Joe Scarborough joked Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he is “sounding more like” a Democrat every morning as he tried to help Democrats sell their recent government shutdown surrender to constituents.
“If I’m a Democrat, and, of course I’m not, but God knows I’m sounding more like one every morning,” he joked, “I would say, ‘I did what?! I did what?!”
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“You said they lost something, but they got CHIP funding, right?” asked Scarborough.
“Yes, but they sacrificed the narrative that it was Republicans who are trying to hold CHIP funding hostage, and then CHIP funding is gone,” said guest Noah Rothman, writer at Commentary Magazine. “It’s off the table, and now we’re talking about DACA. DACA is now the issue that was shutting down the government, so we sort of skipped a step there.”
“Yeah, but if I’m a Democrat, and of course I’m not, but God knows I’m sounding more like one every morning,” said Scarborough.
“If I were a Democrat, and I went back to my townhall meeting and they said you backed down, I would say, ‘I did what?! I did what?!'” he continued. “‘I guaranteed by standing up to Donald Trump and making sure he was out of this process, I guaranteed CHIP funding. I guaranteed by my fighting, you’re telling me that a three-day shutdown wasn’t worth guaranteeing health care for millions and millions of the truly disadvantaged children?'” Scarborough continued. “I mean that’s a win for Democrats if they know how to spin it the right way.”
But House Republicans passed a government spending bill that included CHIP funding before the partial government shutdown. That bill was filibustered in the Senate by Democrats, until Monday.
Scarborough announced he left the Republican Party in October 2017.