Joe Scarborough Gives Ted Cruz Credit For Having ‘It Right’ on Russia
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday, co-host Joe Scarborough gave Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) credit for having “it right” on Russia, which is conducting a military invasion of Ukraine.
Scarborough rebuffed “the idea that sanctions may be too tough on [Russian President] Vladimir Putin.”
“If you’re thinking that, do your country and do did Ukrainian people a favor and, you know what,” he said. “Turn in your badge and leave the White House today because you are doing a grave disservice to the people of Ukraine, to our allies in NATO, to Americans who still believe that this country, the United States of America, remains the indispensable nation when it comes to helping secure freedoms across the globe.”
Co-host Mika Brzezinski called for the United States to stop relying on Russian oil. Scarborough concurred.
“This is, you know, administration after administration that you’ve talked about, no matter what side of this they were on, [former President Donald] Trump being on the side of Russia, our dependence on that oil, it really adds a dimension that’s impossible actually.
Scarborough mocked the notion that the invasion wouldn’t have happened were Trump in the White House in which Brzezinski said “it’s why it’s happening.” Scarborough criticized Trump for calling Putin a “genius” for the invasion and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling the Russian leader “savvy” and expressing “great respect” for him.
Co-host Willie Geist called being pro-Putin “a fringe position” in the Republican Party, citing the votes GOP members of the House of Representatives have taken against Russia and GOP senators who “are not in line with the argument that Vladimir Putin is a genius or whatever Mike Pompeo’s saying.”
Scarborough agreed with Geist and called on people to distinguish between the Trump/Pompeo/far-right side of the GOP from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE). He mentioned that “Cruz all along was against” the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, which goes from Russia to Germany, “because he thought it helped Russia too much.”
He said, “People that many viewers may disagree with on a lot of other issues have got it right on Russia and have had it right on Russia” even when Trump blasted NATO and “was humiliating himself in Helsinki” – a reference to the 2018 joint press conference Trump had with Putin in the Finnish capital where he was criticized for not standing up to Putin.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
