Biden was dazed, Bernie was irrelevant, and the other eight Democrats on stage in Thursday’s presidential debate declared illegal immigrants eligible for free health care, while promising to take away Americans’ own private plans. The Miami Democrats also endorsed the position that breaking America’s border laws should no longer be illegal.
Watch: Joe: It’s only June, but last night was a disaster
There is a vast ideological expanse between the inhumanity of Trump’s immigration agenda and the “Open Borders” agenda promoted onstage Thursday night. Democrats must sharpen their message in the coming months or unwittingly aid Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell’s efforts to win back the White House and Congress.
The party should follow Nancy Pelosi’s example and keep their heads about them. Presidential campaigns are not exercises in wokeness; they are ugly fights for votes.
Next year’s presidential election will be about even more: whether the majority of Americans still value checks against the powerful, still support democratic alliances against foreign enemies, and still believe that no man is above the law. I declared the first Democratic debate to be a disaster yesterday on Morning Joe. It was not. Iowa is seven months away. But Democrats do need to fight smarter moving forward, because nothing less than the future of America is riding on the defeat of Donald Trump.
Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., is co-host of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" alongside Mika Brzezinski — a show that Time magazine calls "revolutionary." In addition to his career in television, Joe is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His most recent book is "The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics — and Can Again." Recommended
