Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:30 pm
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough criticized Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) for downplaying the January 6 storming of the United States Capitol, which took place after former President Donald Trump urged his supporters to march on Congress in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The president’s supporters were egged on by the president’s claims of widespread election fraud, which has debunked by news outlets, government agencies, and independent observers alike.
Both Cruz and Hawley, who voted against certifying the results of an election that President Joe Biden won decisively, have faced significant criticism amid calls that they resign from Congress altogether. Neither man has walked back their claims. Graham also voted against certifying the results and has continued to push against impeaching and convicting the former president for inciting the insurrection against Congress.
“Listen, I’m a conservative. A lot of people didn’t like my views after 9/11. I don’t really care. I sort of agreed with [former Vice President] Dick Cheney with a 1% solution,” Scarborough said. “Your job if you are a leader is to stop another attack against this country. Right? Well, guess what? I’m that same guy in 2020. You come after us. You come after our Capitol. We’re going to come after you. And we sure as hell are not going to let you inside our Capitol. We sure as hell are not going to tell everybody, ‘Let’s just pretend this will go away.'”
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“Let’s just forget about it. That’s what Lindsey [Graham] wants us to do,” Scarborough went on. “He wants us to forget about the fact that people were bludgeoned in the head with an American flag because of Donald Trump. He wants us to forget that a cop was beaten to death and the reason why the cop killer beat the cop to death was because they were inspired by Donald Trump to do so.”
Scarborough then turned his attention to Cruz and Hawley.
“Ted Cruz wants us to forget because he led the sedition along with Josh Hawley [and Ted Cruz]. Forget? Forget? You’re out of your mind and you’re not a conservative. That’s how conservatives do not talk. We don’t forget. If you attack our country, we go after you. We jail you. We throw away the key. You come after our Capitol?”
He even found time to criticize Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) for their roles. Both senators had expressed concerns that holding an impeachment trial would only further divide the country.
“And you think, Ron, it’s simply vindictive to see justice for the leader of the insurrection. Marco, you hide behind procedural safeguards? This is a procedure. We can’t go after it. No. No. Find a constitutional lawyer that supports justice and quote that judge, that justice,” he said.
“This is what the Republicans in the Senate want you to forget,” Scarborough concluded. “This is what Rand Paul wants you to forget. This is what Ted Cruz wants you to forget. This is what Ron Johnson wants you to forget. And I say never, never forget. Just like I said after 9/11. Never forget that the Islamic terrorists came to our country and attacked us. And you know what? I said we needed to call them Islamic terrorists. You know why? Because they were Islamic terrorists. You know what these people are? They are Trump terrorists. Call them by their name.”
You can watch Scarborough in the video below.
Joe Scarborough calls the insurrectionists that Republicans are trying to make America forget Trump terrorists. pic.twitter.com/dhxFH4EkNF
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 27, 2021
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
