The liberal hosts and pundits on Tuesday’s Morning Joe discussed and analyzed the controversial, closed door meeting between President-elect Trump and the press that took place at Trump Tower. Yesterday, Donald Trump had summoned and then criticized the media and corporate representatives from the biggest broadcast news networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and FOX. Today though, Trump initially cancelled but then showed up later in the day to a press conference meeting with The New York Times.
Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Tuesday, moderated the discussion on press coverage of Trump throughout the election. MSNBC’s frequent commentator Donnie Deutsch said sarcastically that although he does not yet think that “this is the beginning of fascism…there is something concerning when the President-elect brings the media in the room and scolds them, about what they’re covering…by the way, CNN made Donald Trump in the first 10 months of this election, they covered his speeches…”
Scarborough interjected, stating that: “I think Donald Trump made Donald Trump!” as Deutsch continued on:
“Please, Joe, let me finish because this goes under the guise of one more thing that we normalize. I was disturbed and concerned, our president, at least as it was reported, chastised and yelling and you can't cover me this way, cover me this way, and that's not who we are. Now, he has been brilliant –“
Scarborough though corrected Deutsch by saying: “Hold on. I don't think he was yelling yesterday. If anybody has reporting in the contrary, the media people in there told me he was not yelling and it was a very conversational tone…”
Furthermore, Scarborough expressed that there has to be even more introspection within the media, citing criticism that no news networks predicted that the GOP nominee actually had a path to victory. Meanwhile, Scarborough and Deutsch debated over how CNN in particular had Trump promoted throughout the presidential primaries due to their interest in increased ratings. Deutsch finally exclaimed: “Exactly, he got elected because it was the best show on earth…but to say here and say we should not be concerned with a President lashing out against the media…”
Scarborough attempted to explain Trump’s harsh reaction toward the press and articulated his criticism of the liberal media bias:
“Through the entire primary process, The New York Times…they said he would never get in the race and it was constant…I will say the last month, Mika and I both said it right here, the press is so overwhelmingly negative and unified against him and being so oppositional in their reporting that you actually are going to help Donald Trump, first of all and secondly, the media is going to damage their own representation in the long run I think they have done it. How can you tell your viewers for a year something is not going to happen every single night and then, Josh, it happens?! and how can you gain their respect back?!”
Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s Josh Green then responded that:
“We never had a President that is more savvy and more wildly an operator when it comes to the media than Donald Trump…Trump wanted to come in and do is assert himself and say ‘you were wrong and I was right and remember it’, and these are going to be the terms of our relationship going forward.”
The Washington Post’s David Ignatius also added:
“Trump is a master of communicating his own message directly. Every president, especially at this stage wants to try and condition the media to cover my themes, my message, he's thinking about how he is going to govern the country, I’ve never seen a President that has not tried this in some form of other and not always calling in all of the executives and what presidents learn, in our system you have to deal with the free and open media, it drives presidents crazy.”
Here is the excerpt from the November 22nd discussion on Morning Joe:
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
11/22/2016
6:37:27 AM
BRZEZINSKI: That's true. Donald Trump was expected to meet with The New York Times today, by the way, following his meeting with the other members of the press yesterday in Trump Tower, which is reported to have been a little crazy. He tweeted this morning “I cancelled today's meeting with the failing New York Times when the terms and conditions of the meeting changed at the last moment. Not nice.” He added, “Perhaps a new meeting will be set up with The New York Times and in the meantime they continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone.”
SCARBOROUGH: What do you think about that meeting, Donny, yesterday of all the executives? It reads a lot harsher than it actually was in the room.
BRZEZINSKI: It reads really harsh!
SCARBOROUGH: I talked to several participants in the press that said he was not upset and he was not yelling, he shook everybody's hand and introduced them and talked to them calmly, and then he said all of these really harsh things, and he said you guys lied about me and none of you got it right and did not give me a path to 270 and after it was over, he got up and shook hands, and he said something about Jeff Zucker, ‘killing Jeff Zucker’, he actually made a few side comments that showed that they had a friendship in the past and he was still talking to his old friend.
DONNIE DEUTSCH: What I read, gave me a yucky feeling and I am not going to say this is the beginning of fascism but there is something concerning when the President-elect or President feels it’s okay to bring the media in the room and scold them, about what they’re covering by the way, CNN made Donald Trump in the first 10 months of this election, they covered his speeches…beginning, middle and end…
SCARBOROUGH: I think Donald Trump made Donald Trump!
DEUTSCH: That's a fair statement.
SCARBOROUGH: You guys laugh about that…
(....)
6:39:55 AM
DEUTSCH: Please, Joe, let me finish because this goes under the guise of one more thing that we normalize. I was disturbed and concerned, our president, at least as it was reported, chastised and yelling and you can't cover me this way, cover me this way, and that's not who we are. Now, he has been brilliant in being the anti-media guy.
SCARBOROUGH: Hold on. I don't think he was yelling yesterday. If anybody has reporting in the contrary, the media people in there told me he was not yelling and it was a very conversational tone –
DEUTSCH: Well, he was certainly dressing them down…
SCARBOROUGH: Yes, he was dressing them down…
BRZEZINSKI: Is David Ignatius still with us?
SCARBOROUGH: I am going to say it now, I would never do that in a billion years, it was the most one-sided skewed coverage where you had people writing front page stories tweeting 20 tweets a day attacking Donald Trump. The media has to - there has to be some introspection going the other way as well!
BRZEZINSKI: Well, if he said in the meeting that ‘you didn’t give me a path to 270’ except for you and folks on this show, no one did.
DEUTSCH: But they were also giving his hour long speeches when he was 2% in the polls. Donald Trump created Donald Trump off the media and he played the media and continues to do it, and for us to sit here and say – eh nothing, not even an issue
SCARBOROUGH: Donny, you going to sit here and say CNN made Donald Trump is laughable.
DEUSTSCH: CNN for the first nine -- Donald Trump was getting hour-long speeches when he was 1% in the polls because he rated and he was a celebrity and they were in the business of that…
SCARBOROUGH: Whose fault was that? Was it CNN?
BRZEZINSKI: Who made that happen?
SCARBOROUGH: Was it CNN’s fault that he rated?
DEUTSCH: That’s what got him elected!
SCARBOROUGH: That’s what people wanted to see and that’s why he got elected.
BRZEZINSKI: People voted for him…
DEUTSCH: Exactly, he got elected because it was the best show on earth…but to say here and say we should not be concerned with a President lashing out against the media…
SCARBOROUGH: Donny, don't set up false choices. We're not saying that. We're not saying that. I am saying if any human being were in Donald Trump's position, and the media had lied about him and his chances of winning and the media said he had a 1% chance -
DEUTSCH: Every poll had it wrong!
SCARBOROUGH: Can I please finish. Through the entire primary process, The New York Times, they were at 1%, 2%, 4%, and ceiling is 5%, and 10%, and there were people on this network that said he would never get in the race and it was constant and he gave them a lot of things to write about by saying a lot of horrible things which we attacked, and I will say the last month, Mika and I both said it right here, the press is so overwhelmingly negative and unified against him and being so oppositional in their reporting that you actually are going to help Donald Trump, first of all and secondly, the media is going to damage their own representation in the long run I think they have done it. How can you tell your viewers for a year something is not going to happen every single night and then, Josh, it happens?! and how can you gain their respect back?!
JOSH GREEN: It's a fair point but there's something else going on here. We never had a President that is more savvy and more wildly an operator when it comes to the media than Donald Trump. Part of what happened yesterday - this is like a brush back pitch in baseball, and he's asserting himself and saying ‘I will not have the normal relationship where we all come together and I ask you for nice coverage’, and that's what some of Trump's advisers would happen, a reset, you saw that term in the press - what Trump wanted to come in and do is assert himself and say ‘you were wrong and I was right and remember it’, and these are going to be the terms of our relationship going forward.
SCARBOROUGH: David Ignatius, this is a step in a continuing direction where the President controls his or her message to the frustration of the White House press pool, we all remember a time when getting the White House assignment was the most exciting assignment in Washington and Sam Donaldson, and everybody would fight over getting the news, and it has not been that way during the Obama administration, it has been buttoned up, and now you get Donald Trump, and he’s got what: 30-35 million followers on social media platforms – he can go over everybody's head.
DAVID IGNATIUS: Trump is a master of communicating his own message directly. Every president, especially at this stage wants to try and condition the media to cover my themes, my message, he's thinking about how he is going to govern the country, I’ve never seen a president that has not tried this in some form of other and not always calling in all of the executives and what presidents learn, in our system you have to deal with the free and open media, it drives presidents crazy. Every single president I ever covered goes nuts at the stories written about them and the leaks, and the question is overreacting to them, and we have gotten in trouble when presidents overreacted to the leaks – that’s what the Watergate scandals were all about. Every time Presidents get in real trouble it’s because of this disruption in the communication stream. I was also bothered about the tweet about the protest from the "Hamilton" cast, and you can see those talented kids getting up there on Broadway and delivering a speech to the Vice president, and the Vice President didn't seem to mind, and then Trump saying ‘this was harassment and apologize’, that didn’t seem appropriate for a president but Pence said ‘gosh, I thought it was a great show.’ That's sort of what you would like people to say. That would be my one fear.
BRZEZINSKI: Again, I can’t believe I am saying this to David Ignatius but I think were emoting too much on what we think the president should do. I mean, let's calm down and let’s cover the story and see how it plays out and actually pretend that we don't know how it's going to go and wait. Do you remember the love affair with Obama and the press? and everybody was like I mean…
