MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough didn’t have many nice things to say Friday morning about the way Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) is handling the current government shutdown, going scorched Earth on the House Speaker with a brutal five-minute tirade.
It all started when “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski introduced a C-SPAN clip from Thursday showing a call from a military spouse begging Johnson to pass a bill that would allow American servicemen and women to continue to get paid even if the shutdown continues.
Although Johnson offered his sympathy to the women and other military families also at risk, he blamed the shutdown on Senate Democrats.
That triggered the rant from Scarborough, a former GOP member of Congress.
Scarborough accused Johnson of lying “effortlessly” and argued that he was leaving out some essential details.
“Democrats have a plan to make sure the military is paid, to make sure that that woman gets the help and the support, and those children get the help and support that they need,” Scarborough said. “And Republicans are blocking it.
“Don’t believe me? Ask [Rep.] Elise Stefanik [R-N.Y.], who is also putting a bill on the floor to stop Mike Johnson from blocking payments to the military,” he added.
Scarborough also noted that servicemembers who may be Republicans are seeing “a Republican House, a Republican Senate, a Republican White House, a Republican-dominated Supreme Court” all blocking the path to getting paid.
He said the solution for Johnson is very simple.
“Pick up the phone right now, call Elise Stefanik, ‘Elise, we’re going to vote. I’m going to call everybody back in and we’re going to vote on your bill today.’ And it would pass,” he said.
Scarborough then argued that Johnson isn’t telling voters the real reason for the shutdown ― and its initials are “J.E.”:
“Mike Johnson shut down Congress and sent his members home because he didn’t want them talking about the Epstein files,” Scarborough said. “Mike Johnson will not swear in a Democrat, democratically elected congresswoman, because that will be the deciding vote on a discharge petition to have the Epstein files released.”
The aforementioned Democrat is Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who won a special election last month to fill her late father’s House seat and has already said she’d sign the discharge petition. Johnson has drawn criticism from many sides due to the head-scratching delay in swearing her in.
“He won’t do it. He won’t let her get sworn in,” Scarborough said. “And now he’s claiming he can’t do anything to have the military be paid. He can. He can call Elise Stefanik today, and then he can call his friends over in the Senate.”
Scarborough claimed other Republican politicians are “starting to feel the pressure” and “want to actually go back to Washington and work.
“These GOP members are hearing from their constituents who are coming up and saying, wait, wait a second, congressman, you’re getting paid, I don’t know, $160,000 a year, you got, like, Cadillac health care insurance and you’re not working, but you’re getting paid. And here I am working on the military base, and I can’t support my family. You’re not paying me.”
As Scarborough put it, “That’s just not — it’s not a winning formula.”
You can see the entire segment below.
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