Joe Scarborough Predicts Trump Will Lose 2024 – Because He’s Making Same Mistake as Kari Lake
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough joined others in seeing only bad news in Donald Trump’s big win in the South Carolina GOP primary, spelling out a scenario where the former president can’t win in November’s general election because he’s too closely mirroring ally Kari Lake.
On Monday’s Morning Joe, Scarborough informed his colleague Vaughn Hillyard that watching the bitter back and forth between Trump and Nikki Haley — who was projected to lose her home state where she served as governor in a matter of seconds by most experts — reminded him of the reporter, eliciting slight shock and laughter from Hillyard and the crew.
“I don’t think that’s a good thing if when you think of Donald Trump, you think of me, Joe,” Hillyard said.
“It’s a great thing! Well, let me restate things. Donald Trump and Kari Lake combined made me think of you. How’s that?” Scaborough said.
“Oh, that’s better, much better,” a laughing Hillyard responded.
Scarborough theorized that Trump will hit a wall similar to one Lake hit in her 2022 bid to become governor of Arizona. Lake has since claimed voter fraud, but lost legal battles pushing the unfounded claims.
According to Scarborough, Trump’s attacks on Haley and her approximately 40% showing in South Carolina likely spell doom for Trump in November as Haley voters could be just enough to keep him from the White House. Scarborough compared the situation to Lake declaring during her campaign that John McCain and Republicans like him were not “welcome.” She also referred to the late Arizona senator as a “loser.” Her close ally Trump famously feuded with McCain before his death in 2018.
Scarborough said:
Nikki Haley is warning everybody that Donald Trump’s going to lose in the fall in part because he’s saying, hey, anybody that supports Nikki Haley, we don’t want here. Anybody that supports — and you what, I have found that if you insult voters and tell them you don’t want their vote, you don’t get it. And the reason you know where I’m going here, it cost Kari Lake the governorship of Arizona when she said, I don’t want John McCain supporters. McCain Republicans are not welcome in the party. We don’t want your vote, so she didn’t get it and she lost. Now history seems to be repeating itself.
Hillyard, who reminded Scarborough of Lake and Trump because of his reporting on the Arizona race, said he saw “echoes” of Lake’s campaign in Trump’s current run. He called the 2022 elections an “experiment” to see how far rhetoric could be pushed in 2024, though he’s not sure that’s a plan for success.
“Frankly, I thought Kari Lake was going to win,” he said.
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell similarly dismissed Trump’s quick South Carolina win, theorizing Haley’s support is still too high to be comfortable for November’s general election since a good portion refraining from voting Republican could benefit President Joe Biden.
Trump has long built his political brand on his willingness to attack political enemies even in his own party, but Scarborough and Hillyard suggested the Haley attacks could spell out Kari Lake 2.0. Trump previously said in January that any donors giving to Haley’s campaign beyond that point would be “barred” from his “MAGA camp.”
Lake has attempted recently to walk back her past comments on John McCain as she gears up for a Senate run. She recently told Republicans to grow a “thicker” skin and insisted McCain would have laughed at her jokes. McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, responded by declaring “NO PEACE BITCH” multiple times to Lake’s outreach attempts.
Watch above via MSNBC.
