Joe Scarborough on Monday insisted that he's "not the Republican establishment," but he thought Donald Trump reached too far with his Saturday night debate arguments against Jeb Bush and his brother, former President George W. Bush.
"I have been wailing against the Republican establishment, but I thought Trump went way too far, talking about 9/11," the
MSNBC "Morning Joe" show host said of Trump's statements against the former president, who remains very popular among the Republican base.
In the past Trump has called for the impeachment of George W. Bush over Iraq. Trump said he was surprised that Nancy Pelosi had not pushed for such an action against the Republican president.
"I was thinking this is Ron Paul territory we're entering into."
During the debate,
Trump launched scalding attacks against the former president for launching the Iraq War in 2003 over claims, later proven false, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and drew boos by saying Bush should have been impeached.
BBC World News America lead anchor Katty Kay, on the "Morning Joe" panel, pointed out that many establishment Republicans may have thought Trump went too far, especially by calling for Bush's impeachment, but still, "we didn't see that in the numbers" after the debate.
"The numbers are holding up for him," said Kay. "Either he's Teflon and people don't care, or he is tapping into something that is there which is a profound dissatisfaction . . . and they put President Bush into that category of people that lied to them."
Scarborough pointed out that the Republican base "feels like they have been lied to by Republican leaders in Washington for 30 years, and it's just hard for Jeb — as unfair as I personally think it is — it's hard for Jeb to disconnect himself from that."