MSNBC host Joe Scarborough defended President Joe Biden’s mental fitness earlier in June before doing an about-face following the presidential debate hosted by CNN.
Scarborough defended Biden during a June 5 episode of “Morning Joe” while discussing a Wall Street Journal article featuring dozens of observations from Republicans and Democrats about Biden’s mental fitness, and claimed Wednesday that Trump was “scared out of his mind” to debate Biden. Following Thursday night’s debate, when Biden appeared to freeze several times and made multiple verbal gaffes, Scarborough struck a different tone, saying Biden “may not be up to the job.” (RELATED: Biden’s ‘Friend’ At NYT Tells Him To Drop Out After Disastrous Debate: ‘Heartbreaking Moment’)
“McCarthy had a habit of saying one thing in public, lying in public, and then privately telling his aides just the opposite, that Biden was sharp, that he was cogent, that he was substantive,” Scarborough said during the June 5 episode. “In the same meeting that Kevin McCarthy is now telling The Wall Street Journal Biden was out of it, he went out and he told reporters after the meeting that the meeting was, quote, ‘the best yet, we are making progress and I’m going to be talking to Joe Biden every day.’”
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Joe Scarborough Defended Biden’s Mental Fitness Just Days Ago. Now, He Thinks He ‘May Not Be Up To’ Job pic.twitter.com/8IyPTh9ee7
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 28, 2024
He also mocked Republicans on Wednesday who speculated Biden would be “jacked up” during the debate, saying it shows “how nervous they are.”
“This is not how somebody who’s confident acts. I’ve never heard Larry Bird talking about, ‘Hey, you know, Magic Johnson’s probably gonna be jacked up on Mountain Dew,’” Scarborough had said.
Scarborough’s tune changed Friday morning, when he delivered a somber monologue overviewing Biden’s performance.
“We know Joe Biden can govern. I’ll debate that issue with anyone, and I will win. I will destroy anybody that wants to debate Joe Biden’s record over the past 3 1/2 years,” Scarbrough said. “He can run the White House … But can he run for president in 2024? Donald Trump lied. Over and over and over and over again, and Joe Biden couldn’t respond to any of those lies. In fact, as The New York Times said, he spent much of the night with his mouth agape and his eyes darting back and forth. He couldn’t fact check anything Donald Trump said.”
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“He couldn’t respond effectively to Donald Trump trying to overthrow American democracy on January 6th,” Scarborough added. “He couldn’t respond effectively to Donald Trump’s continued stream of lies about his own record, and he couldn’t even respond effectively on the issue of abortion where, for some reason, he darted wildly to the issue of immigration. And on immigration, as I said yesterday morning, any Democrat that can’t turn to their Republican opponent and blast them for killing the strongest, toughest border bill in the history of America, drafted by a right-wing senator from Oklahoma, may not be up to the job.” (RELATED: Jonathan Turley Blasts DOJ For Using ‘Deepfake’ Possibility As Reason For Not Releasing Biden Interview Audio)
“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, Scarborough’s wife, said that there was “no way to spin” Biden’s performance in the debate.
“For me, watching what happened last night, again, it was terrible,” Brzezinski said. “It was terrible, there’s no way to spin it. I still wonder what he’s going to look like in a week. I wonder if he was sick. He came out on the stage, and I thought something was wrong.”
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