Morning Joe 7-28-26 Joe Scarborough donned his Democrat-strategist sombrero on Tuesday's Morning Joe and pleaded with his party of choice to reject DSA lunacy now, or suffer the consequences in the fall.Scarborough opened by cueing up Shannon Bream’s exchange on Fox News Sunday with DSA national co-chair Megan Romer in which she enthusiastically embraced these items in the DSA platform:  Abolishing the Senate.Replacing the presidency and the Supreme Court.Abolishing ICE.Abolishing borders and giving amnesty to anyone currently in the US illegally.Defunding the Pentagon.Abolishing prisons, at least in large part.Government or public ownership of most large corporations.Although items like abolishing borders and defunding the Pentagon might stand out, let's focus on the plan for the government to seize most large corporations. That's not democratic socialism. Government ownership of the means of production is the essence of Marxism. So don't tell us the democratic socialists don't have a communist tint -- it's right there in their platform.Scarborough then reached for a very tired liberal trope — Maya Angelou's line about believing people when they show you who they are. He summarized the Fox quiz: "All questions answered with complete conviction, and all those responses completely disqualifying for a party that likes to tell people they're really just about health care and tax reform."  Joe Scarborough dons his strategist sombrero and pleads with Democrats: reject DSA lunacy now, or be punished with it in November! pic.twitter.com/eEuSRxpsjO— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) July 28, 2026 Scarborough praised progressives for bringing all the energy to the party, but insisted Democrats can still put the issue behind them — but only if they act now:If you're for what she said, and she's the head of your party, so you can't dismiss it. Are you for what the head of your party said? This is a very simple question, and the reason I'm talking about it today is because Democrats can put it behind them today, or we can still be talking about this in early November. ... Don't brush this off. Take care of it in July, get rid of the issue in July, or you're still going to be dealing with it through late October and early November. Don't be a Democrat, don't do that. Take care of it now. Don't make the same mistakes you made in 2024. Nip this one in the bud.For a host who spent yesterday screaming for DNC Chair Ken Martin's head over the party's empty bank account, today's performance was pure strategist mode: identify the vulnerability, demand the party confront it before Republicans turn it into a cudgel, and hope the base listens.Will the Democrats heed Scarborough's warning? Or, come fall, will we be relaxing in our Barcaloungers, munching the proverbial popcorn, as we watch Dem candidates and leaders squirm in explaining away the communists in their midst?Here's the transcript.MS NOWMorning Joe7/28/266:04 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: We got a ton to talk, talk to him about, but I just got to start with something that was, all over, social media and the news yesterday. And before we got all the big events in Washington, across the world, I wanted to show everybody a notable clip from one of the Sunday shows. A national co-chair for the Democratic Socialists of America, the DSA, was on Fox News Sunday, and here was one of her exchanges with host Shannon Bream.SHANNON BREAM: Okay, so we're gonna put up on the screen a few of the things that are part of your platform, and I wanna ask you, just give me sort of a true or false on these. Abolish the Senate.MEGAN ROMER: True.BREAM: Okay. Replace the presidency and Supreme Court as we now know them.ROMER: Yep.BREAM: Abolish ICE.ROMER: Absolutely.BREAM: Abolish borders and give amnesty to anyone currently in the US ROMER: As a long term plan, yep.BREAM: Defund the PentagonROMER: Absolutely.BREAM: Abolish prisons, at least in large part.ROMER: Yeah, again, that as part of a long term program, yeah.BREAM: Okay, so no prisons. Government or public ownership of most large corporations.ROMER: Yeah, absolutely.SCARBOROUGH: Democrats, Democrats, Democrats. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Oh my God.JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let those with ears hear. Maya Angelou said, "When somebody shows you who they are, believe 'em the first time." People know themselves much better than you do, and well, what's true of people is also true of political parties. And as you just saw, the national co-chair of the DSA went on television and showed us exactly who she is and what her party believes. Abolish the US Senate, the presidency as we know it, the Supreme Court as we know it? True. Abolish ICE? Absolutely. Open the borders? Defund the Pentagon? Empty the prisons? Have the government seize private companies? Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, absolutely! All questions answered with complete conviction, and all those responses completely disqualifying for a party that likes to tell people they're really just about health care and tax reform.. . . JONATHAN LEMIRE: And then Mika, the other part of this, of course, is that even if there actually aren't many Democrats who believe this, it's a gift to Republicans. Talking like that allows Republicans to label the entire party, the GOP, like, on their heels right now, and this is a, a life preserver, they can hang onto. And then turn it into a cudgel.MIKA: Exactly. Exactly. They'll use it.SCARBOROUGH: But, but, but here, here's the thing though, again, For those candidates out there that identified themselves as DSA, this is the head of their party. Right? So this isn't just about Democratic energy. Yes, I, I think Democratic energy is great. I've always said, it's the progressives not the centrists, it's the progressives who knock on doors, it's the progressives who do phone banks, it's the progressives that get out and march, it's the progressives that provide the energy to the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party's big enough to have progressives, to have moderates, to have members of the DSA party. But those members of the DSA party have to tell us, are you for affordable health care, are you for this, are you for what she said? 'Cause if you're for what she said, and she's the head of your party, so you can't dismiss it. Are you for what the head of your party said? This is a very simple question, and the reason I'm talking about it today is because Democrats can put it behind them today, or we can still be talking about this in early November. Did you hear what I just said? Don't brush this off. Take care of it in July, get rid of the issue in July, or you're still going to be dealing with it through late October and early November. Don't be a Democrat, don't do that. Take care of it now. Don't make the same mistakes you made in 2024. Nip this one in the bud.