MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, a longtime sufferer of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), mixed it up on Friday with Sen. Ted Cruz.
It did not go well for Joe.
The imbroglio started after Scarborough, host of “Morning Joe,” shared a video created by late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. The clip showed Vice President Mike Pence carrying “empty” boxes of personal protective equipment (PPE) into a hospital — supposedly for just a photo-op. But the clip was edited, and the full footage from C-SPAN showed Pence helping out with full boxes of PPE and later jokingly asking his staff that other boxes, which were empty, could be used “just for the camera.”
Scarborough shared the Kimmel video, which Twitter eventually labeled as “manipulated media” (not, of course, until it had been widely disseminated).
Mike Pence caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt. pic.twitter.com/IduvGhiPwj
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 8, 2020
“Mike Pence pretending to carry empty boxes of PPEs into a hospital is the perfect metaphor for who he is and what he’s doing. A big box of nothin’ delivering another box of nothin’,” Kimmel said.
The video has more than six million views.
But Pence was just making a joke, which anyone who watched the full video could see.
“Here’s an unedited version of @VP Pence delivering PPE to Woodbine Rehab Center. The clip from @JimmyKimmel and sent viral by @mattmfm & others is quite deceptive. Pence is clearly joking when he talks about empty boxes for the camera, & shuts the van doors right after the quip,” Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy wrote.
Here's an unedited version of @VP Pence delivering PPE to Woodbine Rehab Center. The clip from @JimmyKimmel and sent viral by @mattmfm & others is quite deceptive. Pence is clearly joking when he talks about empty boxes for the camera, & shuts the van doors right after the quip. pic.twitter.com/HyV8iBiljS
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) May 8, 2020
Scarborough eventually pulled down his tweet, saying, “I guess Twitter is a full time job. I apologize to Mike Pence for retweeting a tweet that had been disproved. I’m deleting now.”
I guess Twitter is a full time job. I apologize to Mike Pence for retweeting a tweet that had been disproved. I’m deleting now.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 8, 2020
Enter Cruz.
“Hmm. When you’re on the defensive for being dishonest & corrupt, perhaps best not to forward fraudulent stories from Jimmy Kimmel (that he’s admitted were false)? You are claiming to be a journalist, after all….” Cruz tweeted at Scarborough.
Scarborough, a “journalist,” then attacked Cruz.
“Ted, when I make a mistake I admit it. You remain mired in shame because you kowtow to a man who called your wife ugly and said your daddy assassinated JFK. Me messing up a tweet or two will never erase the shame you carry every day of your life,” he wrote.
Then Cruz lowered the boom.
“Joe, you chased after Trump for 2 years like a teenage girl throwing her panties at the latest boy band; now you pretend to be this indignant paragon of virtue outraged at everything he says & does. All to get invited to DC cocktail parties & thrill the 13 people watching MSNBC,” Cruz tweeted.
Joe, you chased after Trump for 2 years like a teenage girl throwing her panties at the latest boy band; now you pretend to be this indignant paragon of virtue outraged at everything he says & does. All to get invited to DC cocktail parties & thrill the 13 people watching MSNBC. https://t.co/XG9P0Bwrbp
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 8, 2020
Ouch.
The thin-skinned Kimmel also whined after he pulled own his own post. “It would appear that @vp was joking about carrying empty boxes for a staged publicity stunt. The full video reveals that he was carrying full boxes for a staged publicity stunt. My apologies. I know how dearly this administration values truth,” Kimmel wrote.
Spoken like a true TDS sufferer.
