Joe Scarborough's shifting position on Biden's candidacy, age concerns
MSNBC "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough seemed to express a change of heart on whether President Biden should drop out of the race.
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough was confronted with a viral clip of him deeming former President Joe Biden the "best Biden ever" in March 2024 on Tuesday, standing by his assessment of the former president, citing his personal interactions with him.
Speaking to Mark Halperin during his show, "Next Up with Mark Halperin," Scarborough watched the clip of himself, where he argued that the former president was "far beyond cogent."
"I've said it for years now, he's cogent. But I undersold it when I said he was cogent, he's far beyond cogent. In fact, I think he's better than he's ever been, intellectually, analytically, because he's been around for 50 years," Scarborough said during a March 2024 "Morning Joe" broadcast. "Start your tape right now because I’m about to tell you the truth. And f-you if you can’t handle the truth. This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever."
After noting that Biden had good days and bad days, Halperin asked Scarbrough, "Looking back at that, do you say, well, it was misleading to say ‘best Biden ever’ without caveating it and saying, except on the days when he’s not the best Biden ever?"
BIDEN INTERVIEW AUDIO REVEALS WHO BROUGHT UP BEAU'S DEATH — AND IT WASN'T HUR
Scarborough insisted he never saw the bad days personally. Earlier in the conversation, Scarborough detailed multiple meetings he had with Biden, during which the MSNBC host argued that Biden had a better "analysis" of the situation, related to Ukraine and Russia, than he had heard from most people.
Halperin pushed back and told Scarborough, "Well, you did! You did, because you saw him address a dead congresswoman, and you saw him in South Carolina."
Halperin argued he could show Scarborough several clips of days when the former president was not the best Biden ever and Scarborough pivoted the conversation to Trump.
Scarborough argued, "He stumbled and bumbled around, Mark. I mean, yeah, he certainly did. Donald Trump did, other politicians did, and it’s actually the same case as a lot of times when I’ve gone in and talked to Donald Trump. We go on to Donald Trump, and I’ve heard the media narrative around Donald Trump, and certainly I’ve been very critical of Donald Trump, and when I leave, I have a better understanding, just like Jeffrey Goldberg did a couple of weeks ago, a better understanding of where Donald Trump is mentally, if Donald Trump is losing it, like people have said through the years or not."
BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEW
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough issued a full-throated defense of President Biden in reaction to concerns about his ability to serve in March 2024. (Screenshot/MSNBC)
"And so again, am I going to look at a clip that’s gone viral and pay more attention to that than two and a half, three hours I had with a guy one-on-one going around the world? No, I’m just not going to," the MSNBC host said. "Are some of the clips bad? Yeah, they certainly are bad."
"Put into proper context, I'm just not going to freak out and melt down on one or two clips here and there," the "Morning Joe" host added. "And again he bumbled around, and he stumbled around, but he has for quite some time. That didn't seem to me to get in the way of Joe Biden being able to analyze the most important issues."
Scarborough went after former Special Counsel Robert Hur in February 2024 for his report on the former president related to the classified documents probe that showed Biden struggling with key memories, including when his son Beau died, when he left the vice presidency and why he was in possession of classified documents he shouldn't have had.
"I'm just saying this guy says such random s---!" Scarborough said at the time, demanding that Hur apologize for his report.
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President Joe Biden speaks about foreign policy during a speech at the State Department in Washington on Jan. 13. (AP/Susan Walsh)
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"Does he hope he gets a judgeship? I think he does. I think he hopes he gets a judgeship if Donald Trump gets elected again because he's trying out, because he humiliated himself with that display," Scarborough added.
The audio of the Hur-Biden interview was released on Friday, and CNN's Abby Phillip suggested Hur undersold the extent of Biden's lapses during the interview.
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