Dem
47
GOP
53
We don't know how this was supposed to work out; all we know is that it blew up in their faces. As many readers will know by now, Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who are husband and wife, and who are ostensibly a Trump-skeptical Democrat (Brzezinski) and former Republican (Scarborough), traveled to Mar-a-Lago on Friday of last week to meet with Donald Trump. This was their first face-to-face with the President-elect in 7 years.
According to the duo, who anchor MSNBC's morning lineup, they were there as "reporters." They also said that they had decided it was time to take a new approach to Trump. Explained Brzezinski: "Joe and I realized it's time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but talking with him." They were pleased to note that Trump "seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats on some of the most divisive issues."
Let us now stop right there and point out that NONE of this passes the smell test. If they were there as reporters, then how come they gave few details about the meeting, and shared no footage? As to a new approach, has anyone ever achieved anything constructive by talking "with" Trump? Even the most fawning media (e.g., Fox) ends up in his crosshairs the moment he perceives the slightest offense. And, after decades of doing this, do they REALLY think Trump is interested in finding common ground with Democrats? Assuming he even said that—and we don't know that he did—what in his background suggests that is a genuine sentiment?
Occam's Razor suggests a rather different explanation for the meeting: The pair expects Trump to start punishing his enemies list and they, like Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soong-Shiong, want to make nice before he actually gets back into power. What better way to do that than to travel to Trump's palace and bow before the throne?
We are about 3 weeks removed from Scarborough and Brzezinski slamming Trump as a budding fascist and a Hitler clone, so it's rather hard to see their turnaround as genuine and honestly felt. And they are getting absolutely flayed across the political spectrum. Republicans are attacking the pair as opportunists and hypocrites, while Democrats are attacking the pair as... opportunists and hypocrites. Bipartisanship!
Perhaps the most on-point critique came from left-wing personality Keith Olbermann:
BREAKING NEWS: I TOLD YOU SO
@joenbc and @morningmika - Trump collaborators
Not a word Mr. and Mrs. Vichy Quisling say can ever be trusted again - not that those words ever should have been trusted. They are confidence tricksters - and grifters
We tend to think Olbermann is right, in that this is a misstep from which the show probably won't recover. Lefty viewers won't trust them, and if righty viewers want Trump sycophancy, they can just tune into Fox. In the relatively small-audience world of cable "news," even the loss of 10% of viewership can be fatal to a show. (Z)