MSNBC co-hosts butt heads over shutdown: 'What exactly are the Democrats supposed to do?'
Debating how Democrats should take on the government shutdown forced on the public by the GOP-majority Congress, “Morning Joe” co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough butted heads over whether Democrats are pushing back enough.
On one side was Scarborough and former NBC host Chris Matthews, and on the other was Brzezinski — who is marred to Scarborough — and former Hillary Clinton director of communications Jennifer Palmieri.
According to the Scarborough side, Democrats previously had great communicators like ex-Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama who knew how to call out Republican lies -- something Democrats now lack.
With the focus on Republicans' false claims that undocumented immigrants were going to be gifted free medical care under the Affordable Care Act if Democrats had their way, Brzezinski pushed back at Scarborough — who lectured her as she scowled and looked off to the side.
According to Brzezinski, “They have TV networks that repeat the lies and say things on those networks with no consequence, and the things they say are violent. Okay, so they're not only repeating the lies, but adding to this coarseness and there's no consequence to it. And we're blaming the Democrats. We're blaming the Democrats for this. What exactly are the Democrats supposed to do?”
“We are not blaming Democrats for Republican lies,” Scarborough exclaimed. “We're saying the Democrats at some point have to figure out how to answer those lies. And that's not whining. The whining comes from Democratic leaders that still don't have an answer to Republican lies 10 years into Donald Trump's terms.”
That was when Palmieri jumped in.
“One of the biggest problems Democrats have in fighting, people have believed for years and years and years, ever since Obamacare was enacted, that illegal immigrants are getting benefits under that,” she said.
“This is now a time to air it and say that is not true. You all just spent about 10 minutes saying that's not true. Great. More people think that's not true. When [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries is on television, he says, ‘That's not true. It is false.’ That's a good fight to have, I think, in terms of where this shutdown ends.“
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