Joe Scarborough has had enough. The Morning Joe host opened Thursday’s show, the day after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, with a powerful and furious tirade against the president—and the police officers who didn’t stop the MAGA hordes from breaking in.
Scarborough opened his address by asking what would have happened if the rioters weren’t overwhelmingly white and pro-Trump. “If these insurrectionists were Black, they would have been shot in the face,” the MSNBC anchor said. “And, my God, if these insurrectionists were Muslim, they would have been sniped from the top of buildings.”
Getting louder and increasingly emotional as he spoke, Scarborough went on: “I want to know from the Capitol Hill police, what is it? Is it just white people? Or is it Donald Trump supporters? Why do you scream at people for walking across the street three blocks away from the Capitol? Why are you known as badasses around the Capitol, but then Trump supporters come in, and you open the FUCKING doors for them.”
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Now literally screaming, Scarborough asked Capitol Hill police: “YOU OPENED THE DOORS FOR THEM, AND LET THEM BREACH THE PEOPLE’S HOUSE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”
One of Scarborough’s on-air colleagues can be heard whispering “Oh my God” when he drops his f-bomb.
Scarborough went on to ponder aloud whether the ease of the Trumpists’ entry into the Capitol complex was no coincidence, asking viewers: “How many of these Capitol Hill cops are members of Donald Trump’s cult? How many? How many allowed this to happen?”
Turning his fury toward the president, with whom he was once close, the Morning Joe host accused Trump and his backers of inciting the riots. The president has been almost universally condemned for his fiery address to the rioters before they broke into the Capitol—after he told them to march to the building. Scarborough said Trump should end up in prison for what he’s done.
“I’ve got no questions for Donald Trump, he’s an insurrectionist. There are no questions, he should be arrested today, he should be sent to jail today for insurrection against the United States of America,” he said.
Although several clips of police appearing to help the rioters have gone viral, it’s not clear that they did open the doors or barricades for them. One journalist who recorded a viral video of police appearing to let rioters through denied that was the case on Thursday, saying cops were simply outnumbered so abandoned their stations, and then the rioters pushed through to the Capitol doors.
However, experts told The Daily Beast that police were guilty of “piss-poor planning” and made mistakes that exacerbated the riots.
