The hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski had a private meeting with President-elect Donald Trump to develop a “new approach" and "restart communications", the pair revealed on their show Monday.
“We talked about a lot of issues including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political deportation against political opponents and media outlets,” Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, told viewers. “It will come as no surprise to anybody who watches this show, has watched it over the past year or over the past decade, that we didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues and we told him so.”
Brzezinski said they hadn’t spoken with Trump, in person, for over seven years; the last conversation they had on the phone was in March 2020.
“Morning Joe” engaged in critical coverage of Trump’s threat to democracy throughout his 2024 presidential campaign But this year’s election results have prompted the MSNBC hosts to “do something different,” Brzezinski said. “That starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him."
Fox News praised Trump for meeting with Brzezinski and Scarborough after they "called him every name under the sun," per "Fox and Friends" co-host Ainsley Earnhardt on Monday.
“It just shows you that he does want to smooth things over. Maybe he is going to unite our country,” she added.
Anticipating preemptive backlash from the left about their reasons for communicating with Trump, Brzezinski said Monday: “Why wouldn’t we?" Scarborough then mentioned that "top Democrats" he'd spoken with were taking a similar approach to communicating with Trump in hopes of a more united country.
But the pair also reassured viewers that they remain committed to speaking “truth to power” and will be critical of Trump when needed to hold him accountable.
“Don’t be mistaken, we’re not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump, we’re here to report on him,” Scarborough said. “And to hopefully provide you insights that are going to better equip all of us in understanding these deeply unsettling times.”
