Joe Scarborough is shocked and more than a little pissed at the Wall St. Journal's editorial page this morning.
"I'm not surprised by much, and certainly not shocked by much," he said.
"The level of cynicism, though, coming this morning from the Wall Street Journal editorial page, in light of comments that Donald Trump has been making really is shocking.
"The Journal's editorial the day after Donald Trump said that Democrats allied against him are, quote, the enemy from within, on a day after Donald Trump said that January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, was, quote, a beautiful thing, after he said Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were, quote, bad people who threatened democracy and were the enemy within, and then he was asked, 'Will you say you won't persecute or prosecute political opponents?', Trump said, 'Excuse me, that's what they're doing to me.'
"Separate Fox interview, Trump said his foes, quote, could very easily be handled by the National guard. If really necessary, by the military. He repeated the line about the enemy within days later during a Fox News town hall event. You call Americans who don't support you, quote, the enemy within. and so this morning, I woke up expecting -- because there are times the Wall Street Journal editorial page checks Mr. Trump at his worst instincts. Instead, they talk about the Democrat's fascism meme, and say, basically, Democrats are the real National Socialists. What they've done is far worse than anything Donald Trump has done. Joe Biden's loan forgiveness -- stop me if you've heard this before -- was more law breaking than anything Donald Trump has ever done.
"This entire editorial, they fail to mention one time January the 6th. instead, saying the worst thing Donald Trump has ever done was when he tried to use money to build a wall that wasn't approved by Congress. I really, again, very rarely am I left without adequate words to explain what's going on here, but I was shocked enough yesterday that Donald Trump continued calling Democrats, quote, the enemy within. Which, of course, is a precursor to him getting elected, calling them enemy combatants, and being able to lock them up and have military tribunals.
"They will dismiss this perhaps, but they've never heard language like this before. Republicans have been saying, oh, no, he doesn't mean that. He's talking about illegal immigrants. Donald Trump keeps saying, no, I'm not talking about illegal immigrants. I'm talking about Democrats being, quote, the enemy within. Let me say that again. and tell me if you've heard this before by major party candidate. Calling his political opponents, quote, the enemy within. Worse than Putin. Worse than Xi. He says, oh, they're not our enemies. Worse than Kim Jong-un.
"Political rivals, the enemy within. and they're calling this a meme which, I don't know, Jon, I don't know where that puts us. I really don't know where this puts us as a country because I've never heard any politician call his opponent the enemy within and say they're going -- he's going after them.
"We haven't been to this particular place in America before. I don't often say that. It worries me to say that. If we don't have the recognition, and if we don't have the moral and imaginative ability and capacity, it sounds grand, to recognize what is in front of our eyes and what we can hear with our ears, then the central thesis, the central thesis of the American republic, if you want to go back to George Washington's farewell address, was that this republic cannot exist without the moral and religious principle of a people," Meacham said.
