OPINION: Scarborough should run against Trump in 2020

Watching the latest vulgar and sexist outburst of Donald Trump, who temporarily occupies the Oval Office and has now turned his foul mouth against Mika Brzezinski, let me suggest an idea that is offered very seriously.

Former Republican congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, who is a serious and principled conservative even if he makes too many snide comments about liberals from the upper East Side and Georgetown, should enter the GOP primaries and run against Trump in the 2020 presidential campaigns.

{mosads}While the thought of former president Trump someday glued to the television watching CNN and MSNBC and then writing angry vulgar tweets about future president Joe Scarborough and his first lady Mika has its own appeal, the idea of a principled conservative replacing by succeeding an unprincipled vulgarian should have even greater appeal to Republicans who will vote in 2020 primaries.

Scarborough is a serious man. He served in the House of Representatives as a Republican and conservative and has a body of knowledge and experience that far surpasses any understanding of policy and issues that Trump will ever possess.

Every day on “Morning Joe,” Scarborough offers the kind of critique of Trump that every serious Republican and conservative should offer themselves and respect in a presidential candidate.

As for Trump’s low end and vulgar tweets about Mika Brzezinski, they are sick but not surprising. Any person who saw Trump in his infamous Access Hollywood video say things about women that editors would not permit to be quoted verbatim in family newspapers knew then and there what manner of man our current president is.

I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017

It is fair to ask the most prominent leaders of the Christian conservative movement whether they will firmly and belatedly condemn Trump’s behavior toward Brzezinski and other women Trump has berated and insulted. Will Vice President Pence be embarrassed the next time he meets the press or faces the nation and is asked for his verdict on Trump’s bizarre and vulgar behavior?

If Scarborough were to run for president, he could run against Trump as a Reagan Republican who does not praise dictators from Russia to the Philippines. He could run against Trump and promise he would not humiliate his secretary of State by proposing to cut the budget for the State Department by 30 percent, as Trump has done, or permitting a laughably inexperienced son-in-law to act like a shadow secretary of State, as Trump does every day.

Former congressman Scarborough could credibly pledge that after he has served in the White House for six months as Trump has done, he would be able to perform much better than Trump, who has been unable to pass through Congress even one major piece of legislation since January.

Think about it. A Republican president with a Republican House and Republican Senate has been unable to pass and enact into law even one major piece of legislation throughout the January, February, March, April, May and June of his first term!  

And Trump compares himself to great presidents in American history with this record? No wonder he is reduced to writing angry, vulgar and sexist tweets attacking Mika Brzezinski.

…to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017

Republicans need a principled and serious conservative to step forward and challenge Trump for the 2020 nomination. And since Trump has already begun fundraising for 2020, leading election lawyers might consider what happens to the money if, for some reason, Trump does not run in 2020.

Scarborough would be a strong and serious candidate. So would Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) if he were to run, and Kasich acts as though he may be considering it. So would any number of Republican governors or Republican senators who are better leaders and better men and women than Trump.

What Republicans need is a better standard-bearer than Trump for their party. What Democrats and Americans need is a different president, a man or woman who is fit to lead our nation and the free world. The sooner this happens, the better.

Trump’s vulgarity toward Brzezinski offers one more reason that Donald Trump is by far the most unpopular new president since George Washington, and stains the office with his presence. 

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), then-chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. in international financial law from the London School of Economics. 

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