MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough took aim at his liberal colleagues in the United States old media about their continued outrage over the meeting he and his co-host Mika Brzezinski had with newly elected President Donald Trump last month.
Scarborough kicked off Thursday’s “Morning Joe” with a 20-minute response to a piece written by The Atlantic’s David Frum, a frequent “Morning Joe” guest who suggested the MSNBC duo are now living in “fear” as Trump returns to the White House .
“Let me tell you something: You can talk to anyone who has worked in the front office of NBC and MSNBC over the last 22 years. I’m telling you, I’m not afraid. If you talk to anyone who served with me in Congress, they will tell you.” – not afraid of leadership. No fear now,” Scarborough said.
“We went to talk to the president-elect and people wrote articles that were just false. But you know what we did? We did something with the business community. The business said, ‘Don’t say anything. Keep your head down.’ ‘ …We did. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving. We said, ‘Uh, you know what? People are mad at some of our guests, some of our friends. It’s more of a warning .It’s fine.’ But guess what? The main complaint was that we called Donald Trump’s rhetoric ‘fascist’ during the campaign. And then we made an off-the-record comment in the New York Times.
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough offered a 20-minute response to frequent “Morning Joe” guest David Frum, rejecting his claim that they are “scared” of President-elect Donald Trump. (Screenshot/MSNBC)
‘You know what? I even think people at The Atlantic might do that,” Brzezinski interjected.
“If they have the opportunity to talk background with the incoming president and the president-elect, they would,” Scarborough continued. “In fact, as someone wrote during this outrageously stupid, immature series of articles that lied about us over and over again, reporters said, ‘I would be fired if I had the chance to go in and talk to anyone who is going to is president of the US. the United States and I did not do it.” Ask any journalist from The New York Times and New York Post – and this is funny. Especially people from The Washington Post, with their hair on fire! At the same time, The Washington Post is doing the same thing: trying to talk to the president in the background, trying to talk to people around the president in the background. That’s what reporters do!”
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“The only difference between what we did on that visit and what The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and everyone else does is that we were transparent. We actually told you,” Scarborough said later. “And so I understand that if you don’t know how the media works day in and day out, and you watch this show day in and day out, I would understand saying, ‘Wow, OK.’ , man, man, so suddenly.’ But when media reporters lie, pretending this is a shock, trying to reach Washington Post journalists and columnists saying, “How dare they go to him after saying he was a fascist.” And that’s exactly what The Washington Post does. That’s exactly what The New York Times does.
Atlantic staff writer David Frum suggested that “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are living in “anxiety” about the return of President-elect Donald Trump. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Politicon)
Scarborough further argued that “you can do two things at once,” that he can still call Trump a “fascist” and go talk to him to “read the man,” “so I can come.” over here to talk to you and let you know what’s going on!”
“You know, everyone we have on this show is a reporter? That’s what they do every day. They speak in the background,” Scarborough echoed. He later said, “I’m tired of the nonsense and I wish we would all just get to work and do the things we need to do, which is our job, which is to talk to people who are going to determine where we need to be.” this country is going to continue for the next four years.”
Brzezinski denied that she and Scarborough’s private conversation with Trump was not ‘kissing the ring’ or ‘bending the knee’, and emphasized that it was a ‘serious meeting’.
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“To those you talked about here who are still pushing this story and saying this article is so sad and ‘Oh my God, fear has taken over.’ Good job. Good job,” Brzezinski told their critics. “Because you’re so stuck in your hate. You’re so stuck in your hate mode that you can’t see that you’re doing exactly what the negative forces at play here want, and that’s the reason we fight. We shouldn’t be doing that.” fighting to do our job, to do what The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic are doing right now. And if they don’t meet the president-elect and talk to him talk, then they don’t do their job, but we know they do.”
“CNN does it. Are we condemning CNN for doing it? No. You know why? It’s their job! Grow up! It’s their job. The only thing we did that started this Twitter storm is we told you Now, if you prefer that we not tell you everything we do, that’s fine. But in this case we just saw that transparency was best,” Scarborough added before continuing.
Morning Joe co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough angered liberals on social media after announcing their meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
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The feud between Frum and the “Morning Joe” stars began Wednesday after Frum made a joke on their program about Fox News and Trump-nominated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the former co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend.” Brzezinski later told viewers that Frum’s comment was “a little too light-hearted for the moment we’re in.”
In response, Frum wrote a piece titled “The Sound of Fear on Air,” in which he called Brzezinski’s gentle rebuke of his joke an “ominous sign” as the country faces a second Trump presidency.
“It is deeply ominous when our leading forums for discussion of public affairs are already feeling the chill of intimidation and responding with attempts to appease,” Frum said. told readers. “I write these words knowing that I am probably saying goodbye forever to a television platform that I enjoy and have benefited from as a viewer and guest… I don’t write to berate anyone; I write because fear is contagious. Let alone it spread and it will paralyze us all.”
Scarborough made it clear to viewers that Frum will remain invited to “Morning Joe” and said Frum is expected to appear on the program Friday.
