MSNBC Panel: ‘You’ve Really Lost the Plot’ After Trump’s Arlington Controversy and J.D. Vance’s ‘Go to Hell’ Comment

On Thursday morning, the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” expressed astonishment at the increasingly chaotic state of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, which is currently bogged down by scandals and missteps as it falls behind in the polls. The discussion centered on the backlash from Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery for a photo-op, which has sparked outrage among veterans and their families, as well as a controversial comment made by Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, who told Vice President Kamala Harris to “go to hell.”

As fill-in host Jonathan Lemire pointed out, the Arlington incident has become a significant issue for the Trump campaign, with reports of a physical altercation between Trump aides and a cemetery staffer leading to further controversy. Lemire remarked, “In a normal campaign, a campaign of years past if there had been an altercation between a staffer, a campaign staffer, and someone who works the cemetery, it’d be the campaign staffer immediately fired or at least suspended.”

Instead of taking corrective action, the Trump team has doubled down on its defense of the staffer involved in the altercation, even attacking the cemetery employee afterward. Lemire noted, “It does reiterate what the Harris team is saying and others in the political world are saying: the nation is exhausted by Donald Trump.”

MSNBC political analyst Ali Vitali echoed Lemire’s concerns, saying, “In any normal campaign, they were invited, that is their right to accept the invitation and go there—that all makes sense. But when you’re arguing with the staff at Arlington National Cemetery, I think you’ve really lost the plot there.”

Vitali further commented on the seriousness of the situation, highlighting that a formal report was filed regarding the incident at Arlington, which has attracted the attention of members of Congress. She emphasized, “But if you’re arguing with the staff at one of America’s most sacred sites, I think you’ve clearly lost the message.”

The panel also discussed J.D. Vance’s inflammatory comment toward Vice President Harris, which starkly contrasts with his previous calls for lowering political rhetoric. “He is the person who, rightly, after the attempted assassination of his running mate, said that everyone needs to take the rhetoric down,” Vitali said. “But that comment from Vance basically telling the vice president of the United States to ‘go to hell,’ that is completely anathema to what he said.”

Vitali concluded by pointing out the inconsistency in the Trump campaign’s messaging, noting that after initially calling for a reduction in heated rhetoric, they have returned to divisive and aggressive tactics, further fueling the chaos surrounding the campaign.