Watch: MSNBC's Michael Steele blows up on Joe Scarborough over being civil with Trump
In a rare combative moment on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Michael Steele battled with co-host Joe Scarborough over the effectiveness of being "civil" with Donald Trump with the two talking over each other as the rest of the panel held their tongues.
With the conversation turning to Trump's interactions with former President Barack Obama at Thursday's Jimmy Carter funeral service, Scarborough maintained that it is important to keep the lines of communication open with the president-elect –– likely in reference to his own controversial meeting, along with wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski, with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
That set off a dispute with Steele, the co-host on MSNBC's "The Weekend" where Scarborough kept talking over his guest who wasn't having it.
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"Joe, you had your moment, let me just finish my point," Steele admonished Scarborough. "I get that, but I'm telling you something you seem to forget –– so, let me make my point, you may not like it but I'm going to make it and the reality of it is, I take your civility argument, you like to say 78 million people voted for Donald Trump, well 82 million people voted for Joe Biden and he didn't get that civility that you're talking about from Donald Trump in those four years."
"So now the expectation is, because he has won again and he's got 78 million people, we all have to be civil to Donald Trump, well okay, I'm prepared to be civil ––." he added only to have Scarborough to interrupt him with, "Nobody said that."
"You did!" the former RNC head shot back.
Scarborough then continued to talk over Steele, claiming, "I didn't say everybody has to stay civil."
"But the reality is, no, you are using the term civil, I'm using your term, you put civility on the table," Steele parried as Scarborough once again talked over him.
"But, Joe, I'm just saying –– fine, I'm not talking about that," Steele explained. "My main point is, everybody is looking at this from a one-way perspective; how we need to approach Donald Trump, how is he approaching us? The man wants to lock up citizens, the man wants to turn the government against them, how are we supposed to respond to that? Are we supposed to be civil?"
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