The set of “Morning Joe” took a break from what has become the week of Harvey Weinstein to dedicate some time to an NBC scoop that President Donald Trump had requested a 10-fold increase in the U.S. nuclear stockpile over the summer (around the time of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly called him a “moron.”)
Scarborough — a consistent and vocal critic of the president — went further than usual this morning, even floating the idea of removing Trump from office via the 25th amendment of the Constitution.
“There’s something called the 25th amendment that they’re going to have to start looking at,” said Scarborough. “This is not acceptable as the status quo. We have the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill saying the president of the United States could be leading us toward nuclear war, and Republican senators remain silent.”
Earlier this week, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told the New York Times that he was worried about Trump leading to U.S. towards such a conflict.
For anyone wondering, the 25th Amendment provides a legal mechanism for removing a president if they are “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Many — including The New York Times — have floated the idea of using the amendment as a way to remove Trump from office.
“A lot of people, among our allies in particular, are quite nervous that the president could lead us, perhaps accidentally, into some type of military conflict,” said show regular Julie Pace.
Scarborough said GOP lawmakers should act to limit the president’s ability to unilaterally start nuclear conflict.
“At what point do they step forward as a delegation and do what Barry Goldwater did when he went over to the White House in 1974 and told Richard Nixon it was over,” he said.
“They don’t have to go over and tell Donald Trump that it is over,” he continued. “But a delegation of Republicans need to go over the white house and tell the president either you assure us that the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the United States Senate is wrong or we are going to take immediate action to limit your ability to launch nuclear weapons.”