Joe Scarborough Calls On Donald Trump To “Take A Rest” After President Tweets Unfounded Conspiracy Theory

Joe Scarborough said that Donald Trump should step aside and let Vice President Mike Pence “run things for the next week,” after the president rage-tweeted Monday against the Morning Joe co-host by pushing out a conspiracy theory.

“Mr. President, I ask that you take a rest. I ask that you get checked out. I ask that you take care of yourself,” Scarborough said. “Maybe let Mike Pence run things for the next week. You are not well. …It would be best for you politically. It would be best for the country medically. It would be best for the Republican Party politically.”

Earlier, Trump had tweeted, “‘Concast’ should open up a long overdue Florida Cold Case against Psycho Joe Scarborough. I know him and Crazy Mika well, used them beautifully in the last Election, dumped them nicely, and will state on the record that he is “nuts”. Besides, bad ratings! #OPENJOECOLDCASE”

Trump was referring to the case of Lori Klausutis, an intern in Scarborough’s Florida office when he was a congressman. She died unexpectedly, and the death was ruled accidental. She had an undiagnosed heart condition.

As unfounded as the claim is, Trump often tweets or retweets conspiracy theories in an effort to inject it into the media conversation. He previously tweeted about Klausutis in 2017.

Scarborough addressed Trump’s tweet on air, telling him directly, “You once again drag a family through this and make them relive it again, just like Seth Rich’s parents. As if losing a loved one the first time isn’t enough.” Seth Rich was the Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered in 2016 in what authorities suspect was an attempted robbery. But he has been the subject of repeated right wing conspiracy theories that he was involved in the hack of the DNC server that year. His parents have condemned such claims.

Scarborough, who has been critical of Trump’s response to the coronavirus crisis, also took note of Trump’s tweeting throughout the weekend, when he was at Camp David for what was supposed to be a working trip.

“This weekend, my god. You were supposed to have a working weekend,” Scarborough said. “…What did you do during your working weekend? Well, you tweeted more hateful things about colleagues of ours. You tweeted conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein. You have time for this? You tweeted conspiracy theories about Barack Obama. Really, you have time for this? You attacked George W. Bush, for simply sending out a unifying message to give Americans hope.”

On Saturday, Trump attacked one of Scarborough’s colleagues, Nicolle Wallace, writing, “She was thrown off The View like a dog, Zero T.V. Personas. Now Wallace is a 3rd rate lapdog for Fake News MSDNC (Concast). Doesn’t have what it takes!” Trump has referred to a number of other women as “dogs.”