MSNBC host Joe Scarborough compared the rhetoric of President Trump and his supporters to fascism on Friday, saying Trump will not be able to win reelection if he just focuses on pleasing his base.
“We have been saying it for a long time, you and I have, many other people have been saying it for a long time, that you just can’t boil down your support to 35, 36% and expect to pick up enough voters to win,” Scarborough said.
“You know, the ‘send her back’ chants that were straight out of a fascist playbook, the video that circulated about the president laughing when people were talking about shooting immigrants at the border, the president’s reaction to El Paso, the bizarre reaction to El Paso,” he said.
Scarborough was referring to when Trump supporters at a rally in July began chanting “send her back” after the president mentioned Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is originally from Somalia. He also criticized the other members of “the squad,” which includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley.
Although Trump did not say anything about the chant at the rally, he later expressed his displeasure with it when asked by reporters.
“I was not happy with it — I disagree with it,” he said.
