Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough praised Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for having the “good political sense” to shut down the “lock him up” chant started by rally-goers on Tuesday.
At previous rallies in July, Harris laughed as the crowd erupted spontaneously into a chant of “lock him up” on mention of former President Donald Trump.
The chant, borrowed from one heard at Trump rallies during the 2016 presidential election and directed at then-Democratic rival nominee Hillary Clinton, was refashioned by Harris supporters against the former president, who faces indictments in multiple jurisdictions and was convicted on 34 counts at his New York “hush money” trial in June.
At Harris’ first campaign rally with newly announced running mate Tim Walz in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, however, Scarborough noted the “fascinating” change of tact in conversation with Politico’s bureau chief Jonathan Martin. Rather than laugh off the chant, Harris instead told attendees that this election was “a fight for the future” and not just about former President Donald Trump.
Man, they were fired up and they were ready to go. Jonathan Martin, I found it interesting two times, talking about optimism, being positive – there were, of course, some attacks, some jokes that went beyond normal standard fare – I thought it was fascinating that the crowd started the ‘lock him up’ chant twice, once with Kamala Harris who stopped it, and then with Tim Walz who stopped it. Both times I thought they had the really good
political sense [to say]: ‘Let’s not go there. That’s what Donald Trump did and we’re not doing this.’
Martin agreed: “You saw Walz wave his arms up and down to stop. He clearly smelled the danger politically in that chant getting out of control and stopped it before it engulfed the speech. Look, they know they can’t do the same kinds of things Trump does and gets away with and, frankly, they don’t want to.”
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