.@JoeNBC: Republicans aren't going to win the presidency… Trump is not a guy who is going to lead you to victory https://t.co/hStZ111oqZ
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 2, 2016
Joe Scarborough on Tuesday said Donald Trump will not win the White House, criticizing those who say Republicans must stand behind their presidential nominee.
“Republicans aren’t going to win the presidency, not going this way,” Scarborough said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
{mosads}”For me it’s about saving the Senate, it’s about not getting wiped out in the House, it’s about not getting wiped out in the state legislatures,” added Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida.
“Standing behind a guy that eviscerates a Gold Star mother and grieving father — that is not a guy that is going to lead you to victory.”
Scarborough specifically suggested Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) distance themselves from Trump. Both are facing tough reelection fights this fall.
Hillary Clinton has taken a lead over Trump in polls after last week’s Democratic National Convention, where Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq, delivered a speech highly critical of Trump.
Trump engaged in a war of words with Khan and his wife, creating a political firestorm.
Scarborough said Trump is “just not doing what is required to win.” Beyond the “crazy” statements and speeches, Scarborough emphasized the need to create an organization to get out votes, pointing to President Obama’s voter outreach effort.
“You go underground and you’d go through caves and you open up doors and there would be guys with moss growing off of their faces and their teeth … but they knew where every vote was and they dragged every vote out,” Scarborough said.
The MSNBC host said Trump needed to do more than just tweet and offer speeches.
“You literally can’t win that way. It would be like an Olympic athlete saying, ‘I am going to play Xbox to train,'” Scarborough said.
Updated at 9:29 a.m.