Joe Scarborough once told America Joe Biden gave the best performance of his life.
Now he is telling voters a Texas Democrat crushed his CNN town hall performance.
A Catholic professor in the audience had a very different verdict on what Talarico actually said.
Scarborough Already Told America Biden Was at His Best
Scarborough told his Morning Joe audience in March 2024 that Biden had just turned in the best performance of his presidency.
Four months later, Biden dropped out of the race because Democrats decided he could no longer function in public.
Scarborough eventually admitted to CNN's Jake Tapper that he had been "obviously wrong" about Biden's condition.
That is the same man who just told his audience that Texas Democrat James Talarico crushed a CNN and Jubilee town hall on October 14.
The guy's so good, Scarborough said on air.
Mika Brzezinski agreed with him, and the two hosts called Talarico "real" and said he had addressed every controversial thing he has ever said.
A clip of the segment, captioned "struck all the right notes," spread fast across social media as proof Talarico had won the night.
A Catholic theology professor sitting in that same audience saw something very different play out in real time.
Jody Hunt Quoted the Ten Commandments and Talarico Had No Answer
Jody Hunt stood up during the town hall and pressed Talarico directly on abortion.
Talarico told her the Bible is silent on the issue.
Hunt did not let that stand.
Thou shalt not kill, she said, reciting the Ten Commandments back to him on live television.
She told him Catholics take real insult at hearing their faith described as having no answer on abortion.
Talarico had nothing to say to the Ten Commandments.
It sounds like you and I do come to a different conclusion, he told her, and added that this is okay.
He then shrank the question of ending a human life down to what he called a public policy problem.
The Daily Wire's writeup called his answer to Hunt rambling, the kind of answer Morning Joe would have needed to edit out to keep its segment glowing.
Scarborough never mentioned any of it when he praised the broadcast the next morning.
Talarico Is Still Running From His 2021 Comments
Talarico is not new to walking back what he has said.
In 2021 he told a church audience that God is non-binary and suggested gender itself might be fluid.
He now calls those comments intentionally provocative rather than something he actually believed.
Texas voters do not get a second chance on a United States Senate seat the way Talarico keeps getting a second chance on his theology.
Morning Joe will not press him on that contradiction because Morning Joe already decided he is great television.
Jody Hunt did the job the CNN hosts never attempted, and she did it with four words from the Ten Commandments.
Biden's campaign did not survive the debate stage that summer, and neither did Scarborough's credibility on who is and is not ready for a hostile room.
He is now asking the same audience to trust his read on a Senate candidate who cannot explain his position on the Bible, abortion, or God's gender.
Texas voters just watched a theology professor do in ninety seconds what two cable hosts could not manage in an entire hour.
Sources:
- Mike LaChance, "The Two Dumbest People in Political Media Thought James Talarico's CNN Town Hall Was Just Great," The Gateway Pundit, October 15, 2026.
- Staff, "Watch: Catholic Voter Rebukes Talarico to His Face Over Abortion Stance," The Daily Wire, October 15, 2026.
- Staff, "Talarico Recants Past Statements, Says He Was Intentionally Provocative by Calling God Non-Binary," The Christian Post, 2026.
- Joseph Wulfsohn, "Joe Scarborough Defends Biden, Says He Did Not See Biden Mental Decline in White House Meetings," Fox News, 2024.
- Staff, "Morning Joe's Dishonorable Attacks on the Biden Truth-Tellers," National Review, 2024.
