MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough looked straight into the camera Tuesday to criticize President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
A New York Times/Siena College poll found former President Donald Trump leading Biden in five out of six crucial swing states by substantial margins. Trump polls ahead of Biden in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan by at least three points – if not 10 – in some cases. Biden holds a slight lead over Trump in Wisconsin though it falls within the margin of error over Trump.
CNN’s David Axelrod sounded the alarm on Sunday, saying Biden should consider whether he should drop out of the race.
Scarborough said other Democrats privately share Axelrod‘s views, but that Biden “was doubted when he first announced” his candidacy in 2019 and still pulled through. The host then directly pointed the blame at Biden’s campaign advisors for not advising him to attack Trump.
“Whoever inside the White House is telling Joe Biden not to attack Donald Trump: stop it. Stop. Seriously. Stop it. All right? And maybe start a lawn service with push lawnmowers, because you don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know what you’re talking about. And you’re costing the president. You really are. You’re costing him points. This is a political battle to the end. Donald Trump is trying to destroy Joe Biden.”
“I’m not exactly sure, Willie, who inside the White House is saying, ‘Hey, when you go up against the champ, Mike Tyson in ’91, Muhammad Ali in ’73, you should fight by Marquess of Queensbury rules’,” Scarborough said mockingly. “No, you got to go after him, no-holds-barred.” (RELATED: ‘Is It Though?’: CNN Anchor Gets Testy With Analyst Who Says Democrats Will ‘Come Home’ To Biden In 2024)
“And yet, Willie, they’re still trying to debate: ‘Do we play nice in this campaign, or do we actually take it to a guy that stole nuclear secrets, has been accused of being a rapist by a New York judge, and has 91 felony counts against him charged? It’s not hard. I don’t think this is hard. And I’m not sure who inside the White House is making this hard.”
Biden’s campaign spokesman, Kevin Munoz, told The Times that the Biden campaign will win in 2024 “by putting our heads down and doing the work, not by fretting about a poll.”