MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough tore into Donald Trump on Wednesday, assuring the presumptive Republican presidential nominee he won’t secure his endorsement until he can “prove” he’s neither bigoted nor out to destroy the GOP.
“Donald, guess what, I’m not going to support you until you get your act together. You’re acting like bush-league loser, you’re acting like a racist, you’re acting like a bigot,” said Scarborough, who afforded the billionaire positive coverage for months before Trump began stirring additional controversies.
“This is called art of the deal. I’m taking my deal off the table. Until you come to the table and get on the other side of the table and prove to me you’re not a bigot and you don’t take my party down in the ditch, you don’t have my endorsement,” Scarborough added.
According to the former Republican congressman, GOP lawmakers and Trump have used Hillary Clinton “as a gun” against the head of Republican voters who remain reluctant to support Trump.
“I’m taking the gun away from my head … so don’t use Hillary Clinton as a threat against me. Don’t use Hillary Clinton as an excuse, as your blank check to say racist things about people born in Indiana,” he said, referring to Trump’s criticism of U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski added that top Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who’ve endorses Trump but simultaneously condemned his recent attacks on Curiel, participated in a “pathetic, weak kind of meandering around this problem.”
“You know what we have here with these Republican leaders who are like, ‘can’t have Hillary Clinton.’ Really? You hate her that much you’ll take a racist?” she said.
“You hate her that much we’re going to have eight more years of the Republicans we had who said from the get-go with Obama, we just want him to fail. You’re going to have more of the same,” Brzezinski added.
Scarborough and Brzezinski’s sharp criticism come less than 24 hours after Trump vowed to make Republicans “proud” as he enters the next phase of the election.
“I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantel and I will never ever let you down,” Trump said Tuesday night.
