'Morning Joe' host seeks new dialogue with President Trump

After years of declaring Donald Trump a “threat to democracy” and politically similar to Adolf Hitler, two of Trump's harshest critics, MSNBC's “Morning Joe” Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announced Monday that they had participated in a meeting with the president. He was elected Friday at his Mar-a-Lago residence. Trump was a frequent guest on the show until early 2016, when he was running for his first term as president.

The Morning Joe host and Trump have insulted each other since 2016, with Brzezinski calling Trump a “narcissist” and implying that Trump is “mentally ill.” Last November, Scarborough accused President Trump of “going all-out against Hitler” when discussing illegal immigration. President Trump is a man who never backs down from a fight, and over the years has called the two men “Crazy Mika” and “Psycho Joe.”

reboot time

However, following Trump's election victory on November 5, the talk show host and the president-elect announced they would “resume communication.”

“Five years of political warfare have left Washington and the nation deeply divided. We want to be as clear as possible in expressing our deep concerns about President Trump's actions and comments during this heated national debate. Brzezinski said on Monday's broadcast. “But for nearly 80 million Americans, election denialism, public trials, and January 6 were not as important as the issues that motivated them to vote Donald Trump back into the White House. ”

“Joe and I recognize that it's time to do something different, and that starts with not just talking about Donald Trump, but talking to him,” Brzezinski added.

Scarborough said the three discussed a number of issues, including “abortion, mass deportation, and the threat of political retaliation against political opponents and the press.”

“I think it's no surprise to anyone who's watched this show and watched it over the past year, or even the past 10 years, that we disagree on a lot of issues and told him that.” added Mr Scarborough. .

Nevertheless, Brzezinski declared, “What we agreed to was to resume communications.”

Kiss the ring?

Many on the left were outraged by what they saw as a “kissing of the ring” by the Morning Joe team.

“I don't think you need to sit at Mar-a-Lago for 90 minutes kissing his ring to tell the truth,” said The View's Sunny Hostin.

“The bottom line is that now, more than ever, America needs a free press that speaks truth to power,” Hostin said.

“He's the guy who brought the alternative facts to light. He's the guy who attacked three black female journalists. He's the guy who had his press credentials revoked for asking Jim Acosta a question,” Hostin argued. “So this president-elect, I don’t want to say it too much, but he wants only Fox News to cover him and nothing but the national media, but I don’t think he will. I don't think he can.'' He is trusted like any other president. This is abnormal. ”

Jeff Jarvis of the BuzzMachine blog called this development the “abomination of pre-submission.”

Left-wing political commentator Crystal Ball was particularly harsh. Of I am responsible,” he wrote. Now that they've helped the fascists invade, they go kiss the ring. Horrible. “

move forward

However, President Trump seems intent on forgiving and forgetting, congratulating the two men on “a historic, perfect campaign,” which I truly believe is true. , which was also the campaign I worked on.” It was long and hard — probably longer and harder than any presidential candidate in history. ”

“A lot of things were discussed, and I very much appreciate the fact that they wanted open communication,” Trump said. “In many ways, it's too bad it wasn't done a long time ago.”

Perhaps Brzezinski is right, and the talk show duo simply wants “something different” from Trump. It's also quite possible that hosts and their networks are desperately trying to grab some relevance in a media environment that no longer appears to require them. Like it or not, Trump has always been a ratings hit.