Joe and Mika are angry at Donald Trump now - but they've never apologized for promoting him

[DonViejo]

FRIDAY, JUN 30, 2017 06:17 PM EDT

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are angry at Donald Trump now — but they’ve never apologized for promoting him

MSNBC's morning news duo loves bashing Trump. Why haven't they apologized for normalizing him?

MATTHEW SHEFFIELD

MSNBC’s morning news duo Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have become some of Donald Trump’s most vociferous critics in recent months. Amid all of their criticisms of him, however, they have yet to apologize for their own role in helping his presidential campaign be viewed credibly by the press and the general public.

During Friday’s episode of “Morning Joe,” Scarborough flat-out stated that Trump had somehow, magically morphed into a different person from the guy he used to know.

“The guy that’s in the White House now is not the guy we knew two years ago,” Scarborough told his panel.

“Not even close,” Brzezinski agreed.

Link to tweet

“The Donald Trump we knew for the better part of 10, 12 years was always in on the joke,” Scarborough continued, saying that the future president would frequently engage in outrageous behavior but then wink and nod to signify that it was all part of the show.

“This guy is not even the same person he was a year ago,” Scarborough added, claiming to be repeating an armchair psychiatric diagnosis of a Trump insider who was worried about the president’s health.

That’s their story and they’re sticking to it. Too bad it’s completely false, at least according to Tony Schwartz, the man who wrote “The Art of the Deal” — the book that made Trump into Trump. New Yorker writer Jane Meyer quoted Schwartz in a 2016 profile that illustrates Trump has long presented himself in the same manner:

more
http://www.salon.com/2017/06/30/joe-scarborough-and-mika-brzezinski-are-angry-at-donald-trump-now-but-theyve-never-apologized-for-promoting-him/

[FarPoint]

1. I'm waiting for it!

First step to recovery from Kiss Ass journalism.... Show us sincerity... Apologize and take leadership in journalism.

[bettyellen]

3. All of the media has struggled against admitting they were suckered in-

They want to blame the public for wanting to see that idiot Trump- but it doesn't explain why they were so slow to call a serial liar a liar. They continued pretending- and still often do, that he's just inexperienced and doesn't know better. They really have to stop that shit.

[tblue37]

16. And every time he reads a speech that someone else wrote for him, without stopping to

fling excrement, some fool like Van or Fareed will still gush about how he has become president, "period."

[FarPoint]

18. Exactly...

They enabled tRump by using his abusive, obnoxious behavior for sensationalized media coverage verses professional journalism... Rating were more important and so much easier than doing the work they got paid to provide.

National Failure.

[Bleacher Creature]

2. Really? Here's what he was doing a year ago.

https://m.

He's always been the same guy. The only difference is that he's now going afte them.

[dalton99a]

6. Yep.

[FreepFryer]

4. Joe and Mika aren't the story... we don't need them to be heroes. Trump's crimes are the story. (nt)

[smirkymonkey]

11. Thank YOU!

I am tired of these threads bashing Joe and Mika. I don't particularly care for them, but I never expected much from them anyway. The fact that they are hammering Trump NOW is what matters. I am getting sick of these purity threads. Trump used to be a Democrat. Are people going to start sticking up for him because of that?

[FreepFryer]

12. I think Wedgy McWedgerton is up to his wedgy wedgy ways. Not gonna happen. Cheers, smirky! (n/t)

[smirkymonkey]

13. LOL!

Cheers FreepFryer!

[yortsed snacilbuper]

5. Joe and mika want tax cuts,

just saying.

[3catwoman3]

7. "This guy is not even the same person...

...he was a year ago."

Well, yes he is. He most certainly is.

[Not Ruth]

8. Want to guess how their ratings were yesterday?

They do not just report the news anymore, they are the news. One wonders what they would ask for if they could have anything? It probably would not be Trump disappearing.

[dalton99a]

9. The many times Donald Trump and 'Morning Joe' yukked it up - WP

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/12/10/the-many-times-donald-trump-and-morning-joe-yukked-it-up/

The many times Donald Trump and ‘Morning Joe’ yukked it up
By Erik Wemple | December 10, 2015

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” shook the media world on Tuesday with a tense and never-ending interview with Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. The session came after Trump’s call for a “shutdown” barring Muslims from entering into the United States. Name partner Joe Scarborough grew so frustrated with Trump’s filibustering ways that he cut to a commercial break rather than continue listening to the real-estate mogul.

Yesterday the Erik Wemple Blog spent hours watching and re-watching all the very many interviews that the “Morning Joe” crew has done with Trump. There are some themes to this ouevre: Trump is often on the phone; some decent, journalistic questions get lobbed at Trump, often by Willie Geist; Trump makes more claims than the crew can possibly fact-check; and there’s a great deal of talk about polls. But the central theme is bonhomie.

Ever since mid-June, “Morning Joe” has had a blast yukking it up with Donald Trump. The laughs, giggles and chuckles come when Trump tells a joke; they come when he makes an outlandish claim; they come when he introduces himself to the program over the phone, “Good morning, darling”; they come when the topic is one of his competitors or when the topic is a man in Trump’s company who is making a valiant attempt to learn English but hasn’t yet reached the level of “Ernest Hemingway” or when the topic is Trump’s “vision.”

They come a bit too frequently. Certainly any proper TV news show encourages moments of levity. That’s fine. Yet “Morning Joe” approach to Trump — too much fun, too much exposure — has steered what could journalism into the friendly confines of a morning social club.

[Blue_Adept]

10. Joe and Mika are simply tools that those of us who resist can use

And we can easily discard them later as they're utterly disposable.

We get it, we know who they are and what they are. But it's almost an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing cominbed with politics makes strange bedfellows.

[Demtexan]

14. I really have no pity for them.

They are rich and will have medical care if needed.

[Squinch]

15. Right. This guy has been lying, conning, leaving a trail of thousands of people he's ruined

financially for four decades, and Joe and Mika are just noticing.

Assholes. They legitimized him. He would not have been elected if they hadn't done that.

[MyOwnPeace]

17. Hey Joe and Mika,

can you relate to this?

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

........Martin Niemoller

HE is what you helped sell - and now you find out there's no warranty.
No, it wasn't JUST you - but you were part of it.