MSNBC host Joe Scarborough sharply criticized former President Donald Trump and his family on Monday, accusing them of stirring up tensions and preparing for “civil war.”
Scarborough’s remarks came after Trump and his family linked two assassination attempts against him to political rivals and made references to an “enemy within” during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, targeted Trump’s rhetoric during the Monday morning segment, following a rally where Trump claimed he had “bled together” with his supporters. “Over the past eight years those who want to stop us from achieving this future, have slandered me, impeached me, indicted me, tried to throw me off the ballot. And who knows? Maybe even tried to kill me,” Trump said during the rally, referencing the assassination attempts.
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Trump also reiterated his belief that the United States faces a more significant threat from within than from foreign adversaries. “You know, I always say there’s an enemy from within and there’s an outside enemy. And if you’re smart, the outside enemy is not going to be a problem. Russia, and China and North Korea, we’re not going to have a problem if you have a smart president. But we have an enemy from within which, I think is much more dangerous than the outside enemy,” Trump said.
Scarborough played clips of Trump’s son, Eric Trump, and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who echoed similar sentiments during their own remarks.
Eric Trump said, “They tried to kill him. And it’s because the Democratic Party, they can’t do anything right.”
Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, framed the situation as a broader battle. “This is no longer a fight between Republican versus Democrat, left versus right, it is good versus evil and good is going to win this battle,” she said.
Here are the clips from the rally that Scarborough played before his unhinged commentary: pic.twitter.com/Y8ktDe0oXf
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) October 7, 2024
Scarborough expressed concern over these comments, describing them as un-American and dangerous. “That is un-American. They know they’re lying. Donald Trump knows that’s a lie. He will tell you that the Secret Service, he thought, did the best job they could do,” Scarborough said, questioning why Trump and his family were making such statements. He suggested that these remarks escalated the risk of violence beyond what was seen leading up to January 6, 2021. “This is an increasingly desperate person, an increasingly desperate family, who is preparing for civil war,” Scarborough claimed.
The MSNBC host also condemned Trump’s audience for believing what he called falsehoods. “I was shocked that the audience was really that stupid, to believe the crazy lies that he was throwing out there,” Scarborough said, citing Trump’s “firehose of falsehoods.”
He added that Trump’s repeated claims about the 2020 election being stolen continued to sow division, even as Republican officials in key swing states like Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Arizona confirmed that Trump lost the election.
NEW: Scarborough on the Trumps: “Un-American. This is an increasingly desperate family who’s preparing for civil war.”
At the weekend rally in Butler, the Trumps had the temerity to talk about inflammatory Democrat rhetoric leading to the assass*nation attempts — and according… pic.twitter.com/sRUc022Dzo
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) October 7, 2024
The timing of Scarborough’s remarks comes just days after Joe Biden warned of the potential for post-election violence when asked whether the upcoming election would be free, fair, and peaceful.
🚨 BREAKING: President Biden says Trump’s rhetoric may cause this election to become violent
“I’m confident it’ll be free and fair. I don’t know whether it’ll be peaceful. The things that Trump has said [were] very dangerous.” pic.twitter.com/2UeslC7L8M
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 4, 2024
Biden’s warning echoes concerns raised by both Democrats and Republicans as tensions remain high leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s use of the “enemy within” language can be traced to historical figures like Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare and Abraham Lincoln in his 1838 Lyceum speech, where he warned of internal threats to the nation’s stability.
Both historical references underscore concerns about internal divisions within the United States, a theme Trump continues to invoke as part of his broader narrative about political adversaries and the challenges facing the nation.
As the political landscape grows increasingly heated, the rhetoric from both sides will likely remain a focal point in the final month leading up to the election.
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