David GilmourApr 24th, 2026, 8:50 am

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough cut in from the MS NOW studio and interrupted the live feed of the Pentagon’s Iran update presser to torch Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attack on European NATO allies on Friday.

The show’s panel commentary had paused while the network aired the briefing live as Hegseth offered details on the ongoing U.S. military blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The defense secretary detailed how military units were “controlling” the vital waterway and putting pressure on the Iranian regime, before he pivoted to rip Europe and repeat President Donald Trump’s repeated grievance at NATO.

“We are not counting on Europe, but they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do and might want to start doing less talking and having less fancy conferences in Europe and get in a boat,” he said. “This is much more their fight than ours.”

As the words left Hegseth’s mouth, Scarborough’s voiceover dropped in as he railed against the Pentagon chief’s remarks, fuming that the Trump administration was “obsessed with their hatred of Europe” and “hatred of Western democracy.”

“It’s fascinating that he talks about, mocks, and ridicules our allies in Europe that helped us destroy the Soviet Union. This is something the administration is obsessed with their hatred of Europe, their hatred of Western democracy, their hatred of the very people that helped us defeat the Soviet Union, and also many who fought side by side with us to destroy Nazi Germany and imperial Japan,” the host snapped.

He continued, flipping to attack the administration’s approach to the war in eastern Europe: “Just a note here, the only reason I’m jumping in, interesting timing to talk about how Europe does nothing but conduct fancy cocktail parties the morning after €90 billion of aid given to Ukraine, because this administration continues to do nothing to help the Ukrainian people push back the Russians.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

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