According to a new report, Joe Scarborough, not Obama, is Biden’s real muse

Biden is, without doubt, the most disastrous president America has ever had. On his watch—and thanks to his policies—every aspect of America’s well-being is collapsing: her economy, border, national security, social cohesion, ability to stay out of WWIII… It’s all going downhill. A lot of people see Barack Obama’s “fine Italian hand” (to use an old-fashioned expression), but it now appears that someone else may be driving Biden’s policies: Joe Scarborough, a fanatic MSNBC talk show host.

According to a scoop from Axios, not only is Biden a fan of the show, but there’s an open line between the White House and Scarborough:

When White House aides appear on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” they’re often booked between 7 and 7:40 a.m. ET. That’s so they’ll reach one crucial and loyal viewer: President Biden.

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Zoom in: The president often calls co-host Joe Scarborough — a former Republican congressman who’s now a harsh critic of Donald Trump — to get Scarborough’s take on issues and sometimes vent about media coverage, according to people familiar with the relationship.

• During the day, Biden has long asked his staff whether they saw a story, a poll, or a segment that had been on the show. He’s included show regulars in off-the-record conversations with policy experts.
• Biden pays particular attention to — and has consulted with — “Morning Joe” regulars such as longtime reporter Mike Barnicle, foreign policy expert Richard Haass and historian Jon Meacham, who has assisted on several Biden speeches.

[snip]

Zoom out: Biden consults widely with “Morning Joe” contributors.

• The president has included retired Adm. James Stavridis — a “Morning Joe” staple on national security issues — in an off-the-record briefing at the White House with other experts.

Of course, it’s not just Biden who tunes in to the show to gain wisdom about how to govern America. Kamala Harris is also a fan. In addition, Biden’s aides watch it, too, so that they can be up to date on the things that matter to their boss.

Image: Joe and Mika (edited). YouTube screen grab.

Axios hastens to add that other recent presidents have had their favorite outlets. Trump liked (and still likes) Fox News, while Obama went for the once-highbrow sites such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic. However, one never got the feeling that the reporters at those sites were driving policy. Trump and Obama went to those sites (a) to get a feel for how the base felt about them and (b) to get their message out to their base. Axios, though, implies that Joe Scarborough and his team are shaping American policies under Biden.

So, who is Joe Scarborough? A one-time Florida lawyer who was elected to the House in 1994 as a Republican because he’d raised his profile by fighting against a Pensacola property tax increase, he remained in Congress through the end of 2001. While there, he was a signatory on the Contract with America and received a 95% rating from the American Conservative Union. He was, during this time, a conservative’s conservative, even going so far as to vote for Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

And then something changed—and that change was a 2003 job on MSNBC. Early during his MSNBC tenure, he criticized George W. Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina and became a Democrat celebrity. By May 2007, he was the host of Morning Joe, which is Joe Biden’s favorite show. His eventual co-host was Mika Brzezinski, who’s always been a hard-left Democrat.

As is so often the case in American politics, starting with Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold, when Joe fell for Mika (for whom he eventually left his second wife and children), his politics shifted to align with hers. And, like many converts, Joe is now a zealot.

Joe’s MSNBC program is now the top “leans left” (or really, “collapses completely on the left”) morning cable news program. Like Jon Stewart, the left’s beloved evening clown, Joe reserves his firepower for Republicans, especially Donald Trump, whom he despises, although he will occasionally criticize Democrats. These latter moments, few and far between though they are, lead leftists to consider him to be a serious, balanced analyst.

If Joe Biden’s policies are indeed evidence of Scarborough’s influence, Morning Joe seriously needs to up his game.