Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, top morning hosts at the liberal MSNBC cable news network, have revealed that they met with Donald Trump in person about “a new approach” and “restarting communications” after vocally opposing his successful campaign for a second presidency.
In Monday’s edition of Morning Joe, Scarborough said he and Brzezinski spoke with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida about “abortion, mass deportation, threats of … retaliation against political opponents and media outlets.”
“We disagreed on a lot of things, and we told him so,” Scarborough noted. But Brzezinski said she and Scarborough agreed to resume dialogue with Trump in what was their first in-person meeting in seven years.
Ahead of condemnation from Democratic watchers and other liberals angry that voters returned Trump to the Oval Office in the Nov. 5 election, Brzezinski said, “Why shouldn’t she and Scarborough — her husband — meet with him.
Related: The Morning Joe host criticizes MSNBC for pulling the show after the Trump shooting
She recounted how she and her co-host expressed “deep concerns” about Trump’s threatening rhetoric on several issues, as well as the deadly attack on the US Capitol that his supporters launched after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. But she said none of these issues turned out to be as important as the issues that “sent Trump back to the White House.”
Brzezinski added: “Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different and that starts with not just talking about Donald Trump, but talking to him.”
Scarborough, meanwhile, quoted “someone close to… Trump” who insisted the newly elected president would not seek a third term in violation of the U.S. Constitution. That comment came after reports that Trump reportedly told members of the U.S. House of Representatives: “I suspect I won’t run again unless you do something — unless you say, ‘He’s so good, we just have to find out.’
“This is a president who is not seeking re-election,” Scarborough said of Trump, who served for four years starting in 2017 and will be re-inaugurated in January. The Morning Joe co-host then called on leaders of both political parties to “find common ground, if that is even possible.”
In any case, some viewers were unimpressed by the immediate aftermath of Brzezinski and Scarborough’s revelation on Monday. A social media account claiming to have supported Kamala Harris in her defeat to Trump wrote: “In other words, Joe and Mika went to see the king at his castle, and they bowed the knee.”
In a separate post, liberal commentator and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann wrote: “I said Scarborough was the worst person I have ever encountered in this industry. He proves me right, year after year.” Olbermann also wrote that Scarborough and Brzezinski’s network had now become “Vichy MSNBC,” referring to the French state regime that collaborated with the Nazi occupiers during World War II.
Brzezinski and Scarborough’s show emerged as an early morning option for liberals. Biden is reportedly a big fan, as was evident when he called in during a Morning Joe episode in early July to explain why he was resisting demands to withdraw from re-election after a disastrous debate with Trump, although he eventually relented and gave way. for Harris.
On the other hand, Morning Joe repeatedly drew Trump’s ire during his first presidency when he called Scarborough “crazy” and Brzezinski “dumb as a rock.”
Brzezinski said Monday that it was also her and Scarborough’s second conversation with Trump since March 2020. The first of which was a personal phone call between Scarborough and Trump shortly after the incoming president survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
“Make no mistake,” Scarborough said Monday. “We are not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump. We’re here to report on him and hopefully provide you with insights that will better equip us all to better understand these deeply troubling times.
