MSNBC host and former congressman Joe Scarborough leaves Republican party

Mr Scarborough has been the conservative voice of “Morning Joe” for a decade

Joe Scarborough, the conservative co-host of MSNBC’s political commentary show “Morning Joe,” has declared that he is leaving the Republican Party.

During an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” with his co-host Mika Brzezinski, Mr Scarborough lambasted what he described as a complacent Republican Party that was not willing to challenge Donald Trump.

“You have to ask yourself, what exactly is the Republican Party willing to do?” Mr Scarborough said to Mr Colbert. “How far are they willing to go? How much of this country and our values are they willing to sell out?”

“Aren’t you a Republican?” Mr Colbert asked.

“I am a Republican, but I’m not going to be a Republican anymore,” Mr Scarborough said to loud applause from the audience. “I’ve got to become an independent.”

Mr Scarborough has been the conservative voice of “Morning Joe” for a decade and served as a US congressman from Florida from 1995 to 2001. He belonged to a “small group of young Republican congressmen called the ‘New Federalists’ who were said to possess a surprising amount of power given their youth and lack of years in Congress,” according to his MSNBC biography page.

Mr Scarborough and Ms Brzezinski used to be friends with Mr Trump, who regularly called their programme during the early days of his candidacy.

“You guys have been supporters, and I really appreciate it,” Mr Trump said in February 2016, after he had won the New Hampshire primary. “And not necessarily supporters, but at least believers. You said there’s some potential there.”

But the co-hosts have become increasingly critical of Mr Trump and of his conduct in the White House, leading to the US President lashing out on social media.

Last month, about an hour after MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski accused him of “lying every day”, “destroying the country” and having “teensy” hands, Mr Trump claimed on Twitter that Ms Brzezinski was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” when he saw her last year at his Mar-a-Lago resort, sparking a feud.

Mr Trump’s posts drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

In retaliation for the President’s comments, the “Morning Joe” co-hosts published an editorial in the Washington Post in which they called the president’s allegations false and offensive and said that they “have noticed a change in his behaviour over the past few years.”

“Perhaps that is why we were neither shocked nor insulted by the president’s personal attack,” they wrote. “The Donald Trump we knew before the campaign was a flawed character but one who still seemed capable of keeping his worst instincts in check.”

On “The Late Show”, Mr Scarborough said the modern day Republican Party was “not a party that Ronald Reagan could associate with” and not one he wants to belong to either. He told Mr Colbert that he still believes in the core values of conservatism — lower taxes, small government — but that the party's refusal to admonish Mr Trump’s racism is unacceptable.

However, he added that his dissatisfaction with the party had been building for awhile. “I think it’s inexplicable. This was well before Donald Trump was elected president that my party has betrayed their core values,” Mr Scarborough said.