Morning Joe reveals he had private chat with Trump after Venezuela attack — and it shocked
MS NOW's Joe Scarborough spoke to Donald Trump for the first time in months after the attack on Venezuela — and the president doubled down on controversial remarks he had made nearly a decade ago.
The "Morning Joe" host said he'd spoken to the president about a half dozen times since his return to the White House last year, but their conversation Monday about the invasion of Venezuela was their first in a few months.
"I called to get the reaction and to see what I might be able to glean on what was coming next," Scarborough said. "Just to set up the conversation, he was very excited and proud yesterday when I talked to him by phone to try to get those insights on his decision to launch a military attack on Venezuela.
"Now, most of the 20-minute call was filled with the president recounting the U.S. military's flawless execution of the operation, and he talked an awful lot about the courage shown by those who raided [Nicolás] Maduro's fortress, and how quickly they dispensed with the scores of Cuban troops that were guarding the Venezuelan dictator."
"The president concluded his summary of the attack by noting the message that this will surely send about America's strength to Putin, Xi and Iran," Scarborough added.
Like most conversations with Trump, he said the challenge was trying to find a pause to insert a question, and when that opportunity finally came, Scarborough said he asked what would come next.
"Was there a timeline?" he asked. "Was therea plan for reconstruction, forelections, for democracy? Thepresident's answers to thatwere the same that he's beengiving publicly and mainlygeneral, but when I pressedcomparisons with America'sfailed occupation of Iraq, thepresident's response was verydifferent. I asked him, I said, 'Mr. President, when you say,quote, we're going to runeverything, that obviouslycauses deep concerns because ofthe disaster in Iraq.'
"Thepresident's response: 'Joe, thedifference between Iraq andthis is that [George W.] Bush didn't keepthe oil. We're going to keepthe oil,' and to underline hispoint, Trump said his commentswere no longer on backgroundand said, 'In 2016, I said weshould have kept the oil, itcaused a lot of controversy.Well, we should have kept theoil.'"
"The president said, 'and we're going to rebuild theirbroken-down oil facilities, andthis time we're going to keepthe oil,'" Scarborough added. "Saying the United States is entering a new era ofgeopolitical engagement seemsto be an understatement. ...Donald Trump's brazenness drawsfrom 19th-century imperialism."
Some of those remarks might simply be bluster, Scarborough said, but he said the president seemed serious.
"The question now forall of us is how far theadministration actually plansto go," Scarborough said. "How much of this isbluffing? How much is thisactually going to be by designin these military operationsacross the hemisphere, andwhether Congress will everfulfill its constitutionalduties and step up before thenext military action begins. So,obviously not a bigsurprise from much of what thepresident said yesterday. Itsounded a lot like what we'vebeen hearing, what he said toNBC reporters that reached outto him, and New York Timesreporters who reached out tohim."
"But obviously the thingthat stands out is, he said, 'We're going to keep the oil,'" Scarborough added."And he wasproud of it. He said, you know,he always saw George W. Bush asa sucker for going to Iraq, youknow, spending blood oil andtreasure and not keeping theoil. This was, of course, what [Fox News anchor] Bret Baier said to him. Well,you can't do that, that's a warcrime. The president brushedback on that didn't agree with, and certainly here we are nineyears later, and he sang thesame thing, and he still thinksthis is fine for U.S. policy."
After the 2024 election, Scarborough and his co-host Mika Brzezinski sparked controversy by visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Their audience and critics questioned the visit's appropriateness given their previous critical coverage of Trump. Scarborough later explained the meeting as an attempt at dialogue and understanding with the president-elect.
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