New Details and Controversy Accompany Morning Joe's Meeting With Donald Trump

The Morning Joe team kick-started their own news cycle on Monday when co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed that they'd booked a private sit-down interview with Donald Trump over the weekend. It was the duo's first in-person meeting with the president-elect in seven years and the first contact they'd had since Scarborough called Trump following the attempt on his life in July. “Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different,” Brzezinski said while explaining their decision. “And that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him.” But not everyone was thrilled by Morning Joe's "different" approach. In the hours after their Monday broadcast, social media platforms like X, formerly Twitter, were flooded by journalists and MSNBC viewers expressing their profound disagreement with Scarborough and Brzezinski's decision to visit Trump in Mar-a-Lago. Meanwhile, CNN's chief media analyst—and TVNewser founder Brian Stelter—dug up some fresh details for his Reliable Sources newsletter about the impetus for Morning Joe's trip to Florida. According to Stelter's sources, the co-hosts were troubled about the possibility of being on the receiving end of Trump's oft-stated desire for "retribution" against outlets critical of his past and future administration. Stelter also reports that reaction within the network was mixed as well, with some sources suggesting that the meeting read as "capitulation" to the president-elect and his team. "Monday morning’s big reveal led some media observers to suspect that the Morning Joe hosts thought they might be singled out for political prosecutions," Stelter writes. "Other MSNBC personalities have also privately wondered if they will be targeted." Trump himself spoke with Fox News Digital about the meeting on Monday morning. "Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication," he told the outlet. "In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago." Still, those positive sentiments didn't stop critics on both sides of the aisle from putting Scarborough and Brzezinski on blast. Megyn Kelly—who recently had her own fence-mending reunion with Trump—described their meeting with Trump as an "absurd farce" on her podcast. Guest Glenn Greenwald also had harsh words for the married couple, saying: "[They] don't believe in anything other than their own careers and their own ratings." Ratings were a recurring theme of the criticism that rolled in on X from progressive Morning Joe viewers and commentators. Scarborough addressed the steady stream of criticism on Tuesday's episode, noting that he observed a "massive disconnect" between digital and real life. "We were flooded with phone calls from people all day, literally around the world, all very positive, very supportive," he said, adding that several people advised him to stay off social media. "All of us will do the best we can do, and we’re all working towards a better America," Scarborough continued, with Brzezinski offering her own advice: "Take it day by day, people."

MSNBC

New Details and Controversy Accompany Morning Joe's Meeting With Donald Trump

Critics on both sides of the aisle shared their opinions on social media

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