Joe Scarborough opened up Monday’s edition of “Morning Joe” with a swipe at Mike Huckabee, blasting a tweet from the former Arkansas governor as “so racist” and said it could be compared to something out of Nazi Germany.
“Mike Huckabee sent out a tweet this week, it’s so racist that you even had an awful lot of conservative Christian leaders coming out,” said Scarborough. “Whatever you want to call it — you pick — if you don’t want to pick, let’s say, parallels to the 1930s in Germany, let’s say David Duke, if that makes you feel more comfortable.”
The tweet that Scarborough referred to said that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would use gang members to help win back the House of Representatives for the Democrats.
“Nancy Pelosi introduces her campaign committee for the take back of the House,” Huckabee wrote on Saturday, with accompanying an image of MS-13 gang members.
https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/status/1010497564435730434
As Scarborough said, the Huckabee tweet, posted just hours after he condemned the “bigotry” experienced by his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, at the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, sparked broad recriminations on the left and also among the governor’s allies on the right.
The National Review’s David French even went so far as to ask how Huckabee’s employers at the Trinity Broadcasting Network could continue to air his show in good faith.
They “must be so proud of the public witness of one of its flagship hosts,” he tweeted.
The Trinity Broadcasting Network must be so proud of the public witness of one of its flagship hosts. https://t.co/ii0z6BURkv
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 24, 2018
The network did not immediately respond to request for comment on the matter from TheWrap.
For his part, Huckabee — who is known for his off-color dad jokes on Twitter — defended the quip and reminded critics that gang members come in all colors.
“Absurd! To see race in everything IS racist. Nothing about race but about a vile violent criminal gang. Please understand that,” he responded to Washington Post political correspondent Karen Tumulty in a tweet. “MS-13 is not a race but an illegal gang who rapes, murders, and mutilates children as sport.”
Absurd! To see race in everything IS racist. Nothing about race but about a vile violent criminal gang. Please understand that. https://t.co/2ePtyvh7kA
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) June 24, 2018
Yes @ktumulty because MS-13 is not a race but an illegal gang who rapes, murders, and mutilates children as sport. Nancy Pelosi defended them because she said @realDonaldTrump insulted them. Are you defending them too? Wasn’t aware that criminal was a “race.” https://t.co/qjmELJuYAm
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) June 23, 2018