MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough praised Donald Trump’s campaign strategy, saying it reminded him of the way President Ronald Reagan dealt with the Soviet Union.
Tuesday, Scarborough said that Trump has “pounded” his rivals including Jeb Bush, [crscore]Lindsey Graham[/crscore], Rick Perry, [crscore]John McCain[/crscore], Mitt Romney, Megyn Kelly “into the dust.”
Panelist Willie Geist also commented, “Can any of you wise men or women sitting at this table think of a time when four weeks away from the first vote for a presidential election, none of the candidates were going after the front-runner? The person who is leading the race, as though they’ve taken for granted at this point it’s just not worth it to go after him. It’s remarkable.”
“That is the genius of a strategy that I didn’t understand, that nobody understood,” Scarborough said. Trump “killed John McCain. He went after McCain. He went after Megyn Kelly. He went after Romney, called him a ‘loser.’ He went after everybody. He went after Rick Perry. He went after Lindsey Graham when Lindsey Graham was at one percent in the polls. And he did it unmercifully. He gave out his phone number. He pounded all these people into the dust.”
“And I sat there thinking, why is is doing this,” Scarborough said. “Why is he doing this? He has now taught the field, if you come after me — it’s like the Bill Clinton thing. Yes, you can attack me, but I don’t really care because at the end of the day I’m worth $4 to $10 billion and I get back on my big jet and I golf the rest of my life. But I will destroy your reputation. I will bring up and list the five to 10 women.” (VIDEO: Trump: It’s ‘Fair Game’ To Discuss Bill Clinton’s ‘Abuse Of Women’)
“He’s done the same thing with Republicans. Yes, you guys can attack me, but I guarantee you, if you do, I will spend the next 30 days destroying you and you will not end up in second place. I mean, it’s pretty stunning. They’re killing each other.”
Geist added, “And you could throw Jeb Bush in there as well. I mean, he hammered him on low energy, low energy, low energy.”
Scarborough responded, “Well, actually Jeb Bush, I think that was the most effective attack of the entire campaign. He defined Jeb Bush.”
Democratic panelist Harold Ford Jr., who is a former congressman, then suggested that compared to other candidates who give long “serious” speeches, Trump “gets up, and he has a different presentation, he’s so candid and honest and so authentic that people are willing to listen and show up and and stand for hours in cold weather.”
“You back to 1980, Ronald Reagan [was] asked what’s your strategy against the Soviet Union,” Scarborough said. “When brilliant people like Dr. Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger can go on and on and give five-hour speeches, Ronald Reagan said, ‘You know what my strategy is. We win, they lose.’ Ronald Reagan got elected. And by the way, we won. They lost.”