Help ‘Elect a Fascist’? Scarborough Scalds Joe Manchin’s Third-Party Flirting

Biden dead-ender Joe Scarborough is on guard for anything that might jeopardize his guy’s re-election prospects.

So when Joe Manchin, the Democrat senator from West Virginia, yesterday floated the possibility of a third-party presidential run, Scarborough was quick to lead the charge against him on today’s Morning Joe….with his usual F-words for Trump.

When, teasing the news at the top of the show, Mika Brzezinski mentioned Manchin’s musings, Scarborough twice interrupted with a skeptical, “come on, man.“

Scarborough cast Manchin’s flirtation in the most negative terms possible:

“Do you think he really wants to help a fascist get elected president? Because that will be his legacy for the rest of his life. Joe Manchin helped elect a fascist.”

Former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki, now an MSNBC analyst and host, also had the claws out [see screencap] for Manchin. In response to Scarborough’s request for a word association with Manchin, Psaki replied, “center.” But, she clarified, not center of the party, but center of attention. Translation: she was accusing Manchin of being a publicity hog.

Willie Geist added that Manchin “likes to be asked” about a possible presidential run. As does a majority of Senators. Psaki replied that speculation about a run will let Manchin “sit in the buzz” until January, when he has to decide whether to seek re-election as a senator.

Note that Psaki spoke of Manchin being able to “sit in the buzz” about his possible run. Where do inside-the-Beltway types like Psaki come up with these phrases? Even Mika claimed to be unfamiliar with it: “I don’t even know what that meant!” 

On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough saying that if Joe Manchin ran as a third-party candidate for president, his legacy would be that he helped elect a fascist was sponsored in part by Consumer Cellular.

Here’s the transcript.

MSNBC
Morning Joe
7/18/23
6:01 am EDT

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Meanwhile, a prominent Democrat is leaving the door open for a third-party run for president. We’ll show you what Senator Joe Manchin is saying about that possibility.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Come on, man.

MIKA: Also ahead, the latest from Eastern Europe, where —

SCARBOROUGH: Come on, man.

. . . 

Um, I just gotta say, before we do anything else: word association—Joe Manchin.

JEN PSAKI: Center. Likes to be the center of attention. I don’t mean center of the party, I mean center of attention. Likes to be talked about. [Mika laughs.]

SCARBOROUGH: Okay. Willie, we’ll figure out how much we want to talk about Joe, our good friend Joe, today. 

Do you think he really wants to help a fascist get elected president? Because it will be, that will be his legacy for the rest of his life. Joe Manchin helped elect a fascist. Before that was senator and governor.

WILLIE GEIST: I think he likes being asked if he’s going to run for president. Is that fair, Jen?

PSAKI: Yeah, and I think he’s got time now to be buzzed about until January, when he has to decide if he is going to run for re-election. So he’s going to sit in the buzz.

SCARBOROUGH: Okay, sit in the buzz. Mika, why don’t you —

MIKA: That was perfectly put.

SCARBOROUGH: Perfectly put. Why don’t you sit in the buzz and do the news for us?

MIKA: All right. As polls show — I don’t even know what that meant!