Today's Morning Joe and CNN This Morning offered a sharp contrast in their reaction to Marjorie Taylor Greene's remarkable comments to Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union yesterday. MTG apologized for her failure to have called out President Trump's attacks on others in the past, and said that, going forward, she is committed "to put[ting] down the knives in politics."
Citing his Baptist background, in which people are taught to embrace the sinner who renounces his past, Joe Scarborough welcomed MTG's change of heart. Mika kicked off the discussion by saying that she's "here" for what MTG said.
Scarborough admitted, "I've said so many stupid things through the years that, you know, I would ask and have asked forgiveness for." Would that include Joe's countless Trump/Hitler-Nazi analogies, the kind of thing that could incite violence against the president? Does Joe renounce such dangerous rhetoric going forward?
It was a very different tone over on CNN This Morning. Host Audie Cornish introduced the segment by displaying some of MTG's greatest [negative] hits, including the infamous Jewish space lasers.
CNN media analyst Sara Fischer said that the rebrand is not going "super well."
"If you make your entire political career off of having knives out for people and conspiracies, and now it's all about having empathy and tissues, people don't respond well to that."
Author Garrett Graff [a former staffer on Howard Dean's presidential campaign] was even more critical:
"I think this is the most opportunistic of the opportunists in American politics, sensing that the opportunities have changed. We are starting to see that Donald Trump is at historic lows with independents. He's at historic lows with swing voters. He is going to be out of office in a couple of years at this point, one way or another. And I think Marjorie Taylor Greene is not setting herself up for anything like the Senate or governorship. She is setting herself up to be the leader after Trump."
And what was that ominous crack about Trump being out of office in a couple of years "one way or another?"
Note: In his item from earlier this year, MRC's Clay Waters offered a valuable insight into Graff, a Trump-hater par excellence. In another CNN appearance, Graff made multiple Trump/Hitler analogies, with the host citing a Graff article in which he claimed that "America's trajectory feels like Berlin circa 1933."
Here are the transcripts
MS NOW
Morning Joe
11/17/25
6:48 am ETMIKA BRZEZINSKI: I want to show our viewers Marjorie Taylor Greene's remarkable turnaround on rhetoric. I'm here for it. Take a look.
DANA BASH [on CNN's State of the Union on 11/16/25]: Congresswoman, you posted on X that President Trump is, with his comments, fueling a, quote, hotbed of threats against you.
Obviously, any threats to your safety are completely unacceptable. But we have seen these kinds of attacks or criticism from the president at other people. It's not new.
And with respect, I haven't heard you speak out about it until it was directed at you.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Dana, I think that's fair criticism. And I would like to say, humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics. It's very bad for our country and it's been something I've thought about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was assassinated, is that I'm only responsible for myself and my own words and actions.
And I am going, I am committed, and I've been working on this a lot lately, to put down the knives in politics. I really just want to see people be kind to one another, and we need to figure out a new path forward that is focused on the American people, because as Americans, no matter what side of the aisle we're on, we have far more in common than we have differences, and we need to be able to respect each other with our disagreements.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: David [French]?
MIKA: That's amazing.
SCARBOROUGH: I go to a fellow Southern Baptist.
MIKA: I'll take it.
SCARBOROUGH: And you know, like me, First Baptist Church Pensacola, if Dr. Pleitz had to make us sing 16 verses of Just As I Am, he would. And when people went down to the front and gave their lives and, and asked for forgiveness of their sins, everyone would rejoice, even if we were last in line at Morrison's.
So, like Mika said, I'm all here for it. We're here for it. And just because -- I've said so many stupid things through the years that, you know, I would ask and have asked forgiveness for, that when I hear that from somebody, anybody, I'm sorry. I know there are a lot of people that are like, yeah, but, yeah, but, yeah, but.
You know what I say? Yeah, but, okay, you know what? This is great. One at a time. Let's actually embrace this and hope it sticks.
------------------------
CNN This Morning
11/17/25
6:36 am ETAUDIE CORNISH: I want to ask you about one more thing related to Congress, which is Marjorie Taylor Greene. She's been going through a big political reinvention this year. She obviously was a former Trump loyalist, and now she's leaning into this high-profile breakup with the president.
And speaking exclusively with CNN's Dana Bash, she did something extraordinary for a politician, at least. She apologized.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I would like to say, humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics. It's very bad for our country. I am committed, and I've been working on this a lot lately, to put down the knives in politics. I really just want to see people be kind to one another.
CORNISH: So, first of all, just to understand how she kind of entered politics, why we would be calling this a rebrand, just some of the past headlines from, say, 2018, where she was someone who spread conspiracy theories, frankly, about Sandy Hook, about other shootings, the Las Vegas shooting, and then, of course, an antisemitic trope about wildfires on secret Jewish space lasers. She's been asked to talk about this since and has sort of, I don't know what, said that she was taken in or a victim of misinformation. How is this rebrand going?
SARA FISCHER: Not super well. If you make your entire political career off of having knives out for people and conspiracies, and now it's all about having empathy and tissues, people don't respond well to that.
CORNISH: Did you just say empathy and tissues [laughs]?
FISCHER: That's what it seems like, right? She's going on Dana Bash's show. She's apologizing in a soft tone. This is not a soft tone type of person. I think that people look at her and think, okay, your political future in Georgia might not be going the way that you think it's going to go. We were talking earlier about polling against a possible Senate run. So she's trying to rebrand herself.
. . .
GARRETT GRAFF: I think this is, to me, what is the interesting part of this, is I think this is the most opportunistic of the opportunists in American politics, sensing that the opportunities have changed.
CORNISH: You mean that he has some weaknesses within his base?
GRAFF: That we are starting to see that Donald Trump is at historic lows with independents. He's at historic low with swing voters. He is going to be out of office in a couple of years at this point, one way or another.
And I think to me, this is an interesting window into the fracturing that we are going to see of this sui generis Trump coalition as it begins to imagine what's next. And I think Marjorie Taylor Greene is not setting herself up for anything like the Senate or governorship. She is setting herself up to be the leader after Trump.
