Joe Scarborough Goes OFF on Mike Johnson’s ‘Depraved’ America Claim: ‘Why Do Republicans Hate America So Much?’

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough had a lot to say on Friday about the leaked video of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) in which the second in line to the presidency of the United States called America “so dark and depraved that it almost seems irredeemable at this point.” Among the questions he asked of his Morning Joe guests was, “Why do Republicans hate America so much?”

Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson covered the leaked Zoom call that Johnson was on, which took place on October 4 before he was elected Speaker of the House. It was described as a “prayer call” with Christian nationalist preacher Jim Garlow, and Johnson went into great detail about why the country he represents in Congress was “in a time of judgment” as “the faith in our institutions is its lowest it’s ever been in the history of our nation.” This led both co-host Willie Geist and Scarborough to start railing against Johnson, who was a major player in perpetuating lies about the 2020 election:

Geist: Where to begin there, Joe. There’s so much. America is “irredeemable,” it’s “dark and depraved.” Just to, let’s lift ourselves out of the subtext. He went on to say, really what he’s talking about here is that we have gay people in America. He said one in four high school students say that they are “something other than straight” is the way he put it. So he’s very worried about that.

But also, I just have to say, Joe, he said the faith in our institutions and doubt about absolute truth. This is the man who helped to lead the attempted coup against the United States government and overturn the 2020 election. He’s very worried about faith in institutions.

Scarborough: Willie, he ran the Big Lie on Capitol Hill! Preach about that, Jimmy Swaggart! Right? And then go to your motel room and start like, faxing around, you know, conspiratorial documents. It is, it is the hypocrisy. … There’s so much hypocrisy to go to here about a guy, again, trying to undermine our institutions. The guy who is trying, who led in the House of Representatives, the attempt to undermine the United States Constitution, an American presidential election, and an attempt to basically end American democracy.

And then suddenly, suddenly, this great prophet, this Jeremiah of our times, went quietly silent, as mobs rushed the People’s House where he was, and battered and abused police officers with American flags. That our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen took into battle over 200 years to defend this country. The hypocrisy, the hypocrisy, in the words of, I think it was Homer Simpson when somebody accidentally threw communion water in his eyes, “It burns! It burns!”

But Scarborough’s sarcastic rant didn’t end there. Johnson’s dire picture of America had him asking the question:

I just have to go back to the question I asked yesterday. I’m serious. Why do Republicans hate America so much? … I’m very optimistic about America’s future because I see the good in people. I see the good in this country. It’s interesting. He’s he’s like trying to dig statistics about, I don’t know, drag queen shows or something. …

But I’ve got to say, if he’s worried about pews emptying out, talk to young people and so many will tell you, and Russell Moore’s talked about this with Christianity Today, they’re emptying out because they don’t want to go to a church where preachers worship Donald Trump instead of Jesus Christ.

Watch the video above via MSNBC.