The “Morning Joe” crew dedicated part of their Monday broadcast to tearing apart President Trump over his new executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, calling the president and others in his administration “clowns.”
On Friday, Trump signed an executive order mandating that content warning signs be placed outside of Smithsonian exhibits in Washington, D.C. that do not, according to the Trump administration, accurately reflect the reality of American history. In response, “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough slammed Trump and the “fake Christian nationalists” within the MAGA movement who do not understand the importance of acknowledging both the good and the bad that institutions, people and even countries like America have accomplished.
“You don’t get the full story of the Gospels by erasing the bad sides of things,” Scarborough noted. “That’s what these clowns in the administration don’t understand. That, by taking away those low points, they’re actually making our achievements seem even less extraordinary.”
“Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire echoed Scarborough’s sentiments, torching Trump’s targeting of the Smithsonian.
“This move at the Smithsonian is, indeed, Orwellian. It is absurd. It is dangerous, and it’s also, in some ways, not surprising for this president to try to have his hands in everything right now,” Lemire said. “We have seen him try to remake Washington in its physical space with the monuments and the buildings. Now, this is part of his effort to rewrite the American story in the way he sees fit.”
MS NOW White House correspondent Vaughn Hillyard pointed to Trump’s Smithsonian executive order and his recent remarks at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association redo dinner as proof that the president “fails to see the different forms that patriotism comes in.”
“He doesn’t understand the role of journalists, that journalism in its form in the United States is a form of patriotism. It’s a group of people that are trying to hold power accountable,” Hillyard argued. “You’re talking about resistance and dissent, whether it be from the opposition party or from members of your own party. That is a form of patriotism.”
“It is challenging the authority that exists, the current levers of power, whether it be in Washington or at the state or at a local level,” Hillyard continued. “Instead, the president tries to quash that form of patriotism.”
Reflecting on the scope of the president’s latest actions and comments, Hillyard concluded, “Patriotism is in a very tough place right now because the President of the United States is telling the masses and telling young people in America that dissent and that journalism is not a form of patriotism.”
You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment yourself in the video above.