MSNBC's Joe Scarborough faced off with Rob Reiner on Thursday's Morning Joe, after the liberal Hollywood producer/writer explained Donald Trump's base of support by underlining that "there are a lot of people who are racist in this country." Scarborough shot back, "Could this not be about working-class Americans being left behind by [the] Republican Party?" Reiner acknowledged that "they're not all racist," but contended that "there's racism in this country that has been submerged for a long, long time....He's unearthed a lot of it." [video below]

Willie Geist asked the question that sparked the confrontation between Reiner and Scarborough: "How do you explain the millions and millions of people who do not watch this show who actually like what they hear from Donald Trump — and aren't taking messages and orders from us in the media — but they listen to what he says for themselves and vote for him." When the guest immediately replied with his charge of racism, Scarborough interrupted, "Oh, my God! Did you just say that?" The host continued interrupting as Reiner tried to explain his answer:

ROB REINER: I'm not saying— JOE SCARBOROUGH: No, you just said that. REINER: Well, that's true. That's true— SCARBOROUGH: So, you think that people that vote for Donald Trump are racists? REINER: I'm not saying — no, let me finish — they're not all racist— SCARBOROUGH: You led with that, though. REINER: No. I said there a lot of people who are. There's racism in this country that has been submerged for a long, long time. And, all of a sudden, there's a man who's speaking— MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So, he has unearthed it? REINER: He's unearthed a lot of it.

When Scarborough pointed out the "working-class Americans being left behind," the former actor countered that "there are those that are following Bernie Sanders that feel the same way." Brzezinski asked Reiner to clarify: "They're racists?" Reiner replied, "No. Do you see any racist people at the Bernie rallies? Do you see any skinheads?" Scarborough retorted, "I can't see into their hearts." That response sparked a second exchange, with the guest playing up that "if...there are people in your rally who are KKK members; members of the Aryan Nation; white supremacists...I don't really want that support....I don't see Donald Trump saying, I don't want that support. He's saying, fine!"

The transcript of the relevant portion of the Rob Reiner interview from the May 5, 2016 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe: