Eugene Robinson’s Untimely Metaphor: Boris Became PM By ‘Knifing’ Rival ‘In the Back’

Consider this the year’s most grossly insensitive metaphor. 

On Friday Morning Joe—hours after the news broke that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been assassinated with shots to the back—Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, in a scathing statement about Boris Johnson, said:

He kind of fell apart, but he continued to climb up in his career. After robbing Theresa May of her back, he was elected Prime Minister.”  

Robinson said, “And you know what? His rise was like that. And, and.” His fall is being met with a great deal of joy by his adversaries.” Robinson, and the liberal media at large, are among those enemies. So much so that it didn’t even occur to Robinson how utterly tasteless and inappropriate was his metaphor.

Take note: Mika Brzezinski can be considered another Johnson enemy, relishing his political defeat. She was giggling over her husband’s impending resignation on Thursday and calling it a sign that conservative populism is headed for global decline.

On the back of the populist wave which led to Brexit being defeated, Donald Trump winning, and right-wing populist figures rising across Europe, the Prime Minister was elected to power!

Trump’s post election woes only get worse with Johnson’s fall. With Marine Le Pen’s devastating defeat in France, Trump’s right-wing populism may be curtailed to cable news hosts and the dwindling number dimwitted members of Congress.

There is a decreasing number of intelligent representatives in Congress. Mika may have had in mind how many Democrats she hopes to keep in Congress after the midterms.

Guess who liberals such as Robinson and Mika, exuberant over Johson’s resignation, now find themselves in alignment with? Russia! CNBC, MSNBC’s sister network reports: “Russia Cheers Boris Johnson’s Demise!” 

On Morning Joe, the untimely references to stabbing a prime minister on a day of a prime minister being assassinated was sponsored in part by Servpro and Clear Choice. 

The transcript is here.

MSNBC
Morning Joe
7/8/22
6:19 am EDT

MIKA BRZEZINSKI : Eugene, Your latest Op-Ed for The Washington PostThis article is called “Boris Johnson’s fall shows how shamelessness can limit a superpower.” What is going on there? And what are the limits, when compared to what we have here?

EUGENE ROBINSON (Yes, that’s right). Our limit is still not reached, but I don’t think so.

MIKA: No.

ROBINSON

MIKA: It’s possible.

ROBINSON – But Britain was tired of Boris Johnson’s antics. Boris was my London bureau chief at the Post.

MIKA: Wow.

ROBINSON — He was Brussels correspondent of. The Daily Telegraph. He basically invented everything. I mean, he, he, he, he did. He was a story-teller, and he got them to the top of the news. He’d find a little bit of truth, or at least half-truth and create a sensational story about them and their actions to England. 

He kind of failed, you know?, throughout his career. He was a knifer to Theresa May and became the Prime Minister.You know what? His rise, as you can see, was similar to that of yours, and you. His fall is being met with a great deal of joy by many of his friends and enemies. 

The interesting thing is that Boris was accepted by the Conservative party, just as Donald Trump had accepted the Republican party’s agreement to support him, so long as they were winning. It’s not Johnson had changed. He was exactly the same person as he was before, despite scandals after scandals, lies after lies. But the Conservatives were falling apart. The party was finally able to win the election because it had fallen so low in the polls. The party realized Johnson, their leader, was going to lead them into a devastating defeat.

JOE SCARBOROUGH – I meant to add that there are no profiles of courage within the Tory party. Many people are asking why it would be so in Britain and not the United States. Because they served their politicians. The Tories in Britain and the Conservatives. They were able to turn against Johnson. That is why many Republicans are still not at that point in the country. We seem to be going through a period of transition right now. Maybe this is Donald Trump’s fate with conservatives. We’ll see.