MSNBC's Joe Scarborough placed President Donald Trump's threats against Harley-Davidson in a troubling pattern of politically motivated attacks on other U.S. businesses.
The president lashed out at the iconic company throughout Tuesday morning for moving some of its operations overseas in response to Trump's tariffs, and the "Morning Joe" host called out Republicans for standing by in silence.
"Where are the representatives?" Scarborough said. "Where is Paul Ryan today? He should be aggressive today, Paul Ryan, who represents Janesville, Wisconsin, part of Wisconsin, where is Paul Ryan speaking out on this? Where are Republicans in the state of Missouri?"
Harley-Davidson is based in Ryan's home state, and a Missouri-based nail manufacturer says it's on the brink of extinction unless the Commerce Department excludes it from paying steel tariffs.
"(Republicans should be) not only attacking Donald Trump's statement, but actually just explaining how un-American it is for a president to try to act like a king and say, 'I, myself, alone I am going to destroy this American institution because it's crossing me, it's not doing what I want it to do,'" Scarborough said.
"It is so un-American," he continued, "and I saw conservatives on Twitter yesterday stating the obvious, saying the right thing, talking about how un-American it is to use Trump's centralized state to say, 'I'm going to destroy your company.'"
This isn't the first time Trump has abused his authority to attack his enemies.
"Look what he has done to Amazon," Scarborough said. "He's lied, pressured improperly the Post Office to try to do anything he can to destroy doesn't like the 'Washington Post." No, this is a president clearly out of control. This is a president who is shattering constitutional norms, this is a president who does not deserve the support of conservatives, whether he has it or not. He's not a conservative."
