Joe Scarborough went off on Barack Obama for five minutes on “Morning Joe” Tuesday over his “rank hypocrisy” in releasing a statement condemning President Donald Trump’s visa freeze.
Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis tweeted Monday the former president’s support for anti-Trump protests across the country. Trump signed an executive order Friday limiting immigration from seven Middle Eastern countries and indefinitely suspending Syrian refugees from entering the U.S.
Frm Pres @BarackObama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. pic.twitter.com/X5Fk3xRDEX
— Kevin Lewis (@KLewis44) January 30, 2017
Scarborough attacked Obama’s “self-righteous” attitude, and said he was the one who started the Syrian refugee crisis in the first place with his failed “red line.”
“Barack Obama actually had a de facto ban against Syrian refugees from 2011 to 2015,” Scarborough said. “The Syrian refugee crisis began because of Barack Obama’s inaction. I think everybody will say, and history will say, the “red line” moment. These seven countries that were selected were selected by Barack Obama. These weren’t selected by Stephen Miller.”
Obama and then-Secretary of State John Kerry drew a “red line” with Syrian President Bashar Assad in August 2012. They said they would not tolerate “seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.” The pair did nothing to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad after he continued to use chemical weapons a year later.
“This is rank hypocrisy on Barack Obama’s part for shutting Syrians out for years and now acting shocked and dopely saddened that Donald Trump would basically in effect do the same thing,” Scarborough said. “People should keep their mouth shut and not be self-righteous when their policies led to this stage.”
Protesters gathered at airports across the country to protest Trump’s executive order, which he defended Sunday as “not a Muslim ban.”
Former Obama officials and journalists took to Twitter to vent their frustration with the freeze.
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