MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski returned to Mar-a-Lago for the first time in more than eight years to meet with President-elect Trump. And let's just say the reception from the left and right and everywhere in between ranged anywhere from anger to mockery to WTF?! Depending on the source.
It's easy for anyone sane and sober to fall into the last two camps of mockery and WTF?!, because we've all heard what Joe and Mika have been saying on "Morning Joe" ever since they turned on him in the spring of 2016, for one possible reason we'll discuss in a bit.
Just to review, Scarborough has said during this 2024 campaign season that "the American experiment" could be over if Trump wins. He claimed Trump wants to execute generals "that are not loyal enough to him," while also "terminating the Constitution if it gets in the way of his power."
The former Republican congressman also hilariously alleged Trump wants to shut down "news networks he disagrees with," while "prosecuting and putting in jail people who disagree with him," including journalists. Joe and Mika had also made a habit of comparing Trump to Hitler.
The funny thing is about all of this rhetoric is it ignores the fact that TRUMP WAS ALREADY PRESIDENT FOR FOUR YEARS AND NONE OF THESE THINGS HAPPENED.
It wasn't always like this between Trump and Joe and Mika. There was a time when the couple were among Trump's biggest supporters in 2015 after he announced his presidential run. In total, "Morning Joe" interviewed Trump 41 times as a presidential candidate, with many of the interviews blowing through commercial breaks while Trump joined by phone.
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The coverage was so sycophantic towards Trump that the respected journalist Matt Taibbi, writing for Rolling Stone, penned a piece calling out the pair with the following headline.
"Morning Blow: How Joe and Mika Became Trump’s Lapdogs; Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski should be herded into a rocket and shot into space for their brown-nosing of Trump."
Yep. It was that bad.
But after Trump decided to choose Mike Pence as his running mate over a list of contenders that reportedly included Scarborough, "Morning Joe" did a complete 180 on their coverage of the Republican nominee. And it's been that way ever since.
So why did Joe and Mika go to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump after saying just about the worst things possible about him on a very personal level? There are two reasons:
1. Ratings: MSNBC is seeing an exodus of viewers the likes of which we've never seen so soon after a presidential election, losing more than HALF of its audience since Nov. 5th. The precipitous drop comes as MSNBC's parent company, Comcast, is considering spinning off the cable "news" channel, which will likely result in layoffs and the restructuring of contracts for those who survive.
Joe and Mika likely saw that writing on the wall and realized that the only way to keep themselves relevant was to "reset the relationship" with Trump by flying to his estate and kissing the ring. By doing so, Trump may decide to return to the program and bring the big ratings that always seem to follow.
2. Access to power: The embrace of Trump likely wasn't difficult for Joe and Mika on a personal level since much of how they've acted and said over the past eight years has been nothing more than performance art to provide red meat for their audience.
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Truth is, these two have always been about access to power. Just look at the way they both fluffed President Joe Biden in an effort to curry favor and access to him. And it worked: Biden's favorite program is reportedly "Morning Joe." Axios even went so far as to call it "an obsession" of the sitting president.
"Start your tape right now because I’m about to tell you the truth," Scarborough bellowed back in March. "And f*** you if you can’t handle the truth. This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever. Not a close second. And I’ve known him for years. … If it weren’t the truth, I wouldn’t say it."
That's beyond funny to read now. And yes, it was all an act.
For Trump's part, it was beyond smart for him to take this meeting to "reset the relationship" (Scarborough's words) with his former friends-turned-foes. He reportedly was in a great mood during the sit down.
How could he not be? They came to him with the olive branch, which must have been beyond satisfying for a president-elect already on Cloud Nine.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski took a big risk in patching things up with Donald Trump. Their liberal audience has already turned on them for the betrayal, if the comments on X are any indication, along with their own staffers.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
And boy, does THIS look desperate...
