Here is a good question, one asked on Morning Joe by Joe himself, and it’s relevant to Trump’s excuse about agreeing to help Kanye out and Trump saying that Kanye had two people with him that he didn’t know. Joe asked: “Do people just wander into Mar-a-Lago without the Secret Service?”

As for the club itself, probably, But for people sitting down to meet or eat with him, no – one would certainly think the Secret Service would check them out. And that led Scarborough to mock the idea that Trump didn’t know who was coming and why.

It’s not like Kanye walked into an Arby’s, sat down, and there’s Donald Trump.’Hey, Donald! I brought a friend along!’ No! It’s not an Arby’s. It’s a place that’s very secure. It’s all planned out. They’ve got Secret Service there. They know everybody who’s coming. So this whole idea, ‘Hey, he just showed up, and I’m at Arby’s, and they hand me like a sandwich.’ No! No, they knew all along.

Of course, he did, and it’s obvious to everyone. That’s the core of the problem. The open white nationalism and embrace of the lowest common denominator in extremes on the right. It is why they keep losing elections, according to Joe. From Mediaite:

This is what happens in Donald Trump’s world. It’s great for headlines, but Republicans, this is why you lose elections. He especially emphasized this on the topic of Trump’s blow-up over West telling ”him he’s running for president also.

“This is your Republican Party, guys, gals. It’s why you keep losing elections. I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to help you. This is why you keep losing elections.”

Joe went on to say that this scandal will make it harder to paint Hunter Biden as some terrible person and push that scandal. But what Joe didn’t say, indeed very few are really talking about it, is that Trump still has not said, “Had I known this guy, I’d never let him because I oppose everything he stands for.” Or even, “Now that I am more familiar with what Fuentes has said in the past, I specifically denounce all hate rhetoric and anti-Semitism…”

Trump has yet to say anything beyond denying he knew him, and nothing was said regarding anti-Semitism. It is another reason that the GOP loses. Trump doesn’t close off scandals like this with a denunciation. The lack of pushback allows the air of “acceptance” of white nationalism to hang around Trump as a stench.

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman