MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough boldly predicted on Monday that President Donald Trump “is not going to win re-election” in 2020 — even though he made a similar prediction in 2016.
(We all know that didn’t turn out too well for him now, did it?)
Scarborough (pictured above right) and co-host Mika Brzezinski, who once were quite friendly with Trump during the early days of his 2016 presidential campaign, have dramatically soured on the president, repeatedly questioned his mental health and fitness, and regularly compared him to dictators around the globe.
Now Scarborough is insisting that Trump stands no chance of winning re-election in 2020 because of who he is and because of the huge Democratic turnout in the November midterm elections. Democrats reclaimed the House majority.
“I want to talk about the clarifying nature … of this race,” Scarborough said of the midterms, noting that “Democratic areas [became] more Democratic. Republican areas may have become more Republican.”
“At the same time, though, you had the suburbs which, again, was a bedrock constituency of Republicans over the past 20 years,” Scarborough went on. “I remember reading articles in The Atlantic and other publications 20, even 15 years ago, that the only way Republicans win presidential elections is by winning the suburbs. Donald Trump actually proved that by doing better in the suburbs of Philadelphia two years ago.”
“But I don’t think I’m killing Hamlet in the first act to say [Trump’s] not going to do that well in the suburbs of Philly in 2020. He’s not going to do as well in Wisconsin as he did in 2016. He’s not going to do as well in some of these swing areas as he did in 2016 unless he radically changes,” Scarborough added.
“And we have absolutely no reason in front of us, no evidence in front of us, to believe that he can radically change enough to win those votes back.”
Trump’s “pathway to victory,” according to Scarborough, is much narrower than it was in 2016 because of how well Democrats performed in House districts in 2018.
“And I would say this has been a clarifying election — clarifying in the sense that Donald Trump is not going to win re-election. I said it. Write it down,” Scarborough insisted.
MSNBC national affairs analyst John Heilemann told Scarborough, “I’ve written it down” — before offering a slight jab. “I wrote it down when you first said it, Joe,” said Heilemann. “And I keep it on a little piece of paper in my wallet. I carry it around all the time.”
“Really nice,” Scarborough replied, before adding, “I also said, when few others were saying it, that Donald Trump could win.”
But Scarborough insisted in August 2016 that Trump could not win, saying, “Republicans aren’t going to win the presidency — not going this way.”
Just a few days before the 2016 presidential election, Scarborough revealed he’d rather be in Trump’s position than 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s position, saying, “If you said I get to run the last week of a campaign and I get to choose her position or Trump’s position, I take his.”
“Because you’ve got the momentum, you’ve got the wind at your back.”
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At that time, Scarborough insisted that Clinton “still is the favorite” to win, telling liberals, “Just relax. Don’t go under your bed and get in the fetal position and get your Cheetos out … It’s going to be OK. I think Hillary is still going to win. Don’t freak out and start spitting your Cheetos through your nose — it’s going to be OK. Just relax.”
Trump, of course, won and defied expectations by carrying the key swing states of Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
As for Trump’s 2020 prospects, Scarborough told late-night host Stephen Colbert last month that Trump won’t even run in 2020 — despite the fact that Trump has already announced his intention to run and already has a re-election campaign well along.
“I’ll say it again. I don’t think that they’re going to have to step up and challenge Donald Trump because I don’t think Donald Trump is going to run for re-election,” Scarborough said, insisting that he was “dead serious.”
“He’s going to cash out,” Scarborough predicted.
Hmm …
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