Joe Scarborough Publicly Declares Donald Trump Is the Antithesis of Everything Jesus Says in the Gospels

Joe Scarborough criticised President Donald Trump and his evangelical supporters on MS NOW's Morning Joe on Monday, 5 October 2026, as the co-host argued that Trump's rhetoric and immigration policies conflict with Christian teachings.

Scarborough's comments followed footage from Trump's campaign rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on Saturday, 3 October. Trump appeared at the event in support of Republican Sen. Jon Husted and Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump urged supporters to vote in the 3 November midterm elections. 'Just get out and vote,' he said. 'If you do that, we're going to win, and we're going to win big. And we're going to shove it up their ass.'

Trump later said: 'I know more about inflation, I know more about everything than anybody in this room, anybody, anywhere in the world.' Scarborough seized on the remarks when the footage was replayed on Morning Joe.

Scarborough Uses Biblical Passages To Challenge Trump

Scarborough said Trump had made comments that were 'quite interesting' and suggested books could eventually be written about them. He then cited and paraphrased several biblical passages on pride, humility, and meekness.

'Proverbs – 'Pride cometh before the fall' – but he doesn't really read the Bible,' Scarborough said. ''Blessed are the meek,' Jesus says in the Beatitudes. Second Chronicles: 'If my people, who called by my name, humble themselves, they'll hear from heaven.''

The phrase 'Pride cometh before the fall' is a familiar paraphrase, not the exact wording of Proverbs 16:18. The passage refers to pride preceding destruction and a haughty spirit preceding a fall. Scarborough followed his biblical references with a terse response. 'No, that doesn't work either.'

His criticism then shifted towards Trump's relationship with evangelical voters and whether continued political support for him could be reconciled with the Christian teachings Scarborough had cited. That support has remained substantial. Pew Research Center found that 81% of white evangelical Protestant voters supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

Trump's Immigration Policies Draw Scarborough's Moral Criticism

Scarborough next turned to immigration while making clear that he supports stronger border controls.

He said he had 'always been for a secure southern border' and had consistently criticised what he viewed as a porous border. He also attacked what he called the European Union's 'short-sighted and just insane open-borders policy for decades.'

Scarborough claimed that the approach 'actually led to a lot of the extremism there.' That was his political assessment, not an independently established conclusion.

His argument then focused on what he described as mistreatment associated with immigration enforcement.

'This is what's so interesting is you look at the immigration policies and some of the other just absolutely hateful policies that have nothing to do with securing the southern border,' Scarborough said.

He repeated that he supported 'a strong southern border,' while condemning what he described as 'anti-Christlike abuse' of people living in the United States.

Those descriptions were Scarborough's moral and political judgements. They should not be read as independent findings about the Trump administration's immigration policies.

Scarborough also invoked the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia while discussing legal protections for noncitizens in the United States.

His remarks suggested that people on US soil have the same constitutional rights as American citizens. The legal position is narrower. Supreme Court precedent recognises due-process protections for noncitizens physically present in the country, including those without lawful immigration status, but that does not mean every constitutional right applies the same way to citizens and noncitizens.

Scarborough Questions Evangelical Support for Trump

Scarborough returned to evangelical support for Trump near the end of the segment. He framed the political alliance as difficult to reconcile with the Christian teachings he had referenced earlier.

The criticism was aimed not simply at Trump's rhetoric, but at the voters who continued supporting him despite conduct Scarborough viewed as incompatible with those values.

'It's just absolutely insane that this is the guy that evangelicals decided to get behind over the past decade,' Scarborough said.

'Because it is the antithesis of everything Jesus says in the Gospels.' The statement was Scarborough's religious and political judgement, rather than a factual determination about Christianity or the beliefs of individual evangelical voters.

His remarks nevertheless placed renewed attention on Trump's relationship with white evangelical Protestants, a constituency that has provided him with considerable electoral support.

The exchange began with a profane campaign line in Ohio. By the end of the Morning Joe segment, Scarborough had turned it into a wider challenge over political loyalty, religious values and the standards Christians apply to the leaders they support.