Joe Scarborough tells Stephen Colbert that the GOP will be judged for 50 years on how it handles Trump
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MSNBC's Morning Joe barred Kellyanne Conway from appearing on one of President Trump's favorite morning talk shows, and host Joe Scarborough explained why on Tuesday's Late Show. "It got to a point where Kellyanne would keep coming out, and everything she said was disproven, like, five minutes later," he said, "and it wasn't disproven by fact-checkers, it was somebody else in the administration." "There's a quicker way to say that entire sentence," Stephen Colbert replied: "She just lied." "Well, yes, exactly," Scarborough conceded.
Colbert noted that, based on Trump's Twitter feed, the president is still a faithful Morning Joe watcher. Scarborough agreed, saying he and co-host Mika Brzezinski say "Hi Donald" to the camera every morning. Colbert pointed out that even he calls Trump "Mr. President," and Scarborough laughed. "He's been Donald Trump forever, he's been Donald forever, you know?" he said. "So it's kind of hard to start calling him Mr. President — and I'll be really honest with you, the way he's acted over the past month has made it even harder to call him Mr. President."
Scarborough said that as a Republican and a conservative, he was not a fan of President Bill Clinton, but he rooted for him once he took office, and people shouldn't cheer against Trump, either. "I actually think we should pray for our president," he said. "But that requires all of us as Americans to do what we can when the president is not doing what he needs to be doing, to stand up and do our part too." He said it was important for all Americans, especially Republicans and Republican senators in particular, "to stand up right now and speak out."
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"The Republican Party needs to know that there is going to be a time after Donald Trump, and they are going to be judged for the next 50 years on how they respond to the challenges today," he said. When the audience started cheering, and Scarborough feigned confusion, Colbert chided him, "You were totally going for that," adding, "I wish I shared your optimism that there will be a time after Donald Trump." Scarborough ended with his thoughts on who's really in charge in the White House, and what Trump needs and isn't getting from his inner circle. Watch below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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