Gov. Rick Scott kicked off 'Morning Joe'

Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” lasted all of two questions — neither of which were answered during a less-than-four-minute segment before he was booted off the show.

Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski spent nearly as much time talking about the governor — with Brzezinski blasting him over his refusal to answer questions during the interview and questioning whether he should be leading a state — after his segment than they spent talking to him during it.


“That was weak sniveling political wavering,” Brzezinski told Scarborough, characterizing Scott’s responses. “I doubt his endorsement would have any impact anyway. Sorry.”

At the outset of the interview, Scott declined to endorse a Republican presidential candidate.

“Why wouldn’t you endorse the sitting senator from the state of Florida? That seems like a pretty easy endorsement, to me,” Scarborough asked. “I’m confused.”

“Marco’s done a very good job,” Scott said. “We got elected together back in 2010. He’s done a very good job as our senator. Donald Trump is a friend. I’ve met Ted Cruz. I know John Kasich.”

Scott insisted he will stay out and trust the voters, so Scarborough pivoted to Trump’s recent statement that Islam hates America. “Do you think Muslims in the state of Florida hate America?” he asked.

“Well, as you know, in Florida we’re the best melting pot in the world. We love everybody coming to our state,” Scott said, before turning to his opposition to accepting Syrian refugees who aren’t fully vetted.

“That could be a reasonable policy position if you want to debate that, and we can debate that issue. I’m just asking, generally, do you think that Muslims hate Americans, that Islam hates America as Donald Trump said last night,” Scarborough pressed.

“I can tell you what’s going on in Florida,” Scott began, before Scarborough interrupted and asked again for him to answer the question.

“Do you personally think that Islam is a religion that hates America?” Scarborough asked.

Scott’s response was that Florida has a lot of Muslims and Latin Americans who all get along. “We’re a great melting point. That’s what I can tell you about our state,” Scott said. “Donald Trump, he can talk about the things he wants to talk about. Marco Rubio can, Ted Cruz, John Kasich...”

Co-host Mika Brzezinski wasn’t satisfied. “That’s not answering any questions. Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, I know you and Joe are friends and this is kind of awkward, but can you answer the question or should we scoot?” she asked.

Scott dodged again, so MSNBC scooted. “Gov. Rick Scott, thanks for being on. We will move on now. Thanks,” Brzezinski said, cutting to break.

She apologized to Scarborough for kicking Scott off the show but maintained “that’s just not what we do on our show. It’s like asking him what 1 plus 1 is.”

Scarborough praised Muslims in America and called it a “very easy question” to answer but noted the co-hosts had the same problem with Trump in December. Scarborough stressed that people shouldn’t conflate extremists with Muslims and slammed Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country.

Brzezinski, meanwhile, intimated Scott shouldn’t be governing a state. “I would suggest if you’re the governor of a state you should be able to answer that question and you should be able to say those things, and if you can’t you really shouldn’t be a governor — especially Florida,” Brzezinski said. “I think I better move to break.”

“He could not answer the question as to whether or not it’s OK to say that Islam hates America,” she added. “He couldn’t do it. He was pathetic. He chose not to answer it. He chose to be weak. And so we had him leave the show, because we’re not doing that.”

“What’s next, Mika?” Scarborough asked.

“Tom Coburn,” she said. “So he’ll be good.”