Joe Scarborough announces the obvious: The Republicans have already lost on the wall and the shutdown:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: We've seen grid looks over previous presidents. Reaching agreement sometimes took a while. The two parties would jockey for political advantage. But this is what some might call a bizarro world shutdown hatched by bizarro world administration that is already -- think about this -- already rejected a deal that was arrived at by Republicans and Democrats alike. And while he was rejecting that deal -- rejecting that deal, he was bragging to political adversaries and bragging to the world that he, Donald Trump, would take all the credit for the shutdown. We have a president who has an acting Chief of Staff. An acting Defense Secretary, an acting Attorney General. And we have a president who is acting like he holds the upper hand in these talks when he doesn't. Seven of ten Americans, think about this, 70% of Americans oppose his wall shutdown strategy. So when it comes to pure numbers, when it comes to pure data, the Trump shutdown is a political bust. And the Republicans know that. The Democrats have a proposal on the table that would get the government open today. And get immigration judges back in their courts. And get immigration services like E-verify that ensure there are legal people who are getting hired by businesses, would get those E-verify services back online today and make our country safer. Safer for legal immigrants, safer for Americans. This is, again, a plan that Republicans in the Senate have supported. But you got a president, Mika, who wants his phony wall on the Mexican border so badly that he has frozen the possibility of any meaningful negotiations taking place.
While the government stays shut down. And this is the stem. And the president and he's lied. He's lied about Barack Obama. And he needs to say Mexico and that, too, is a lie. So if you're a Democrat and Nancy Pelosi and trying to negotiate with a man who is dealing in what Kellyanne Conway calls alternative facts, as a lawyer, I can tell you, a guy that mediated cases before, I can tell you there will be moment this is year and next when congressional Democrats are going to have to fight over political and ideological divisions within their own caucus. But this is not one of them. They give an inch. And they're a political punch line. And they're conservative. And they are a punch line. Maybe that's why conservatives are baffled. We said yesterday that Donald Trump is going to have to fold on this shutdown. He's going to have to fold on the shutdown. And on his cherished fictional wall. But apparently, our president hasn't figured out this yet. So our new Congress is going to have to start with gridlock personified. And it's apparently going to stay that way until someone can convince this president that he has already lost. But trust me, Republican senators, you're the ones who are sure to be hurt the most.
He's not "our" president, Joe. He's your party's president. And speaking of not giving an inch, Joe, we'll never forget all those times you let Trump phone in an interview to your show. You were the number one legitimizer of his campaign. Congratulations.
