On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” co-host Joe Scarborough argued that if Republicans “think that Donald Trump is joking,” with his comments on China’s Xi Jinping making himself president for life and the US possibly trying such a system, “then they’re fools. And I don’t think they’re fools. I think they know exactly what he’s saying.”

Scarborough said, “Gene, there are many people who say, ‘Oh, the president was just joking.’ I could give you a list of a thousand things where they claim the president was joking afterwards. And if there was laughter, there was laughter, people made uncomfortable. But there are statements in the past that Donald Trump has made, where he has praised Xi for consolidating power. China has become more and more autocratic over the past six months to a year. He’s been — he’s made conscious moves to become more and more autocratic. You have Donald Trump praising Erdogan, when he consolidates power, Duterte, when he goes out…when Republicans, Gene, are just saying, ‘It’s just a joke.’ Or when Republicans ignore the fact that this man is talking about being president for life, if they think that Donald Trump is joking, then they’re fools. And I don’t think they’re fools. I think they know exactly what he’s saying. But again, the first part of that is the most disturbing.”

(h/t Grabien)

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