Former Congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough recently announced that he is leaving the Republican Party. Scarborough, the host of Morning Joe along with his co-host, and fiancée, Mika Brzezinski, said this was because the Republican Party has changed too much under President Trump and he could no longer defend it, with health care being the last straw. In order to identify the veracity of Mr. Scarborough’s claim, a comparison between the Republican Party, of recent past and present, and Mr. Scarborough is necessary.
The Republican Party has been mostly consistent in its belief structure in the recent past. Freedom and empowering the individual-check. Tough on crime-check. Second Amendment-check. Support our police-check. Border first and then immigration reform-check. Strong military-check. The only area where there is a change in the Republican Party has been to the left on the issue of gay rights, though it is still a contentious issue. You do not hear talk, as when Joe Scarborough was first elected to Congress during the Gingrich Revolution, of abolishing entitlement programs from this president nor do we hear talk anymore of a marriage amendment. Even the final Republican health care bill may contain some remnants of leftist Obamacare. The Republican Party certainly has not moved in a more conservative direction in recent years (we can thank the Tea Party and others for keeping it from going further left).
Yet, Morning Joe is leaving the Republican Party. If the Republican Party has moved anywhere it has moved into a more populist and even leftist direction. Scarborough’s argument simply does not make sense which turns the burden of proof unto him.
Joe Scarborough is the one who has moved to the left whether it be on gun control or health care. Increasingly he attacks the president of the United States and, of more consequence, his policies.
Scarborough’s evolution mirrors that of the left. The further left he goes, the further irrelevant he gets. Scarborough is the new John Lindsey; a young, almost dashing Republican with a bright future who succumbed to the temptations of the left in order to remain relevant (the physical appearance between the two is also very strong). Lindsey was relevant, for a short time after he left the Republican Party, but was politically alone in the end. Shakespeare wrote tragedies about people like this.
Joe Scarborough is the one who has changed and, being known by the company he now keeps, he is changing in a way that makes him closer to his co-host/fiancée and other pals at MSNBC. The Republican president’s fighting back against Joe’s fiancée may have moved along the process but, it was a process that was already well under way.
Scarborough quit when the going got tough but that is what happens when you spend the most of your time with those of a vastly different worldview. You become like them. This latest facelift on his part is not just a covering up of whom he once was but also is the last unmasking of whom he now is.