‘Republicans Hate Cops!’ Joe Scarborough Goes OFF on Trump and GOP ‘Enablers’ Over Jan 6th Denial

Joe Scarborough delivered the sort of well-reasoned and passionate harangue that viewers tune into Morning Joe for, especially like this one that targeted former President Donald Trump and his GOP enablers who have ostensibly turned into January 6th denialists for craven political reasons.

The segment opened with Mika Brzezinksi sharing a New York Times op-ed from Sunday written by current Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell entitled “I was betrayed by Donald Trump.” Pegged to the stunning testimony of former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson, Gonell explains how disappointed he is with the former president, writing:

I don’t know what part of Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony enraged me most: that Mr. Trump wanted to be driven to the Capitol to lead the vicious riot, that he’d spurred his supporters on knowing they were armed, or that he ignored some of his advisers and even his daughter who told him to call it off, allegedly fighting with his own Secret Service agent after he refused to let the president be driven there.

Or maybe it was the fact that Mr. Trump eventually told the rioters who’d criminally assaulted my colleagues and me while trying to bring down the U.S. government: “Go home. We love you. You are very special.”

“It has to be so galling after these people were running around, these Republicans were running around for a year saying, ‘Blue lives matter, and we love cops. Democrats want to de-fund the police and don’t love cops,'” Scarborough reacted.  “Despite every democratic leader said de-funding the cops was a stupid thing. Republicans, when push comes to shove, really don’t give a damn about cops. Blue lives matter? No, not if they’re getting the hell beaten out of them and sprayed with bear spray.”

“These Republicans see — Donald Trump and the trump Republican party see police officers getting the hell beaten out of them,” he continued, “Donald Trump says, the crowd that was beating the hell out of these police officers, beating them to a pulp, beating them to within an inch of their lives, beating them so badly and putting them through things that some committed suicides, and most police officers that were there blame these riots for the death of several officers, what do they do? Donald Trump calls them patriots, says they’re very smart.”

“Why do Republicans hate police officers?” Scarborough ultimately asked. “Why won’t Republicans stand up for police officers and stand up for cops when they’re getting the hell beaten out of them? In Congress, they love yapping about how they support the blue when they go on the house floor, but when police officers are getting eviscerated, getting brutalized, when they’re getting beaten to death, suddenly, they love the rioters. They love the thugs. They love the people that are beating them up and beating them to death.”

Gonnell explained in his piece that he is no longer able to serve on duty as a result of injuries he sustained on January 6th, writing:

The physical and emotional damage I sustained on Jan. 6 not only cut short my career, it has upended my life. Five of my colleagues in law enforcement died and more than 850 rioters were arrested. So many families have been ruined because of one man’s lust for power.

Even more galling are the Republicans who still refuse to provide testimony under oath and instead dangerously downplay how close we came to losing our democracy. I applaud the courage of the witnesses who’ve come forward to tell the truth. I know from personal experience — I have given testimony several times about that day to Congress, to the F.B.I. and in court — how distressing it can be. I just wish we all had been able to testify sooner, right after Jan. 6, when we might have had more impact.

The enabling of Mr. Trump needs to stop now. He should not only be banned from running for any other government office, he should never be allowed near the White House again. I believe he betrayed his oath to defend the Constitution, and it was to the detriment of me, my colleagues and all Americans, whom he was supposed to protect.

This is why Scarborough, and so many patriotic Americans, are so angry with the former president and apparent Republican hypocrisy over “backing the blue.”

Watch above via MSNBC.

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