President Donald Trump revealed new details of his meeting with MSNBC co-hosts after viewers mocked the famous television couple for ‘bending the knee’ to the president-elect they once denounced as a fascist.
Trump met with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Friday after a tumultuous relationship over the last seven years.
During the 2024 election, they repeatedly denounced Trump as a racist, sexist, fascist, and told viewers he did not deserve to be president.
At one point, Scarborough said Trump was acting ‘full-on Hitler’ and Brzezinski condemned him for echoing the ‘dangerous language of infamous fascist leaders.’
But the president-elect told Fox News that he took the meeting because in order to ‘Make America Great Again, it is very important, if not vital, to have a free, fair and open media or press.’
‘I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly,’ he added.
Trump said Scarborough requested the meeting and that pair traveled to Palm Beach, Florida, to meet on Friday morning at Mar-a-Lago.
‘Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication,’ he said. ‘In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago.’
Trump said that both of the hosts, ‘congratulated me on running a ‘great and flawless campaign, one for the history books.’
The pair had not met with Trump in seven years.
But Trump appeared willing to bury the hatchet on Friday, describing the meeting as ‘extremely cordial.’
‘The meeting ended in a very positive manner, and we agreed to speak in the future,’ he said.
Despite striking up a warm media relationship when he ran for president the first time in 2016, Brzezinski and Scarborough had a falling out with the president after he shocked the world and beat failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Scarborough and Brzezinski were soon highly critical of Trump’s presidency, after he entered the White House, repeatedly condemning him on their morning news program.
Brzezinski in particular repeatedly needled Trump for being ‘mentally ill’ and speculated about his need to see a psychiatrist.
In June 2017, Trump fired back at the pair on social media, recalling how ‘low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe,’ came to Mar-a-lago for three nights in a row during New Year’s Eve, and were desperate to spend time with him.
‘She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!’ Trump wrote, referring to Brzezinski.
The relationship entered even more bizarre territory by Christmas 2017, when Brzezinski and Scarborough recorded a holiday-themed album called ‘A Very Drumpf Christmas’ with songs mocking the president.
In 2018, the TV couple made it official as they were married at a ceremony at the National Archives in front of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, signaling their commitment to Democracy.
But Trump was gracious on Friday as the couple sought to ‘restart communications’ and set a ‘new approach’ ahead of his second term.
Brzezinski said they decided to reach out to Trump for ‘the opportunity to speak with the President-elect, himself’ because their viewers and ‘regular citizens’ have expressed fear following Trump’s election and his recent cabinet selections.
‘On Friday, we were given the opportunity to do just that. Joe and I went to Mar-a-Lago to meet personally with President-elect Trump,’ Brzezinski revealed Monday morning.
Scarborough said they spoke about several issues pressing the country reassuring viewers that that they and Trump ‘didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues and we told him so.’
Defending their decision, Brzezinski said: ‘For those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back – why wouldn’t we?’
Brzezinski said Trump was cheerful during their meeting and seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats.
Scarborough told viewers they would not stop their criticism of the president-elect.
‘Don’t be mistaken, he said. ‘We are not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump.’
Morning Joe viewers were outraged by the news, condemning the hosts for their apparent hypocrisy.
‘I don’t think you need to sit down for ninety minutes at Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring to be able to speak truth and be able to cover a story, so maybe they’re not journalists in the true sense, maybe they are saying they are opinion journalists.’ The View cohost Sunny Hostin noted on the show Monday.
‘Normalizing Trump is a bad idea. Period,’ wrote MSNBC host Katie Phang on X.com apparently reacting to the news.
Journalism professor Jeff Jarvis said the meeting was a ‘betrayal of their colleagues, democracy, and us all. It is a disgusting show of obeisance in advance.’
‘Making the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago is kissing the ring #MorningJoe, normalizing Trump, surrendering in advance regardless of how you try to justify it,’ wrote X user ‘Wendy Spirit’ on social media
‘I hate to break it to you, Joe and Mika: you compromise it all when you compromise yourself like this. Shameful stuff, you two,’ wrote Ben Meiselas on the viral leftist politics MeidasTouch Substack. ‘As for us, MeidasTouch will never bend the knee. We will never submit. We will never obey.’
‘Definitely going to stop watching Morning Joe. I’m not going along wtyh normalizing racism and misogyny from a rapist,’ wrote media publicist Raquel Perazzo on X.
‘More than any other media hosts these two are responsible for the Dem party’s disastrous obsession with Liz Cheney NeverTrumpers over the working class and the destruction of the class first Bernie movement,’ wrote former MSNBC host and Breaking Points co-host Krystal Ball. ‘Now that they’ve helped usher the fascists in they go and kiss the ring. Disgusting.’