The liberal media is known for ignoring facts to help push their narrative against conservatives. But rarely is it as egregious as what occurred on Morning Joe Thursday morning. During the seven o’clock hour co-host Mika Brzezinski reported on a set of polls, one of which was this Fox News poll, showing GOP front runner Donald Trump losing by double digits to Hillary Clinton. A few minutes later the entire panel was up-in-arms over the GOP not wanted to elect the candidate that could win, Trump.
“Trump has consistently led the GOP field nationally since shortly after entering the race.” Reported Brzezinski “But he continues to pose a general election crisis for Republicans, losing to Hillary Clinton by double digits in two national polls released yesterday.” She noted that in a Bloomberg poll Trump was losing to Hillary by 18 points, while in the Fox News poll he was by 11.
Now, it is way too early to say how the votes will play out in November. And there is no telling what kind of damaging attacks Trump will direct at Hillary, but there is enough there to understand why Republicans would have concerns about Trump’s chances. There is also enough to help spot when “expert” and “legendary” panelists are feigning ignorance of political actors’ reasoning.
Minutes after reporting about the polls the panel was dismayed that Governor Scott Walker would even think about endorsing Senator Ted Cruz. With his interest piqued, columnist Mike Barnicle asked former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele: “What is the objective of a political party in its nomination for candidates? Is it not to win?”
“It’s to win.” Steele replied. The failed RNC Chair went on to bemoan how the GOP is looking to repeat the same old messages from 2008 and 2012 and for not listening to Trump.
“That you know, they want to replay that winning message from 2012 and 2008 that America stood behind and went to the ballot box singing about. And that's just not where America is and that's the problem with this party. They're not where America is. Donald Trump, whether you like him or not, hate him or love him, is.”
It’s hard to make the jump that the Morning Joe panel made to support Trump against the “establishment.” Ted Cruz is far from the establishment candidate models of Senator John McCain and Governor Mitt Romney. In fact most of the establishment hate him and are supporting him begrudgingly.
In addition, it’s confusing how Steele can argue that a party’s goal is to win while arguing that Trump is that candidate. Just a few minutes before speaking it was reported that Trump would lose to Hillary. And if Trump is really where “America is,” as Steele suggests, he would not be losing by 11 points. It also went unreported by Brzezinski that that same Fox News Poll had both Ted Cruz and John Kasich beating Hillary by three and nine points respectively.
Transcripts below:
MSNBC
Morning Joe
March 24, 2016
7:21:34 – 7:21:53 AM EasternMIKA BRZEZINSKI: Trump has consistently led the GOP field nationally since shortly after entering the race. But he continues to pose a general election crisis for Republicans, losing to Hillary Clinton by double digits in two national polls released yesterday. Down 18 points in the Bloomberg politics poll and 11 points in the Fox News poll.
…
7:25:12 – 7:26:47 AM Eastern
BRZEZINSKI: Republican governor and former candidate Scott walker could make an endorsement next week and it won't be trump.
[Audio of Scott Walker]
SCOTT WALKER: If you're someone who is uneasy with the front-runner, right now there's really only one candidate. If you look at the numbers objectively, Ted Cruz, Senator Cruz, is the only one who’s got a chance other than Donald Trump to win the nomination statistically. My friend governor Kasich cannot.
BRZEZINSKI: [exhales heavily] Michael Steele?
MICHAEL STEELE: [Laughter] Oh, my god.
MIKE BARNICLE: Hey Michael, let me ask you a question. You just heard that, right? Obviously you just heard that. What is the objective of a political party in its nomination for candidates? Is it not to win?
STEELE: It’s to win.
BARNICLE: So what's going on here? What's going on?
STEELE: I was just sitting here, you know, pulling what little hair I have left out of my head listening to Robert Costa report what the folks in Washington are thinking. That you know, they want to replay that winning message from 2012 and 2008 that America stood behind and went to the ballot box singing about. And that's just not where America is and that's the problem with this party. They're not where America is. Donald Trump, whether you like him or not, hate him or love him, is. And until you come to grips with that –
BRZEZINSKI: Exactly.
STEELE: You're going to continue down this crazy road of “oh, let's have another meeting to create the cabal that's going to undo the very thing that's going to happen right in front of your eyes.” That's the reality.
