Scarborough: How long can Paul Ryan keep ‘playing dumb’?

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Monday ripped GOP Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.) for “playing dumb” by refusing to comment on President Trump’s recent actions, particularly a new campaign ad calling Democrats “complicit” in murders committed by immigrants residing in the U.S. unlawfully.

The “Morning Joe” co-host said the Wisconsin lawmaker is “playing dumb,” and “should know better” because he has been the target of attack ads in the past.

{mosads}“Paul Ryan should know better, but he doesn’t,” Scarborough said. “Democrats have done ads with Paul Ryan pushing grandmothers over chairs because [he] was trying to be fiscally responsible and just talk about entitlement reform.”

In a Sunday interview on “Face the Nation,” Ryan said he didn’t think the Trump campaign ad was “necessarily productive,” but said that he wouldn’t comment on it.

“I’m not going to comment; I just saw that,” Ryan said of the ad. “I don’t know if that’s necessarily productive. It’s no secret the president has strong views on immigration.”

Scarborough on Monday said that Ryan “can’t keep saying, ‘I don’t want to talk about that’” when confronted about Trump’s tweets or actions that are being criticized as racist, misogynistic or bigoted.

“You have got Donald Trump’s campaign saying that Democrats are going to be responsible for murders, and he’s saying, ‘I don’t want to talk about that?’” Scarborough said. “How long can he play dumb?”

“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski agreed with Scarborough, her fiancé, adding that the nation is being “desensitized between what is right and what is wrong” by tolerating Trump’s “tweets and stupidities and bumbling moments.”

“I don’t know how much longer the country can take people like Paul Ryan playing dumb, putting their hands to their ears and pretending they don’t see what they see and hear what they hear,” she said. “This will have long-lasting impacts on every level.”