MSNBC's Joe Scarborough ripped House minority leader Kevin McCarthy for letting "Republican extremists" to take over the party in his "desperate" bid to hold onto his authority.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) issued an apology for publicly suggesting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has ties to terrorism, and McCarthy asked House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) to help broker a meeting between the pair, but Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) inserted herself into the drama by doubling down on attacking her Democratic colleagues as the "Jihad squad."
"It seems that Republican extremists now have control, they have effectively taken control of Republican leader Kevin McCarthy," said the "Morning Joe" host. "He hasn't condemned Boebert's bigoted comment, and I will say here, for myself right here, for myself right here, I'm glad she apologized and I'm glad that Steny Hoyer, from what I understand, took the call and is trying to facilitate a meeting between the two. I understand how heinous this statement is. We hope at some point this sort of hate speech will be isolated and members of the House, Republicans and Democrats, can debate on the issues. My God, there's enough to debate on."
Greene challenged McCarthy's leadership and laid out a list of demands to regain her support, and Scarborough said the GOP leader appeared willing to go along.
READ: 'Not the brightest bulb on the Capitol Christmas tree': CNN's Jim Acosta mocks Lauren Boebert
"McCarthy, though, he seems to be strategizing with extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene," Scarborough said.
The first-term Georgia lawmaker tweeted that she'd spoken with McCarthy after publicly challenging him, and one of the Republican lawmakers she wants him to kick out of the caucus blasted the GOP leader for calling Greene "begging for permission to stay in power."
"I do wonder at what point do members of the caucus go to him and say, 'You are actually crawling on your hands and knees and begging for the support of one member who's actually supporting bigoted remarks?'" Scarborough said.
"At what point does Kevin stop listening to the extremists?" Scarborough said. "I'm just wondering, the people who are funding his push to be majority leader, are they proud of the fact that they're funding somebody that supports anti-Muslim remarks, that you are supporting somebody that's desperate to get the support of people who've made anti-Semitic remarks? How desperate are these people to be lined up behind a member of the House that is so desperate to be speaker of the House that he's willing to embrace politically the most bigoted members I can remember being in the House of Representatives. How desperate is Kevin?"
‘Desperate’ Kevin McCarthy ‘begging on hands and knees’ for support from GOP’s worst www.youtube.com
