MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough evoked “the spirit of Chris Matthews” during an interview early Thursday that included multiple interruptions, with the “Morning Joe” host stating that the former “Hardball” host is loved and missed by the morning show.
“By the way, this is the spirit of Chris Matthews now. I’m interrupting you every three seconds now,” Scarborough said to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) during an interview on the state of the 2020 Democratic presidential race that also touched on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) praise for literary programs under Fidel Castro in Cuba.
“People need more Chris. We love Chris and miss Chris,” the host continued. “But that is the argument. Literacy programs in Cuba? That’s the Mussolini argument: He made the trains run on time. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
De Blasio, a former 2020 presidential candidate who now supports Sanders’s White House bid, argued that the focus of the campaign should be on issues with the most impact on voters’ lives.
“The Cold War’s long since over,” the mayor said.
“But we won and we’re glad about it. Is Bernie glad we won the Cold War? I kid. I kid because I love,” Scarborough replied.
“What Bernie needs to do, and I’ll do it as a supporter of Bernie, get back to the basics. We don’t want to talk about things from decades ago not even pertinent to the American discussion anymore,” de Blasio argued.
Scarborough and co-host and wife Mika Brzezinski have openly expressed their affection for Matthews since his abrupt resignation on Monday night amid sexual harassment allegations.
“Chris’s passion and joy was infectious as we’ve all said and it was backed up by a political gut that was unmatched in our world and you can’t imitate that. You can’t replace that,” Brzezinski said Tuesday. “You can’t replace that and he shared that with us every night. As a woman I want to say this: I loved working with Chris Matthews. I really enjoyed being his colleague.”
“No matter how valid the complaints were about Chris, there’s a sense of easy outrage in this country that is fed largely by Twitter sometimes, and the outrage quickly becomes toxic, and that toxic outrage has the opportunity, the chance and often results in something that we saw last night — Chris’s resignation,” Scarborough said Tuesday.