MSNBC star Joe Scarborough admitted that he was “surprised” by Donald Trump’s sudden abortion rights announcement this week, RadarOnline.com can report.
Scarborough’s comments on Monday morning’s episode of Morning Joecame shortly after ex-President Trump issued a nearly five-minute-long video regarding his stance on abortion rights and his abortion rights policies should he beat President Joe Biden in November.
Trump used his announcement to tout his role in the June 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wadeby the United States Supreme Court, and he also claimed that he would let the states decide their abortion laws if he successfully retakes the White House later this year.
During the latest episode of Morning Joe, Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski condemned Trump’s announcement.
“What he just said, I’m really surprised,” Scarborough reacted. “I thought he’d try to weasel out a bit more than he did. What he just said was he supports Florida’s six-week ban.”
“Ban before women know whether they’re pregnant or not,” he continued. “There are crazy, extreme laws that have been passed that Donald Trump just said he supports and he salutes and said: I’m responsible for that.”
Meanwhile, Brzezinski slammed Trump further and advised President Biden and the Democrats to use Trump’s abortion comments to “drive that message home.”
"He’s proud of it,” Brzezinski scoffed. “Democrats should drive that message home because for women, this is a matter of life and death and the men who love them.”
“I mean, these laws, depending on how they differ in different states, just muddle the medical journey that is already a nightmare for women when they’re on it,” she continued. “You can thank Donald Trump for that.”
“Democrats need to make sure that they understand that they got to get the message out across the country,” the Morning Joe co-host concluded, “especially to Republican women.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Trump took to Truth Social on Monday morning to announce that he would not support a national abortion ban and that the issue should instead be left up to the individual state.
"My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” he announced. “In this case, the law of the state.”
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The 45th president then celebrated his role in Roe v. Wade’s reversal by the Supreme Court nearly two years ago.
"Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights,” Trump charged on Monday, “especially since I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of something that all legal scholars both sides wanted and in fact demanded be ended: Row v Wade.”
Perhaps most shocking was Trump’s startling claim that the Democrats support abortion “up to and even beyond the ninth month” as well as “execution after birth” – a claim he previously repeated but one that has already been debunked several times.
“It must be remembered that the Democrats are the radical ones are in this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month,” Trump said. “The concept of having an abortion in the later months, and even execution after birth."
As RadarOnline.com reported, Trump’s announcement on Monday morning directly contradicted his previous support for a 16-week national abortion ban.
“Know what I like about 16?” Trump allegedly said during a private conversation about the issue earlier this year. “It’s even. It’s four months.”