MSNBC host Joe Scarborough questioned why Tom Steyer refuses to stay home and give his money to other candidates rather than running in the Democratic presidential primary.
Steyer, a billionaire who began his campaign after propelling the Need to Impeach movement, placed fifth in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, earning less than 5% of the vote and claiming no delegates for the national convention. During Morning Joe on Monday, Scarborough questioned why Steyer was still in the race.
“Tom Steyer — you just wonder why he hasn’t been funding other people’s races and anti-Trump movements from the very beginning of his campaign,” Scarborough said.
David Wasserman, the House editor for the Cook Political Report, interjected to call Steyer’s campaign a “vanity project.” Scarborough agreed and warned that Steyer’s refusal to leave the race and spend his money elsewhere could secure Trump’s reelection.
“It is a vanity project, and it’s been a vanity project for a very long time. And it’s a vanity project that could help reelect Donald Trump,” Scarborough said.
MSNBC’s panel seemed to agree that Steyer, along with Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, would need to drop out in order for Joe Biden or another candidate to consolidate a large enough delegate pool to stop Bernie Sanders from running away with the nomination.
Wasserman called Pete Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Warren, and Steyer “zombie candidates” despite Buttigieg’s position in second place behind Sanders in the delegate count ahead of the South Carolina primary on Saturday. He argued that Biden’s second-place finish in Nevada made him the viable alternative to Sanders. Scarborough noted that he thinks none of those candidates will drop out before Super Tuesday on March 3.
