MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough appeared to compare Republicans to drug addicts as they shift support from former President Donald Trump to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Scarborough said on Tuesday’s broadcast of “Morning Joe” that Republicans shifting focus from Trump to DeSantis were moving “from the political heroin to the political methadone.” (RELATED: DeSantis Appears To Be A Popular Lead For 2024, Straw Poll Shows)
WATCH:
Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski spoke with former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and the BBC’s Katty Kay about a recent straw poll in which DeSantis edged out the former president to nab the top spot.
Scarborough noted that, in recent weeks, he had been hearing that top donors were quietly moving money away from Trump and toward DeSantis.
“There’s a reason for that, because, as one person put it to me, it’s DeSantis is Trump without the gold toilet. Meaning you don’t have the bling and the flash,” Steele replied, noting that DeSantis had been able to push back on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fairly effectively during the coronavirus pandemic. “And that’s worked to his advantage.”
Kay pointed out the fact that DeSantis also did not have one major liability that Trump did: He has not lost his position.
“That’s where I question the Republicans in Congress and the Senate who still cannot — they cannot defy Trump and, you know, okay it’s a cult. Okay, that’s great. But when he’s losing, if you’re saying it’s political logic, they don’t want to lose their races. But he’s lost everything for them. So why not walk away from this crazy man?” Brzezinski asked.
“We’re going from the political heroin to the political methadone,” Scarborough continued, saying that Republicans all seemed to have the same answer with regard to the shift to DeSantis. “They say he’s Trump, with all the things we love about Trump, and none of the liabilities so far.”