Back in May 2020, minutes after MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called him “a little baby,” Trump lashed back with the tweet below:
There’s a backstory, of course. In fact, two of them. Let’s take them in chronological order.
Backstory #1: In July 2001, Scarborough was a GOP congressman from Florida, and Lori Klausutis , 28, was an employee in his district office, where she was found dead. She was alone at the time. The autopsy determined she collapsed from a heart condition, and struck her head on a desk (see details here).
Scarborough being a political and media figure, it was inevitable that rightwing conspiracy theories would grow out of this incident. Long before 2020, Trump was latching onto these to insinuate that Scarborough (who wasn’t in the office at the time) had murdered Klausutis (for what motive?), e.g. see his 2017 tweet here.
Why is this making news again in December 2022? Backstory #2: Because newly-released House Jan. 6 committee transcripts reveal that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) fed the conspiracy theory to Trump, and White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin tried to stop him (see story here).
Distinct from his unrestrained malice toward anyone who dares to criticize him, Trump is obsessed with violence. He has called for executing innocent people, shooting border crossers and looters, using the military against protesters, and of course there’s his infamous “fire and fury” tirade against the North Korean dictator (whom he later called a “buddy”).
Sane people don’t do this. It proves he’s nuts. In his own words, “A total nut job!”
