Morning Joe' Plays the 'What if a Republican' Game About Bernie Sanders' Rape Fantasy Writing

MSNBC's "Morning Joe" crew spent some time Friday speculating what would have happened had a Republican, not Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, been the one to write an essay saying that women fantasize about being gang-raped.

First grabbing a printed copy of the story from Joe Scarborough's hand, Mika Brzezinski called the writing "sick," to which Scarborough agreed, "This is kinda sick."

Willie Geist quoted the Sanders campaign's explanation released late Thursday calling the essay "a poor attempt at satire," and added, "If you read it, it's hard to see where the satire is."

"Should we play the game? What if a Republican..." Geist said.

He was interrupted by laughter from his co-hosts, with Joe Scarborough pondering, "What if [newly announced GOP candidate] Rick Santorum, in his 20s, had written that women fantasize about being raped? Would he even be on this show today? Would he still be in the race?"

(Santorum was on the show later and Sanders' writing was not addressed.)

Watch the segment from the start of Friday's episode of "Morning Joe":

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