MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough urged Democrats to “run over” Republican “insurrectionists” and pass some type of voting-rights bill.
The “Morning Joe” host, a former Republican congressman, called on Democratic lawmakers to move on without GOP votes, because he said the anti-democratic wing of that party will never compromise on any legislation.
“We’ve got to stop being shocked that there are three parties, that there’s a Democratic, Republican and insurrectionist party,” Scarborough said. “That this insurrectionist party is illiberal and anti-democratic.”
Scarborough said he’s always inclined to bipartisanship, but he said Democrats need to realize there just aren’t enough Republicans willing to help them pass any legislation — especially a voting-rights bill they perceive would diminish their dominance in some states.
“I’m the first to say, try to work with the other side, do everything you can to work with the other side, and when they just won’t work with you, politically, you just run them over,” he said. “You just run them over and you don’t look back, and you go and you get your goal, and you play hardball and you just keep going until you win. Here’s a problem with that right now.”
“You’ve got to have the votes to do that, and again, even if they can’t get 60 votes, they need 50 votes, and they’re not getting 50 votes right now on much of what they’re pushing forward,” he added.
Scarborough urged Democrats to scale back their efforts to pass voting-rights legislation to bring reluctant Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on board and possibly some Republicans.
“They’ve got to get realistic,” he said. “They’ve got to understand the window’s closing. They’ve got to start figuring out what wins they can put up on the board. They’ve got to start putting some points up on the board right now. It’s time to stop dreaming about what might be and start looking at what can be.”