Morning Joe Panel Slams Trump for Sparking Avoidable Redistricting Battle After Virginia Democrats Win

MSNBC’s Morning Joe hosts sharply criticized former President Donald Trump on Wednesday for sparking a year-long redistricting battle that they argued was both unnecessary and politically damaging. The panel’s remarks came after Virginia voters approved a Democratic-led amendment to redraw the state’s Congressional districts ahead of this year’s midterms.

Host Joe Scarborough opened the segment by stating that Republicans ‘should have never started this fight.’ He traced the origins of the redistricting conflict to Trump’s demand for five additional seats in Texas, which he said set off a chain reaction of partisan responses.

‘They started this fight because Donald Trump said, “I want my five seats in Texas,”’ Scarborough noted. ‘It just reminded me so many times when I first got up to Congress. You know, a certain speaker would do something, plan something, and it seemed like the greatest idea. And then Democrats would go, “OK. Well, we’re going to do this in response.”’

Scarborough continued, explaining that the back-and-forth strategy has become a recurring pattern in politics:

‘I remember time and time again, people standing up going, “It’s a great idea, but you’ve got to start planning your response to their response to your great idea.” And that’s what’s happened here. The Democrats are going to end up at least doing as well in redistricting.’

He concluded by reiterating his criticism of the GOP’s approach:

‘They should have never started this. Anybody that dares complain about what the Democrats are doing, you have to remember it’s all in response to something that was completely avoidable.’

The segment also featured co-host Willie Geist, who argued that Virginia Democrats’ victory this week was a direct consequence of the Republican Party’s unquestioning loyalty to Trump.

‘This is what happens when you have a party whose membership blindly follows Donald Trump down every path,’ Geist said. ‘They don’t stop, perhaps, to consider the consequences.’

Geist acknowledged that while some Democrats have taken principled stances against adopting Republican tactics, others saw Virginia’s outcome as proof that the strategy could work in their favor:

‘There are principled stands where Democrats say, “Well, we shouldn’t do the bad thing that Republicans are doing, too.” But I think there are a lot of Democrats this morning who appreciate the fight that Virginia Democrats showed and said, “You know what, if they’re going to play the game this way, then we have to play it this way, too. And if we play, we’re going to win.” And last night they did.’

Scarborough further emphasized his point by highlighting what he described as Trump’s tendency to act on instinct without considering long-term repercussions:

‘You can look at Iran. You can look at redistricting. You can look at tearing down the East Wing of the White House. All of these things where the president acts just on gut instinct, there’s always blowback, and usually it’s not good for the Republican Party.’