MSNBC's Scarborough Praises Trump's Speech: “That's Called The Pivot”

Willie Geist: “We're Grading Trump On A Curve”

From the June 23 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

Video file

MIKE BARNICLE: But Nicolle [Wallace] sort of edged up to what was going on yesterday in that we have to cover -- it's sort of like [Donald] Trump today. That's the coverage. What does he do today? Does he revert back today to who he really is? He got a 24-hour reprieve. But Donny [Deutsch's] right in the sense too. If you look at the text of that speech, what was it about? It was a torrent of insults towards Hillary Clinton, very little substance. The substance that he did reference Joe causes him potentially a great division with his own political party because he was talking about rebuilding America. He's really talking about a huge jobs program. He's talking about the things the America that he remembers all referenced and built by government: roads, dams, canals, all government stuff, so he's talking about potentially spending an enormous amount of government money. 

JOE SCARBOROUGH (CO-HOST): So guess what, Mike, that's called the pivot. He was talking to Bernie [Sanders] supporters, saying, “You've been let down. These trade deals have let us down. I'm going to bring about a new industrial age. I'm going to bring jobs back to America. And yes, I will use the power of government to do that.” There are a hell of a lot of Bernie supporters, there are a hell of a lot of people from Wisconsin, all the way through Michigan, through Ohio, through Pennsylvania, who say that's a message. You look at a Pew poll we're going to be talking about in a little bit, Willie Geist, and Americans are more divided now than ever before. Those people, those Republicans, they're going to vote for Trump if he shows them that he's sane. He can afford to move to the center and talk about rebuilding roads, rebuilding infrastructure, rebuilding America, bringing jobs back to America and actually start stealing Democratic votes. That's at least a theory of the case and it's been working now for him for about 12 hours. It's a long way to go. Nobody is overselling this. We're simply stating what happened yesterday, which is our job. 

WILLIE GEIST (CO-HOST): And that's why I said at the top it's a sliding scale. We're grading Trump on a curve. We'll see if he can maintain this. He had some discipline yesterday. We'll see if he can maintain it for the next 12 hours.

Previously:

MSNBC Guest Asks Media, “How Stupid Can We Possibly Be To Keep Getting Fooled By” Trump's Pivots?

CNN’s David Gregory: Trump “Getting All This Credit For … Campaign 101” Shows “How Far He's Fallen”

MSNBC's Katy Tur Fact Checks Trump's Dubious Claims In His Anti-Clinton Speech