Mark Finkelstein
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Morning Joe began the week reveling in President Trump's problems, with Donny Deutsch saying that the President's predicament is just "the tip of the iceberg" and insisting more than once that Trump will pay "for the rest of his life."
On CNN's New Day on Sunday, Michael Moore, a former Obama-appointed U.S. and Democrat state senator in Georgia, boasted: "you're hearing sort of the death rattle of this presidency, of this administration. I don't know that we need to call the undertaker yet, but it's certainly time to pick out the cemetery."
To offer a different interpretation, reader WKRP took the view that McQuade was not suggesting that President Trump be stripped of his citizenship, but that he be removed from office if he obtained the presidency via fraud. If indeed that's what McQuade meant, she found a roundabout means of saying so. But this writer acknowledges this as a plausible alternative interpretation of her remark.
On Morning Joe, commenting on remarks by Rudy Giuliani that could be seen as critical of President Trump, Mika Brzezinski twice asks at "what time" Giuliani crafted his remarks. She twice suggests that the explanation for Rudy's candor could lie in the fact that they came "late in the day." Back in 2016, at a time when Trump was considering Giuliani as a possible selection for Secretary of State, Mika hinted that Rudy had been "drinking a lot" during a meeting with Trump.
On CNN's New Day, after former Bush 43 aide Scott Jennings praises President Trump's handling of the passing of George H.W. Bush, CNN's John Avlon says: "I don't think you want to give out too many medals for not screwing up a presidential funeral. The President was on best behavior this week, but that's a fairly low bar."
On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough, criticizing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for allegedly "lying" to Congress about the Saudi prince's involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, says that Pompeo is "a relatively young man with great credentials, a great past behind him, who is going out and sullying his reputation for a man who may not be in the White House for another year."
On Morning Joe, Willie Geist approvingly quotes a tweet by MSNBC legal analyst Daniel Goldman, who wrote that comparing President Trump to mob bosses is unfair to mob bosses, because they "are far smarter and way more savvy and discreet than Trump." Geist adds that, unlike the President, mob bosses "can't pardon the witnesses they tamper with."
On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough reveals, and Mika Brzezinski confirms, that Mika's father, the late Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to Jimmy Carter, voted for George H.W. Bush And that was the one and only time Brzezinski voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Scarborough explains that what inspired Zbig was the kind of leadership and discipline that H.W. demonstrated in deciding not to continue on to Baghdad after the successful expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm.
On the MSNBC show 'AM Joy,' Maria Hinojosa says: "The government supports the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that supports public media, which is independent. Although oftentimes kind of bends over backward to show that they're not too progressive, precisely because they don't want to be caught on that charge."
On Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch says that he has spoken with Michael Cohen "many times" in recent days. Deutsch says that Cohen now feels that in light of his testimony and admission of having lied about the duration of his contacts with Russians regarding a possible Trump real estate deal, he is "on the right side of things," and can "stick his chest out."
Both MSNBC's Morning Joe and CNN's New Day suggested President Trump's declining to take a pardon for Paul Manafort off the table could constitute "obstruction," with the MSNBC legal analyst adding the possibility that it could amount to "witness tampering."
Morning Joe regular and professor Eddie Glaude Jr. calls Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who yesterday won re-election, the "last breath of the inheritors of the plantation class." Glaude also claims that Mississippi could change if poor people "acted in their interests."
On CNN's New Day, Joe Johns reports that two nooses were found on the grounds of the Mississippi state capitol, and that supporters of Mike Espy, the African-American Dem candidate in today's Senate run-off race, "hope to turn anger into turnout."
On Hardball, Chris Matthews takes a surprisingly firm stand on illegal immigration, saying "at some point, there's going to have to be enforcement," and agreeing with an RNC member who says that seeking a job is not a basis for asylum.
Morning Joe introduces Lauren Leader as the founder of a "non-partisan" organization. She proceeds to call on the military to disobey Commander-in-Chief Trump's orders on protecting the border from illegal entry.
On her MSNBC show, Joy Reid scoffs at the suggestion by guest Tiffany Cross that a ticket of Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey could beat President Trump "by a landslide." Reid says: "we know racially-polarized voting is a real thing and people will say they will vote for Oprah until she is on the ballot."
Interviewing Women's March head Teresa Shook, who has called for her co-chairs including Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory to resign over issues of anti-Semitism and homophobia, CNN's Alisyn Camerota pointed to a statement that Sarsour and her fellow co-chairs put out. Camerota challenges Shook, saying, "they sound contrite. They're apologizing. They want to continue to learn. Why can't they stay on?"
On CNN's New Day, co-host Alisyn Camerota, reacting to the news that Ivanka Trump used personal email, turned to former Trump aide Marc Short and snidely asked: "Marc, at Trump rallies, they chant 'lock her up, lock her up.' Who are they referring to? Hillary, or Ivanka?"
Does John Berman see himself as a news host, or is he auditioning for a late-night, Trump-trolling, "comedy" gig? The question arises after CNN's Berman, on this morning's New Day, suggested that President Trump is "full of schiff."
On CNN's "State of the Union," host Jake Tapper three times presses losing Dem Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams as to whether she acknowledges that her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, will be the "legitimate" governor. Abrams refuses to do so, conceding only that Kemp "received an adequate number of votes" and hence would be the "legal" governor.