Joe Scarborough gives Donald Trump a brutal nickname — and it's sticking

Joe Scarborough.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Donald Trump is getting a taste of his own medicine: While the Republican nominee has successfully branded his political enemies with nicknames like "Lyin' Ted Cruz" and "Crooked Hillary Clinton," Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough came up with a moniker of his own for Trump, and it appears to be sticking.

"A lot of people are calling him Amnesty Don. People are saying it," Scarborough said Monday. "They're calling him Amnesty Don. Amnesty Don, that's what people are calling him, I'm not calling him that. Amnesty Don. Hashtag Amnesty Don. For 14 months, Amnesty Don has been putting illegal immigration at the center of Amnesty Don's campaign... And, yet, nobody in Amnesty Don's own campaign can tell you what Amnesty Don's position is after Amnesty Don won the primaries promising to deport 11 [million illegal immigrants]."

While "Amnesty Don" might not have the same supervillain-like appeal as "Crooked Hillary Clinton," it is a rather brutal mocking of Trump's latest flip-flop. Trump claimed last week that he is "softening" his immigration positions, and would mostly follow President Obama's policies, "perhaps with a lot more energy," except he will eject the "bad" immigrants "so fast your head will spin." This is contrary to Trump's former promise to deport 11 million illegal immigrants.

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Watch Scarborough's masterful branding — hey, he learned by watching the best — below. Jeva Lange

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.