Joe Scarborough Lit Up For Calling World Series Crowd ‘Un-American’ For Chanting ‘Lock Him Up’ At Donald Trump
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has ignited a firestorm of controversy after railing against the World Series crowd that booed an appearance by Donald Trump, saying it was “un-American” for the baseball fans to chant “Lock him up!” at the president.
Scarborough was responding to one of the most viral moments from Sunday’s Game 5 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros. As Trump was shown on the video screen at the Washington, D.C. stadium, the crowd erupted into loud “boos” and some fans started mocking chants of “Lock him up!” that copied the now-infamous “Lock her up!” chants that Trump has led against Hillary Clinton. The videos went viral, with many of the president’s critics reveling in the discomfort Trump appeared to be in as the boos grew louder.
Joe Scarborough did not agree with it, and the internet very strongly disagreed with him right back. As The Hill noted, Scarborough’s admonishment of the D.C. baseball fans did not land well on social media, where many people said it was a legitimate protest against a president who has been accused of actual crimes. Many pointed out that Scarborough’s Morning Joe gave an inordinate amount of coverage to Donald Trump during Republican primaries in 2015 and 2016, which amounted to hours of free coverage for Trump’s campaign.
Others noted that Scarborough didn’t seem to have such a reaction when Trump has led identical chants against Hillary Clinton, saying that turnabout from the baseball fans was fair play. Trump has continued to make insinuations of illegal acts aimed at Clinton, now close to three years after he defeated her in the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s Department of Justice is launching a criminal investigation into the origin of the Russia investigation that critics say is an improper action against the president’s perceived political enemies.
As the report noted, the phrase “sorry Joe” shot to the top of Twitter trends on Monday morning as many defended the crowd at Nationals Stadium.
“Sorry, Joe Scarborough and Mika, you’re wrong,” tweeted the political blog Palmer Report. “They’re not chanting ‘Lock him up’ at Trump because they think he’s a bad president. They’re chanting it because he’s an actual criminal. There’s literally a grand jury in the process of indicting him in New York. Lock him up indeed.”
Sorry Joe, but it felt great, because we have the right to criticize the President. And he earned every bit of it! https://t.co/ty1GFbjl6s
— Mike Grasse??????? (@1848badger) October 28, 2019
Fans in Washington actually carried out a series of protests against Donald Trump during the game. Aside from the boos that reportedly reached close to 100 decibels, a group called Veterans for Impeachment also held a banner behind home plate, The Hill reported.
