Joe Scarborough forced to justify 2024 remark about Biden being at his ‘best ever’ after cancer diagnosis

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough isn’t backing down after a clip resurfaced showing him calling former President Joe Biden the “best Biden ever" in March last year.

When pressed about the remark during a Tuesday, May 20 sit-down with Mark Halperin on 'Next Up with Mark Halperin,' Scarborough said he meant every word.

He had nothing but high praise for the then-sitting president in the clip, originally aired on Morning Joe.

“I’ve said it for years now, he’s cogent. But I undersold it when I said he was cogent, he’s far beyond cogent,” Scarborough declared. “In fact, I think he’s better than he’s ever been, intellectually, analytically, because he’s been around for 50 years.”

“Start your tape right now because I’m about to tell you the truth. And f-you if you can’t handle the truth. This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever," he added.

Mark Halperin pokes holes, but Joe Scarborough doesn't budge

During their conversation, Halperin challenged the rosy portrait. “Looking back at that, do you say, well, it was misleading to say ‘best Biden ever’ without caveating it and saying, except on the days when he’s not the best Biden ever?” he asked.

Scarborough didn’t budge. He said he personally hadn’t seen any of Biden’s so-called “bad days.”

Instead, he recalled multiple private meetings with the president — especially on serious topics like Ukraine and Russia — where Biden’s analysis outshone most, the New York Post reported.

But Halperin wasn’t letting him off that easy. “Well, you did! You did, because you saw him address a dead congresswoman, and you saw him in South Carolina,” Halperin pushed back, adding that he could roll several clips to prove Biden wasn’t at his best.

Scarborough admitted, “He stumbled and bumbled around, Mark. I mean, yeah, he certainly did. Donald Trump did, other politicians did.” But he said it reminded him of personal meetings he’s had with Trump.

“It’s actually the same case as a lot of times when I’ve gone in and talked to Donald Trump. We go on to Donald Trump, and I’ve heard the media narrative around Donald Trump, and certainly I’ve been very critical of Donald Trump,” Scarborough explained.

“And when I leave, I have a better understanding, just like Jeffrey Goldberg did a couple of weeks ago, a better understanding of where Donald Trump is mentally, if Donald Trump is losing it, like people have said through the years or not.”

Scarborough said he won’t be swayed. “Am I going to look at a clip that’s gone viral and pay more attention to that than two and a half, three hours I had with a guy one-on-one going around the world? No, I’m just not going to," he insisted. “Are some of the clips bad? Yeah, they certainly are bad.”

“Put into proper context, I’m just not going to freak out and melt down on one or two clips here and there,” he said. “And again he bumbled around, and he stumbled around, but he has for quite some time. That didn’t seem to me to get in the way of Joe Biden being able to analyze the most important issues.”

Joe Scarborough blasts Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report

Scarborough has been protective of Biden — especially when it comes to critiques about the president’s memory. Case in point is his takedown of former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s February 2024 report. 

Hur had suggested Biden struggled to remember key facts, like when his son Beau died or when he left the vice presidency, while investigating his handling of classified documents.

Scarborough was furious. “I’m just saying this guy says such random s**t!” he said, calling for Hur to apologize.

“Does he hope he gets a judgeship? I think he does. I think he hopes he gets a judgeship if Donald Trump gets elected again because he’s trying out, because he humiliated himself with that display," he added.

Scarborough wasn’t the only one raising eyebrows. When the audio of the Biden-Hur interview dropped that Friday, even CNN’s Abby Phillip noted that Hur may have undersold just how bad Biden’s memory lapses actually sounded in real time.

You can watch the complete interview here:

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