Joe Scarborough Admits Democrats ‘Painted Themselves’ As ‘Elitist’ Over Three-Plus Decades

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough admitted Tuesday that Democrats spent a long time creating the image that they were “elitist,” aiding Republican efforts to show them as out of touch.

Democrats’ favorability plummeted to 29%, according to a CNN poll released in March, while a CNN poll released April 27 shows only 27% of voters approve of the party’s congressional leadership. Scarborough noted that despite being a billionaire, Trump has connected more with blue-collar workers than Democrats have.

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“I mean, the greatest irony of all is you’ve got all these Ivy League billionaires, who actually Americans believe they understand how they live more than Democrats, who have been successfully painted, and I will say over the past 30-40 years, have painted themselves into the corner of being elitists,” Scarborough told Semafor reporter David Weigel. “So much of this has to do with personality.”

“We always talk about a focus group we saw in 2016… where a working-class, blue-collar woman, you know, asked why she’s supporting Donald Trump, she said, ‘Because he’s one of us,’” Scarborough continued. “‘Because he’s one of us.’”

Trump received overwhelming support in electronic and phone surveys of the rank-and-file members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 2024. The union ultimately did not make an endorsement during the 2024 presidential campaign.

“Republicans have been very good, whether they are one of them or not… at connecting there,” Scarborough said to Weigel. “You take an example that you gave in your book, Democrats don’t have that right now.”

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have traveled across the country on an “anti-oligarchy” tour targeting President Donald Trump and White House senior advisor Elon Musk.