MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: Trump’s ‘Lies’ Not the Same as ‘When the Press Makes a Mistake’
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough warned Thursday against falsely equivocating President Trump’s “18,000 lies” and mistakes made by the media, and he cited recent general election polling shows Trump’s relationship to honesty is more of a sticking point for voters this time around. (The 18,000 figure comes from Washington Post’s latest tally of the president’s “false or misleading claims” in his 1,170 days in office.)
“It’s very interesting,” Scarborough said. “All of his followers, too, they play along with this game and the media — online and on TV — they don’t call him out on his 18,000 lies. But when the press makes a mistake…”
He went onto reference a Jimmy Kimmel segment from earlier in the week that seemed to show Vice President Mike Pence delivering empty boxes of protective wear to a medical center, but which turned out to only show the vice president joking about carrying empty boxes. Scarborough also referred to NBC News’ Chuck Todd, whose “Meet the Press” aired a shortened clip of a CBS News interview with Attorney General William Barr Sunday. Both Kimmel and Todd did face heavy criticism for their shows’ errors.
*Also Read:* Joe Scarborough Responds to Trump's Latest Personal Attack: 'Turn Off the TV, Donald'
“These people that ignored the 18,000 lies, and all the lies he did on Monday at the press conference, and the racist statements,” Scarborough said of the critics before calling the behavior “moral equivalency bull.”
He and co-host Mika Brzezinski spent a lot of time on the new CNN poll that shows former vice president Joe Biden five points ahead of Trump in a re-election poll. The poll, they said, had a lot to do with Trump’s honesty or what some respondents might see as a lack thereof.
“Every poll we’re showing, senior citizens are just saying no to the lies of Donald Trump — the deadly lies of Donald Trump about their health,” he said, referring to Trump’s various statements on the coronavirus.
Watch the full segment on polling below.
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