MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Tuesday lashed out at former President Barack Obama for his statement praising the protests against President Trump's travel ban. The "Morning Joe" host called Obama's remarks "rank hypocrisy."
Scarborough began by mentioning President Obama's own "de facto ban against Syrian refugees from 2011 to 2015," before arguing that Obama's policies led to the Syrian refugee problem in the first place.
"By the way, 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," Scarborough said.
Scarborough continued his criticism of Obama's actions by recalling the six-month Iraq travel ban that occurred during the Obama administration, before returning to the Syrian refugee crisis.
"I'm not toggling both sides, I'm not playing the other side. This is just rank hypocrisy on Barack Obama's part for being such a huge part in the Syrian refugee crisis," Scarborough argued. "Shutting Syrians out for years and now acting shocked and stunned and deeply saddened that Donald Trump would basically in effect do the same thing. Using again, my friends, let me repeat it, let's put it back up again, and we ought to put Obama's countries."
Scarborough finished the conversation with a final shot at Obama's decision to comment on the debate over Trump's executive order signed on Friday, which halted the Syrian refugee program and temporarily banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.
"My point isn't that Donald Trump implemented this correctly or it should even be implemented. My point is some people should probably keep their mouth shut and not be self-righteous when their policies led us to this stage," Scarborough said.