Joe Scarborough Jarred by Trump Administration’s ‘Discordant’ Kirk Tributes: ‘Charlie Taught Us to Forgive, But –’
Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough noted what he called “two beats” during the memorial service for Charlie Kirk on Sunday, praising the tributes shared by the conservative activist’s friends and family as “straight out of the Gospels” while rebuking politicians trying to “leverage” the solemn occasion “for their own good.”
On Monday’s show, Scarborough began by describing the gathering as a mix of “religion, politics, and, as Donald Trump himself said, sort of this old-time tent revival feel.”
The most powerful moment of the memorial, New York Times columnist David French reflected, came from Kirk’s widow.
“This is one of the most beautiful things that I’ve seen: heartbreaking, heart-rending,” he said.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP photo)
Erika Kirk’s decision to forgive her husband’s killer “is the heart and the core of what Christianity is,” he added, contrasting it with the “contradictory” address by President Trump, which he noted was inherent in MAGA.
He continued: “Then you had all of this complexity of Trump getting up there and behaving in a very, very different way – also to cheers. And so what you saw here, in a lot of ways, was this complexity of this MAGA world and the complexity of this MAGA movement. There are people within it, and people who express ideas within it, who are beautiful, wonderful people caught up in this movement. And then there is also this other side that is so directly contradictory of the message that Erika Kirk shared.”
Scarborough echoed: “Talking about love and grace and forgiveness, loving our enemies, praying for those who persecute us. But then, with at least the politicians and the people who worked for politicians, you had another beat.”
He said: “It was: ‘Charlie taught us to forgive, but…’ and then it would be like, ‘oh, this is all the left wing’s fault’ or ‘oh, these are people who hated and mocked and ridiculed.’”
The MSNBC host described the result as “discordant”: “There were two beats. And it did sound, when the politicians got up there, very discordant. Instead of a celebration of a life and talking about Jesus’s words and Jesus’s commandments of us to forgive others, at times there was another tone that was taken. So I found that to be discordant.”
Morning Joe regular John Meacham then urged viewers not to feel “reflexively uncomfortable” but to note each speaker’s words on their own merit.
Acknowledging concerns about Christian nationalism, Meacham added that: “There was a feeling, particularly with Mrs. Kirk, that it was something that had a genuine – what appeared to be a genuinely religious component. And then came the president who spoke the way President Trump speaks. And that should be considered on its merits.”
Scarborough followed: “I thought until the politicians and the people who work for politicians got up there and tried to leverage it for their own good, I thought those who knew Charlie Kirk and loved Charlie Kirk and worshiped with Charlie Kirk and grew up with Charlie Kirk and lived with Charlie Kirk.”
“I thought their messages were very affirming and straight out of the gospels,” he added.
Watch above via MSNBC.
