MSNBC's Joe Scarborough dryly mocked Donald Trump's recent claim that he doesn't ramble in his rally speeches.
The former president spoke to supporters Sunday in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he pushed back against criticism of his lengthy and digressive speeches with a maundering meditation on his fans' devotion.
"They'll say, 'He was rambling' – I don't ramble," Trump said. "I'm a really smart guy, really smart guy – I don't ramble. But the other day – any time I hit too hard they say, 'He was rambling.' Rambling? You know, I get up and make a speech, I go for sometimes two hours, two and a half hours because, you know, people are waiting outside for two days, three days. You guys were out there waiting for a long time. Front row Joes, I don't know how you guys do it, and I feel I have an obligation to speak and speak in a certain way and speak a little bit longer."
"You know, how would you like it, a guy's waiting with his family for three and a half, four days," Trump added. "They have a tent and the tent is set up, they have hundreds of them, and they wait, and then I walk in, speak for 15 minutes and leave. I don't know, somehow, would that be okay, North Carolina? I don't think so, right? They want me to speak all day."
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The "Morning Joe" host stifled a laugh, and then set off on his own long-winded monologue and pointed out Trump's geographical error.
"That's Donald Trump saying how he doesn't ramble at his rally while – I mean, I guess if you want to say he rambled, that's up to you," Scarborough said. "Anyway, it is Donald Trump in Pennsylvania."
"Do I ramble?" he said. "Do I talk too much? Do I ask questions that go on longer than the answers? Of course not. The way I look at it, people wake up at 1:00 in the morning and they gather their children around and they're giving them, you know, biscuits, you know, so, of course, you know, sometimes I talk a little bit more than I should talk, sometimes, right, but give the people what they want or maybe what they don't want."
"Never – I have no idea what you are talking about, Joe," said New York Times columnist Mara Gay, as Scarborough laughed.
"No idea whatsoever," Scarborough replied. "Sam Stein, you'll be more blunt and direct, right? Who rambles around here? Certainly not me."
"Joe, have you ever served in Congress?" deadpanned Stein. "Because I've never heard that one before."
"Well, there was a time, I don't like to talk about it," Scarborough said, before launching into a monologue about the Boston Red Sox.
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