MSNBC host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough said there’s only a 50-50 chance that Donald Trump is serious about wanting to be president.
Scarborough also said Trump is likely to lose to Hillary Clinton.
“In fact, somebody asked me yesterday,” Scarborough said Wednesday on “Morning Joe.” “I said given the way he’s been reacting to things over the past week, it’s 65-35. If it had been the week after Wisconsin when he started to discipline himself, I’d say close, even-money. But he’s actually becoming more reckless, more combative, looking more like he’s a primary candidate as he needs to make this shift. The window closes very soon. … Unless Donald Trump starts acting like a real general election candidate and not answering every Twitter [criticism], he’s going to lose.”
In recent days, having all but clinched the GOP nomination, Trump has continued to inflame the debate around the race against Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. In interviews and on social media, Trump has rehashed decades-old scandals involving Clinton and her former president husband.
The attacks were in line with how Trump conducted his unexpectedly successful primary campaign, though many political observers have said it’s a strategy that will be less effective in a general election.
“There are two questions and I’m serious,” Scarborough said. “There’s a question of, can he discipline himself? Right now, he’s answered that. No, he’s incapable of disciplining himself to be president of the United States. That’s No. 1. No 2: Does he want to win? That’s the bigger question that’s rising in my head every day.”
“At this point, it’s about 50-50 that he actually wants to win,” he added. “I think maybe he just wants to make a point. Because the way he’s been operating the last week or so has been shameful. He’s disgraced himself, he’s embarrassed himself. So, I don’t even know if he wants to win.”
