On Monday’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough warned if President Barack Obama remains steadfast in trying to get a nuclear deal with Iran regardless of the circumstances, his legacy could be tarnished because it led to a nuclear Iran.
“President Obama has to realize that if he carries through with this deal, and Iran moves toward a nuclear weapon – George W. Bush’s tarnished is chaos,” Scarborough said. “Barack Obama’s legacy in the Middle East will be a nuclear Middle East – from Iran, to Saudi Arabia, to Egypt, to the UAE.”
Scarborough’s co-host, Mika Brzezinski rejected Scarborough’s skepticism of the deal and what may result from it.
Partial exchange as follows:
SCARBOROUGH: Our question is do we listen to our neighbors some do we listen to our friends, do we listen to our allies or do we just move forward with a nuclear deal that is going to create a nuclear Middle East? If the president’s legacy — wants a big deal for his legacy, if he doesn’t do this right –
BRZEZINSKI: I don’t think he wants a deal for his legacy. I think he wants the deal to promote the potential for not going to war. Because if we listen to the neighbors and allies, what do you think the next step would be? War.
SCARBOROUGH: No, no, no.
BRZEZINSKI: There is not a deal that is going to be trusted.
SCARBOROUGH: You know, it’s amazing that the only answer the White House and their allies have is you have to have this deal or we’re going to war.
BRZEZINSKI: No, I’m just putting it into perspective.
SCARBOROUGH: No, that’s not putting it into perspective. That’s twisting and distorting the reality on the ground. I agree – I can’t believe I’m saying this — with Howard Dean.
BRZEZINSKI: Oh, my lord.
SCARBOROUGH: He said the best thing we could have done is walked away from the bad outlines of the deal, where the Iranians seem to keep pushing us and pushing us and pushing us and going back home and saying that what we’re saying here is not the truth. And the sanctions were in place. We could have walked away and gotten a better deal. They need this deal. We don’t need the deal.
BRZEZINSKI: We’ll agree to disagree there.
SCARBOROUGH: And we’re sitting here in a Manhattan studio debating this? The very people whose lives and national security depend on this — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, UAE. They’re scared to hell, they’re scared to death of this deal. So who are you going to believe?
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