Biden targeted Scarborough.
CNN’s Jake Tapper told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Wednesday that former President Joe Biden was clearly trying to persuade Scarborough about his re-election bid during their “Morning Joe” conversation.
Tapper described Biden to Scarborough as “a frequent viewer of the show.”
Tapper referenced a 2023 Washington Post column by David Ignatius, where he wrote that the former president should not run for re-election. “And then [Ignatius] came on this show and you guys had a robust conversation about this,” Tapper said.
Ignatius and Scarborough both had concerns about Biden.
“Joe Biden saw that. Joe Biden said to staffers that he wanted to convince you that you were wrong, and he focused on you like you were a constituency, like you were farmers in Iowa, like you were the Kiwanis Clubs in New Hampshire. And he made sure that you thought differently,” Tapper told Scarborough.
Scarborough, who went viral last year for saying Biden was at his best, claimed he must have seen Biden on one of his “good days.”
“It was a campaign, though, for Joe, it was a campaign. The Biden people wanted to make sure that Joe [Scarborough] saw Biden at his best,” Tapper added.
Scarborough admitted he had met Biden in the middle of the day.
“There you go,” Tapper responded. “Middle of the day.”
Watch the clip below.
Joe Scarborough talks to Jake Tapper about his infamous claim that 2024’s version of Joe Biden was “The best Biden ever.”
”He focused on you like you were a constituency.” pic.twitter.com/E4xSQP3erA
— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) May 21, 2025
Scarbourough recently spoke with Mark Halperin about his “best Biden ever ” claim.
Scarborough delivered a three-minute rant, repeatedly invoking President Donald Trump while defending his claim that former President Joe Biden was “the best Biden ever,” both “intellectually” and “analytically.”
“He stumbled and bumbled around, Mark. I mean, yeah, he certainly did. Donald Trump did,” Scarborough said. “Other politicians did … and it’s actually the same case as a lot of times when I’ve gone in and talked to Donald Trump, gone to Donald Trump, and I’ve heard the media narrative around Donald Trump — and certainly I’ve been very critical of Donald Trump — and when I leave, I have a better understanding, just like [The Atlantic editor-in-chief ] Jeffrey Goldberg did a couple of weeks ago. I have a better understanding of where Donald Trump is mentally — if Donald Trump is losing it, like, you know, people have said through the years or not.”
Scarborough said the viral clips of Biden were concerning — but that’s not the Joe he knew.
“When I look at that tape, based on what I saw with Biden, based on the time that I spent with Biden, based on the hundreds of hours that I talked to people who talked to Biden and people that worked with Biden and were with him day in and day out — good friends that I know, that I trusted before Biden was president, that I trust now that Biden’s not president — I mean, put into proper context, I’m just not going to freak out and melt down on one or two clips here or there,” Scarborough 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. And I certainly think he has a better grasp on it than probably the overwhelming majority of his critics — or certainly did when I spoke with him.”
Watch the clip below.
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough stands by his claim last year that 2024 Biden was “the best Biden ever.” Holy crap: pic.twitter.com/giJKzVQJZ7
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 20, 2025
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