Scarborough Gives DeSantis Backhanded Praise: If He Hadn’t ‘Dumbed Himself Down’ For MAGA, He’d Be Ahead

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough offered some backhanded praise for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) on Friday, noting that he was impressed with him after a recent interview.

After playing a clip of Nikki Haley calling DeSantis “invisible” and arguing the GOP primary was now a two-person race, Scarborough reacted:

Ron DeSantis isn’t invisible. Ron DeSantis is actually, he’s showing up on television now, unlike Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, it’s interesting. Let’s bring in Jonathan Martin because I think he’s in New Hampshire. He’s out there every day. And when you that cold you really stone cold sober.

After a lengthy back-and-forth joking about what kind of alcohol Martin should be drinking to keep warm early in the morning, Scarborough got back to DeSantis.

“So, Jay Mar. I think this is. I think it’s fascinating what’s happened. Ron DeSantis hated the media, attacked the media, the corporate media, this corporate media that yes, he came on our show a couple of times. And I’ll be honest with you, he dumbed himself down so much to fit in that like sort of the Trump bubble,” Scarborough continued, adding:

And he ran after all of those hot-button conservative issues. Not conservative, just MAGA issues, so much that when he came on and talked, it’s really to be honest with you, I was surprised.

I was like this guy, if he had run a mainstream Republican race.  You know, he would, he’d still be ahead. But anyway, DeSantis was asked by Hugh Hewitt yesterday the mistake, you know, about this. He said, “I shouldn’t have run away from the media. I should have put myself out there.” Like, he didn’t say, like Donald Trump. But that’s what Trump did in ‘16. And it’s something it’s worth noting that Nikki Haley just will not do. She is uncomfortable. Yeah. Why why uncomfortable? Why she’s so uncomfortable doing that?

“I think Joe I think that there are questions about trust. I think there’s also some self-doubt, especially after, what happened over the holidays when she was asked about the Civil War,” replied Martin, a senior political reporter for Politico.

“And I just think that she is historically like a lot of Republicans, they just prefer a more scripted environment. She’s more of a cautious political actor. She’s not going to do the John McCain, riding around the bus in New Hampshire. That’s just not who she is. She’s not comfortable with that,” Martin continued, concluding:

And I think that, Joe, those comments yesterday by DeSantis were so revelatory, and it was almost like his first therapy session, after life as a candidate, even though he’s technically still in the race. And I think it’s a great lesson for every future candidate for president. I don’t care which party you’re in. You’ve got to do the press the year before the primary. You gotta put yourself out there. You’ve got to take risks. You can’t be in a bubble because press coverage shapes the primary.”

Watch the clip above.