MSNBC's Joe Scarborough is not a foreign policy genius, but he attempts to play one on TV. Less than one week after saying that Trump was turning over Syria to the Russians and the Iranians, the Morning Joe co-host flipped 180 degrees and said that Donald Trump and National Security Advisor John Bolton want to invade Iran.

Morning Joe speculated last Wednesday that the reason behind Trump's rhetoric and policy towards Russia is softer and more conciliatory than the intelligence chiefs, is because Vladimir Putin must have something on him. Now, the reasoning behind Trump's bucking of the intel chiefs is not because he is a foreign asset, but because he and Bolton are setting the stage for war with Iran. Scarborough postulated that, "It really does seem like in the larger context here is that Donald Trump and John Bolton want to invade Iran. They want to start a war with Iran and they’re very angry that his intel chiefs aren’t giving him the excuse."

Former George W. Bush White House Aide and MSNBC political analyst Elise Jordan at least attempted to provide some more sophisticated analysis and substantive criticism by citing how relations with Iraq would be affected if certain Iraqi factions believe that bases currently used by American forces against ISIS were to be used against Iran. She did say that beating the war drums with Iran and echoing "Bolton's MO" is something Trump feels he can go back to when he is under "any other kind of pressure."

Foreign affairs can be a complicated business, but Morning Joe has a simple formula: anything that Trump does that is more dovish than what Morning Joe believes is proof he's a foreign asset, while anything more hawkish is proof he's a jingoistic warmonger.

Here is a transcript for the February 4 show: