Former Republican Congressman Leaves GOP to Become Independent
On his Twitter page, former Republican Congressman from Florida Joe Scarborough has a quote by Winston Churchill:
“Sometimes it is not enough to do our best; we must do what is required.”
Following that mantra, on Thursday the host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” sent out a tweet making his move from the Republican Party to Independent official.
I became an independent today. Here I am holding a copy of Donald Trump’s birth certificate, proving he was born in Nambia. pic.twitter.com/9xZ6eh7Fr2
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) October 12, 2017
In July Scarborough went on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and announced that he was walking away from the GOP:
“You have to ask yourself, what exactly is the Republican Party willing to do?” he said at the time. “How far are they willing to go? How much of this country and our values are they willing to sell out?”
The next morning on his MSNBC show, sharing his news with viewers, he added, “I think a lot of Republicans are feeling the same way.”
Scarborough’s voter identification change was noticed by The Hill:
Scarborough’s tweet was making reference to Trump’s past demands to see former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Trump, once the leader of the so-called “birther” movement, had questioned whether Obama was actually born in the U.S.
Scarborough’s comment was also alluding to an incident in which Trump, speaking to African leaders at the United Nations in September, referenced a nonexistent country called “Nambia.”
“Actually, that’s the New Canaan Registrar of Voters John Amarilios after I became an unaffiliated voter,” Scarborough said in a second tweet, referring to the man standing next to him in the picture. Scarborough is a resident of New Canaan, Conn.
An unabashed Republican throughout his years in office and as a conservative host at MSNBC, Scarborough was part of the Newt Gingrich-“Contract With America” group of conservatives within the party during his term from 1994-2002. He became a vocal critic of the GOP after Donald Trump became the presidential nominee in 2016.
Scarborough has railed against Trump on many occasions declaring that he is destroying the GOP.
On Wednesday he tweeted:
The destruction of the Republican Party will be part Trump’s political legacy, and the least damning. https://t.co/2WySrCjP2i
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) October 11, 2017
For Joe Scarborough, remaining in a GOP dominated by Trump is not an option, and so he follows Churchill’s counsel: “We must do what is required.”
Cover photo: “Morning Joe” co-hosts Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough, guest John Kerry
