MSNBC's Joe Scarborough trashed Donald Trump supporters for backing a presidential candidate that any "sane" person would reject.
The former president trounced his rivals in the Iowa caucus in spite of a tsunami of legal problems – including indictments, lawsuits and looming penalties for fraud and defaming his sex abuse victim – and the "Morning Joe" host said his persistent political success is a symptom of the "twisted" personality cult that has gathered around the former reality TV star.
"He loves the grand spectacle," Scarborough said. "While we in polite society, and, well, actually, in sane, rational society, see a man going into court to stare down a woman that a judge says he was guilty of raping, when we see a man going into court to rant and rave at a judge after he's been found guilty of committing fraud in his business, likely going to have his business licenses stripped from him. When we see a man fighting in courts where he has been accused and will likely be convicted of stealing nuclear secrets, to rational, sane human beings, to people who actually respect the rule of law and don't think it is a cool thing to have a president who a judge said raped a woman."
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Trump has said he will attend a second defamation trial starting Tuesday involving journalist E. Jean Carroll, whom a jury found him liable of sexually abusing and then dragging her reputation through the gutter after she went public with her allegations.
"That woman, he is going back today, all he had to do was simply not talk about her, but he chose to defame her again, after he was found liable of defamation," said co-host Mika Brzezinski. "He is in court today because of his mouth."
However, exit polls in Iowa showed Republican voters didn't care about the criminal allegations against the ex-president, and in fact many of them said the charges only made them like him more.
"These Republicans say they don't care he's in court," Scarborough said. "In fact, the fact he is in court today facing a woman that a judge says he raped, Donald Trump is there because that's the best political fuel he can get. That's how twisted things are in the personality cult, and he is going into these courtrooms because of the grand spectacle, because it helps him."
"Because 65 percent of Republicans in Iowa say if he is convicted, they still want him to be president," he added. "There's 20 percent in another poll in the Des Moines Register/NBC poll, 20 percent said that the fact that he's indicted or that he is found guilty of -- that a judge says he raped a woman, that makes them more likely to vote for him."
Watch the video below or at this link.
MSNBC 01 16 2024 07 00 20youtu.be
