MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough told Democrats seeking the 2020 nomination they should expect to run against U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the general election instead of President Donald Trump.

“If I were actually war gaming this, I would tell everybody thinking about running, plan your campaign against Donald Trump, but expect to be running against Nikki Haley,” Scarborough said Wednesday on “Morning Joe.”

“You’ve got to think that way,” he added. (RELATED: Joe Scarborough Says He’s Thankful For Hillary Clinton This Thanksgiving)

WATCH:

“That’s so interesting,” co-host Mika Brzezinski replied. “I like it.”

Co-host Willie Geist jumped in to defend Scarborough’s theory and then pivoted to the subject of another Democratic coronation.

“As Joe points out, the early smart money is almost always not smart,” Geist said. “So we’ve got a lot of ways to go here. But don’t you think Democrats are at least learning the right lesson from 2016, which is that a coronation of some kind is not the way to go as everybody put — you know, [Vermont Independent Sen.] Bernie Sanders was reviled in Democratic circles, a lot of them, for having the gall to run against Hillary Clinton.”

“Now you have a real process. It might be ugly. It might be chaotic at times, but you find the best candidate to run against Donald Trump or whomever,” Geist added.

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