OPINION:
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, normally no fan of Donald Trump’s — to put it mildly — nonetheless came out in defense of the president’s speech before the United Nations.
In short, Scarborough actually liked it.
Check the skies for flying pigs. Scarborough regularly speaks of Trump in the most critical of tones. If he ain’t mocking, he’s gagging.
But post-General Assembly speech? Why, even Scarborough has kind words.
“This speech, minus the bombast, could have been written by Secretary [James] Mattis, could have been written by General [H.R.] McMaster, could have been written by Ambassador Nikki Haley,” he said, Mediaite noted. “There wasn’t isolationism here. There was a tip of the hat to the United Nations. There was a tip of the hat to the international community.”
How very different from the naysayers — and there were many — who said Trump’s speech struck a too-bold, too-blunt tone.
And then there was this, from Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Iran, who tweeted: “Trump’s ignorant hate speech belongs in medieval times — not the 21st Century UN — unworthy of a reply. Fake empathy for Iranians fools no one.”
So Scarborough’s unexpected praise?
“This is a speech — whether a lot of people in media like it or not — that most Americans would agree with,” he said. “This is, if not an 80-20 speech, is at least a 60-40 speech.”
Well, even a broken clock’s right twice a day.
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