Donald Trump’s convention speech did exactly what it was supposed to do, MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough declared Friday.
“It just may be the speech that millions and millions of people in middle America have been waiting to hear for a very long time,” the former congressman said before a live audience in Cleveland Friday morning.
“I don’t know if they expected sunshine and flowers,” he continued. “It was a dark speech. We have been saying for two months now, with everybody’s low approval ratings that you’re not going to win the presidency. You’re going to disqualify the other candidate . . . Everybody is acting so shocked that conventions are sometimes negative.”
Veteran columnist and Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle, however, said that he found that Trump focused on fear, and he thought that was “tough to handle.”
“It’s tough to read,” said Barnicle. “There’s a lot of anxiety in the country. People feel they have lost a lot. They have lost 401(k)s here in Cleveland. They were decimated in 2008 and 2009. The foreclosure crisis, no doubt about that. You want to feel a little hope for your children. That’s where the fear thing comes into play.”
Still, Barnicle said, “you can’t cover the country in a blanket of fear.”
