Joe Scarborough Says Trump Commands ‘Fear’ From Strongmen Like No Other Prez, Makes Them Fall in Line

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump stands alone among modern U.S. presidents in commanding fear from strongman leaders, observing how regional strongmen “meekly” fell in line with his Gaza peace deal.

The MSNBC host pointed to Trump’s appearance at the peace summit in Egypt on Monday alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other Middle Eastern leaders for the ceremonial signing of his Israel-Hamas ceasefire framework, saying the display reflected “people’s fear of Donald Trump.”

Trump’s aggressive personal style, Scarborough suggested, was a posture that has reshaped how foreign leaders deal with Washington and was key to securing the release of Israeli hostages:

There was a very telling moment where Donald Trump said that he actually got along better with some of the strongmen that he was up on stage with than the democratically elected leaders – something that many people have been observing for a decade now. But as you saw the president up there with Erdoğan from Turkey, with the leaders of Qatar, with support from Egypt, support from the Saudis, support from strongmen around the region, it does seem that in a sense Donald Trump is singular in a sense in that most other presidents would not have dealt with those leaders as aggressively as he did, and to my mind, other presidents probably would not be feared as much as Donald Trump.

Quoting the adage that “it’s better to be feared than loved,” Scarborough acknowledged his own discomfort with the dynamic, but suggested it carried a certain effectiveness in the moment.

As I looked at the assemblage up there, I did understand that a lot of that was going on because of people’s fear of Donald Trump. The old saying, you know – better to be feared than loved – not something that I’ve always wanted to see in a leader, but for the purpose of yesterday, where you saw Erdoğan meekly to his left and the Qatari leader meekly to his right, the shoe fit.

For Trump, who has touted his “peace through strength” posture before, the outcome outweighs any reservations.

Later in the hour, Scarborough also noted that in dealing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former President Joe Biden had not commanded the same “fear.”

“Joe Biden was just as angry at Benjamin Netanyahu as Donald Trump has been. And there is no magic wand. Like it wasn’t like he loved him before the Qatari attack and then got they’ve been angry at Netanyahu, American presidents,” he said. “But that really was the key, wasn’t it? That it was Donald Trump that was able to move Netanyahu and Netanyahu believed Donald Trump’s threats.”

Watch above via MSNBC.