'Never go full Trump': Morning Joe trashes GOP for 'bizarre' loyalty to thrice-indicted ex-president

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough implored Republicans to stand up against Donald Trump to defend American democracy.

The former president was arraigned Thursday in a Washington, D.C., court on charges related to his attempt to overturn his election loss, and the "Morning Joe" host said his GOP allies were embarrassing themselves and threatening democracy by insisting Trump had a First Amendment right to attempt to unlawfully remain in office.

"At the top of the indictment, what do we have?" Scarborough said. "We have [special counsel] Jack Smith saying, 'Hey, anybody's free to say what they want to say about the election, even if they want to lie that it was rigged – that's his First Amendment right.' That's in the first couple paragraphs, they start by talking about the First Amendment. It doesn't hold water, and it's such a stupid argument if you actually read this indictment, which a lot of people on Fox News don't – they doodle on it. You know why? Because they don't want to read it."

Scarborough singled out the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, which described the Jan. 6 indictment a partisan "spectacle" intended to frame the 2024 election around Trump's alleged misdeeds, and he called their defense "shameful" and "sad."

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"You never want to go full Trump, if you're the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and they went full Trump today," Scarborough said. "You never go full Trump. They blame it on the Democrats, [and] you're not going to believe this – they say Joe Biden is old."

Scarborough then shamed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who sowed mistrust in the judicial system to defend the former president, even after trying to jump off the Trump "train" the evening of Jan. 6, 2021.

"Then the three people and the hound dog chased him around Washington National Reagan Airport, and he said, 'Okay, well, I'm back on the train,'" Scarborough said. "It's so bizarre, man, it's so bizarre. They're willing to trash every American institution for a guy that's never been loyal to them."

Scarborough said he tries to understand others' motivations before criticizing them, but he said he just doesn't get why Republicans remain so loyal to a former president whose personal shortcomings have cost their party over and over.

"I've got to say, in this case – there's no getting this," Scarborough said. "I've been a member of Congress, it's not worth this. It's not worth betraying your country. It's not worth turning a blind eye to a coup. It's not worth going to the best schools in America, getting one of the best editorial jobs in America, reading this and knowing better and trying to blame Donald Trump's attempted coup, coup attempt, on Democrats that want to use this in an election, on the 'Biden crime family,' on Joe Biden being old? Come on, man. You're better than that."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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