I once read a poli-sci book of case studies in how good and bad presidential decisions were made. Two of the chapters were "Placing People" and "Placing Institutions". The gist of it was: know who you're dealing with. Where did Brezhnev spend his formative years? Who influenced him? What was his mindset as he rose to his current position?
Let's do that with Joe Scarborough. Joe was a far-right Gingrich Republican. He wanted to focus on eviscerating the public school system. For some reason he left politics to become a media personality. He spent a few decades putting right-wing spin on the daily news every morning on cable TV. Pretty much like Rush Limbaugh, but a little more subtle and not on the radio. After years of Hillary-bashing (everybody was doing it, led by the New York Times, of course. it was all the rage) in 2015 Joe was EAGER to become a Trump Republican. Somehow they had a falling out, but Scarborough went on normalizing the orange fascist criminal regime just like the vast majority of elected Democrats and 99% of the media.
I never wasted much time on Scarborough. The few times I watched, however, he was putting right wing spin on the events of the day. Simply Limbaugh-light.
Politicians and TV personalities are pretty narcissistic. Their egos are inextricably entwined with their images and careers. Promoting their egos/careers is priority one. Scarborough is emblematic of this phenomenon. He seems to have no consistent principles at all. Every step he takes appears designed to promote his image and career. So any time there are hints that sincere belief in noble ideals are driving his rhetoric I become extremely skeptical. Just a brief look at his history means there's no way to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't believe for a minute that he'd tell us the unvarnished truth simply because it's true. He probably accidentally says some true stuff sometimes, when it happens to be good for his career, but I wouldn't trust that guy to watch my dog for 5 minutes while I try to find a restroom.
