Scarborough teases Trump: We told you ‘don’t start with healthcare’

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough kept up his criticism of President Trump Friday, saying that his “Morning Joe” show warned Trump about launching his legislative agenda with a contentious healthcare bill.

“If he ever watched a little show called ‘Morning Joe,’ he would have heard us say all along: don’t start with healthcare,” Scarborough said.

Scarborough’s needling of Trump comes as Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and the president continue to press GOP lawmakers opposed to the American Health Care Act to vote yes. A vote on the bill, originally planned for Thursday, was delayed to Friday afternoon as both moderates and conservatives expressed concerns about the bill repealing and replacing ObamaCare. 

“He should not have started with healthcare,” Scarborough said to co-host Willie Geist, who was filling in for Mika Brzezinski. 

{mosads}”We repeated it day in and day out: Start with tax reform. Start with health — with regulatory reform. Get the big wins and let the House and the Senate work out the details.  

“You come in at the end as a hero.”

Scarborough did say there was an upside for Trump if the bill is defeated today, pointing to other agendas Trump would be freed up to pursue without the same kind of resistance seen on healthcare. 

“If it goes down, this vote is the easiest vote ever for the House members to explain why they voted against it,” said Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida. “It would allow Trump to move on to tax reform and regulatory reform and allow the House and the Senate the amount of time they need to get real health care bills put together.”