Posted in: NBC, Opinion, Peacock, TV, TV | Tagged: morning joe, msnbc, opinion, trump

Morning Joe Blames Social Media (Of Course) for Trump Visit Backlash

MSNBC's Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough & Mika Brzezinski believe that the "real world" supports their pilgrimage to make nice with Trump.

Whether it was done for the reasons that they shared on-air or out of concern for personal/professional retribution from Trump, as sources reported earlier today, MSNBC's Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski did the impossible on Monday—they found something for Megyn Kelly and Charlamagne that God could agree on. To say that the news that the morning hosts traveled out to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend to make nice with Trump wasn't well received across the entire scope of the political and media spectrum would be a serious understatement – with many seeing it as nothing more than a self-preservation move to save their show and their political connections.

But if you believe what Scarborough and Brzezinski shared in response this morning, it's only social media that has a problem. "Yesterday, I saw for the first time what a massive disconnect there was between social media and the real world because we were flooded with phone calls from people all day, literally around the world, all very positive, very supportive, [who said] 'I understand what you did…' etcetera, etcetera," Scarborough shared. "All of us will do the best we can do, and we're all working towards a better America." Brzezinski added, "Take it day by day, people."

Morning Joe Hosts Hit Mar-a-Lago in Effort to Make Nice with Trump

Here's what the duo had to say on their show on Monday, followed by a look back at "reality check" thoughts on the matter:

Brzezinski: "Joe and I realized it's time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump but also talking with him. For those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back, why wouldn't we? Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country."

Reality Check: Scarborough and Brzezinski noted that Trump was upbeat during their meeting. Of course Trump was feeling upbeat – he had two ex-friends who turned into his critics traveling out to see him… at his home base… surrounded by his people… to essentially make the case for their morning show's existence. Because Scarborough and Brzezinski know that they're going to need some of those Trumper eyeballs watching to make up for the folks they're losing.

Scarborough: "We talked about a lot of issues, including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets. We talked about that a good bit. It will come as no surprise to anybody who watches this show, has watched it over the past year or over the past decade, that we didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues, and we told him so."

Reality Check: Trump couldn't give a single s**t, let alone two s**ts, about what Scarborough and Brzezinski think on any of those issues. The morning show duo headed out to Florida out of a sense of personal career self-preservation – simple as that.

Brzezinski: "What we did agree on was to restart communications. My father [former President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski] often spoke with world leaders with whom he and the United States profoundly disagreed. That is a task shared by reporters and commentators alike."

Reality Check: Trump "restarting" communications means that he's going to keep doing what he's doing, and Scarborough and Brzezinski are going to make sure they have enough people on Morning Joe to rationalize that what Trump's doing is normal.

Scarborough: "I will tell you a lot of Democratic leaders we have talked to this past week since the election have told Mika and me it's time for a new approach."

Reality Check: At this point, the opinion of anyone who considers themselves in the "Democratic leaders" pool should be righteously ignored since they got the country into this mess. Setting aside the role that Scarborough and Brzezinski played in trumping up Trump back in the day (sorry, but that's a scarlet "T" that they will be wearing for a long time), how about… doing your job? Basic fundamental facts aren't "up for debate" – lies should be called out for being lies, and liars called out for being liars. Everyone should be fact-checked – Republicans, Democrats, and especially those who shit away their vote on Jill Stein – and not just during debates.

Final Thought: If Scarborough and Brzezinski want to try "a new approach," try being journalists and doing real journalistic things – and make sure you get the word out to CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times. Because it sure seems like a lot of news folks have lost their way in ways that would have Edward R. Murrow in tears. But, hey – maybe we'll end up with a Morning Joe broadcasting live from Mar-a-Lago. That's cool… right?

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