MSNBC Needs to Furlough Joe Scarborough

I generally avoid speculating about a person’s health unless there are overtly obvious indications of a potential problem – and they are relevant to the situation.  With that disclaimer, I am inclined to think that there is something wrong with Joe Scarborough.  I do not mean his political views. I mean his mental health.  I’m not sure if it is drugs, booze or some anger management problem, but the man does not appear well assembled.  You can see it – from time to time — in the facial expressions of his co-hosts Willie Geist and Scarborough’s wife Mika Brzezinski.

Scarborough’s maniacal yelling-into-the-camera rages have popped up from time to time. 

I noted that in an earlier column — in which I wondered if the Scarborough/Brzezinski marriage could be in trouble.  He routinely cut her off and talks over her.  After failing to push back against her hubby’s rant, she usually crosses her arms, grimaces and pouts.

One cannot know their private relationship, but the hardline feminist that Brzezinski likes to portray herself comes across in those moments as more of an abused wife.  She appears to cower in silent resentment at Scarborough’s chauvinist contempt for her role in the show.  He is downright and repeatedly rude – and in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers.

But … that has been going on for months. 

What happened on Wednesday, January 27^th was a new level of uncontrolled rage. 

Not only does he yell into the camera, but he resorts to what can only be described as the worst of a drunken barroom rage.  With hate-mongering language, Joe Scarborough demonizes individual Republican leaders with outrageous insults.  He accuses them of murder.  He wants them put out of public office –ostracized from society.  And he mocks them with sophomoric insults.  By inference and inuendo, he smears all Republicans as terrorists.

He attacked Senator Lindsey Graham with a phony and demeaning mock southern accent.  I mean, really?  He called for news programs to ban the appearance of conservative voices – calling them all liars.  He proudly proclaimed that they are not welcome on his show. This is a fact that any viewer would know to have been the case for years.  And he threatened conservatives with “WE ARE COMING AFTER YOU.”

In a complete exit from reality, he bellows that HE is a conservative – and that the millions of people who actually embrace conservatism are phonies.  He calls them “snowflakes” and “wimps.” He claims that his conservative ideology has never changed from the time he was considered a conservative Florida congressman to the day of his personal rage against conservatives.  It is a delusional lie.

This rant – this monologue — goes on and on for most of a 15-minute segment. 

There are occasional images of Brzezinski and Geist with that “what do we do now” look on their faces.  At one point, Brzezinski shook her head side-to-side in a classic expression of wonderment bordering on disgust.  (The picture atop this commentary is an actual screenshot I took of the event.  Brzezinski and Geist do not look like happy campers.)

At one point, the MSNBC control room switched to a full-screen stock image of the Capitol Hill riot.  At that point, Scarborough totally lost it.  He screamed out assumedly to the technicians in the control room, “TAKE THAT PICTURE DOWN.  DO NOT PUT UP A PICTURE WHEN I AM TALKING!!”

I am loath to make this comparison, but Scarborough’s hate-filled, screaming rant reminded me of Adolph Hitler riling up his audiences with anti-Semitic rage. 

I mean that in both manner and hateful content.  Scarborough was not discussing the issues.  He was revving up hatred against those he considers the enemies of the state – or at least his state-of-mind.

Joe Scarborough may be protected from any consequences from viewers or MSNBC management because his over-the-top and offensive performance was an attack on conservatives.  You can rest assured if any personality with a reputable and honest news service had rained down such hate on millions of American people, the person would be put on leave for an anger management evaluation – maybe booted off the air permanently.  But in these times, hate speech against conservatives is permissible.

The other question is how long Brzezinski will allow her chauvinistic husband and work partner to embarrassingly shred her feminist creds by public humiliation.

If this goes without some consequences delivered by MSNBC management, it will drive their well-established left-wing bias to a new low in journalistic depravity.  Shame on them.

So, there ‘tis.