal history and certainly no violent crime background.
"He and Stephen Miller single-handedly dismantled that extraordinary advantage and completely turned it the other direction," said Scarborough.
Jonathan Lemire said that Trump never thinks long-term. For him it's about "changing the chyron at the bottom of the television."
"It's about pushing boundaries to gain advantage, to gain attention, to gain wealth or to gain power," said Lemire.
He went on to call out Trump's "greatest political comeback in U.S. history after what he did during the pandemic to his approval and support in 2024.
Lemire said that Trump "blew all that political capital" by "blowing it in Iran" after falling in love with the power he saw from the military in Venezuela and then he's "blown it with the hardline deportation."
So, as Republicans look to the White House to save him, Lemire said nothing has worked, and there's nothing that can be done.
"His rally appearances have done more harm than good, it would appear. And now you're seeing every poll on every issue he and his party are underwater on every issue including ones that used to be strengths," Lemire added.
Scarborough noted that that's going on in the background while Trump ends up at rallies saying "the most bizarre things." While in South Carolina overnight, Trump rambled about how handsome Darline Graham's husband was. This came after Trump rambled about Sen. Jon Husted's posterior in Ohio.
"It's constant," Scarborough said, noting that the Republican base keeps wondering why Trump is talking so much about another man's behind. "That's not really why we're here."
"At the same time, they're talking about James Talarico not being manly enough?" Scarborough said. "Please. I'm telling you, these Republicans, a lot of them, man, they literally — they should, after they all lose, they should go do a world tour of 'Guys and Dolls' and just see how that goes. They'd be absolutely fabulous."