Joe Scarborough called the chants of lock him up directed at Trump during Game 5 of the World Series Un-American and suggested that people doing it learned from Trump.
Scarborough said, “There were many traditions brought about by Donald Trump and his supporters and people around him that are un-American. Even fascist-like. The chants of lock her up, send her back, but the “Lock her up” about Hillary Clinton repeatedly, it has become a centerpiece, and that’s what dictators do. They take over, and then they start talking about imprisoning others. And it’s un-American.”
Video:
Joe Scarborough calls chanting lock him up at Trump "un-American." pic.twitter.com/OXeEMxPO3u
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) October 28, 2019
Scarborough added that the crowd got this behavior from Trump, “So that’s what, unfortunately, it has been fed, into America’s political system through Donald Trump, and last night, it was turned against him. But again, it’s un-American. And the people in the stands that were doing it last night shouldn’t have done it. In fact, you know, they learned, they have learned from Donald Trump. That’s what you do, to political opponents. I hope that Donald Trump, after seeing that he could be facing this throughout his entire campaign will cut it out.”
Joe Scarborough was right about Trump injecting these chants into political discourse and it has been turned against him, but he is completely wrong about the lock him up chants.
The lock her up chant against Hillary Clinton was baseless. Clinton committed no crimes. Trump is an indicted felony co-conspirator in the state of New York, and he will likely be prosecuted if he loses the presidential election. A criminal like Trump can’t use the office of the presidency as a shield to deflect from his behavior. Trump and the presidency are not one and the same.
Americans can still respect the presidency as an institution, even as they believe that Donald Trump should be locked up.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
