On Thursday, the Morning Joe crew remained shocked that former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election, as co-host Mika Brzezinski and former Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Clinton has seemed “better than ever” in recent interviews, where she has bashed Trump policies, along with private meetings.
The ever-present Joe Scarborough led off the Clinton discussion amidst an interview focused on Sullivan, who sat beside The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
Scarborough brought up how Sullivan had recently met with both Hillary and Bill Clinton the other week, and remembered an interview Morning Joe did with Hillary last week, where she seemed to claim October 7th was an inside job, with no pushback.
Thursday’s Morning Joe took a moment to praise former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Mika Brzezinski and former Biden National Security Advisor said she was “better than ever," Willie Geist looked back at the 2016 election and proclaimed that “viewers… can't believe we… pic.twitter.com/Blv3MxGrT7
— Nick (@nspin310) September 17, 2026
He began, “We had Hillary on the show last week. We were all just commenting before, weren't we, Willie? Like you sit there and you talk to them for a couple of minutes. You're like, wait a second. People used to know about foreign policy and economics and things that leaders needed to know about. It's always so jarring when you talk to past leaders of any party and say, Oh my god, wait a second. We used to have intelligent leaders.”
Sullivan interjected with drooling praise: “And if you see Hillary now, she's just absolutely on fire. I mean, she was on fire on the show.”
Scabrorugh agreed, and Brzezinski remarked, “Better than ever.”
Then Sullivan continued with long lines of praise:
And part of it is that, you know, she's just letting her hair down and she's saying what she thinks and she's letting loose. And when she sees something going wrong, she is calling it out in a big way.
And that's true with respect to this president and American foreign policy. It's true with leaders around the world. And it's just been fascinating to watch year by year.
Sullivan later showed agreement with Brzezinski: “Yeah, like you said, Mika, better than ever.”
Morning Joe co-host and host of NBC’s Sunday Today, Willie Geist, disguises his Hillary praise and shock at her 2016 loss, which was agreed with in full by Brzezinski, as comments from “viewers”:
GEIST: I mean, I can't tell you how many viewers - this is not a political statement - just viewers of our show who watched that hour with Hillary yesterday and said, "My God, she's fluent in every issue. She has a long view of history.” And these viewers said, "I can't believe we looked at these two people in 2016 and chose that one."
BRZEZINSKI: Exactly.
GEIST: That's a totally different matter.”
In 2024, Scarborough said to Hillary, “It really has always been disconcerting to my conservative friends, how much I loved you from the start.”
Maybe Morning Joe will push for her to run in 2028?
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s Morning Joe
September 17, 2026
7:05:23 AM Eastern
(...)
JOE SCARBOROUGH: You were able to have, and I know it's off the record, but you were able to see Bill and Hillary a couple weeks ago. We had Hillary on the show last week. We were all just commenting before, weren't we, Willie?
Like you sit there and you talk to them for a couple of minutes. You're like, wait a second. People used to know about foreign policy and economics and things that leaders needed to know about. It's always so jarring when you talk to past leaders of any party and say, Oh my god, wait a second. We used to have intelligent leaders.
JAKE SULLIVAN: And if you see Hillary now, she's just absolutely on fire. I mean, she was on fire on the show.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Better than ever.
SULLIVAN: And part of it is that, you know, she's just letting her hair down and she's saying what she thinks and she's letting loose. And when she sees something going wrong, she is calling it out in a big way. And that's true with respect to this president and American foreign policy. It's true with leaders around the world. And it's just been fascinating to watch year by year. Yeah, like you said, Mika, better than ever.
BRZEZINSKI: Absolutely.
WILLIE GEIST: I mean, I can't tell you how many viewers - this is not a political statement - just viewers of our show who watched that hour with Hillary yesterday and said, "My God, she's fluent in every issue. She has a long view of history.” And these viewers said, "I can't believe we looked at these two people in 2016 and chose that one."
BRZEZINSKI: Exactly.
GEIST: That's a totally different matter.
(...)
