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Morning Joe Tag

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on April 12, 2017 7 Comments
Morning Joe has been on a Steve Bannon-bashing spree the last couple of days, with various panel members predicting his departure from the White House. As Mika Brzezinski put it yesterday, "the end is nigh" for Bannon. But Mark Halperin made a strong case for Bannon on today's show, saying that being conventional is not what got Donald Trump elected, and that "Bannon is one of the few people in the White House and in Trump's life who is creative, who's innovative, who takes risks, who advocates taking risks. Someone has to be for that."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on April 10, 2017 14 Comments
Surprising consensus on today's Morning Joe that Barack Obama blew it bigly in Syria by punting on his redline. Even Obama fan Mike Barnicle admitted, "Syria was a serious mistake that the Obama administration made." Foreign policy honcho Richard Haass said "history's going to be rough on this. This is going to be the defining moment for the Obama presidency." It wasn't just the panel that trashed Obama's mishandling of Syria. Joe Scarborough noted that not only did leading Dems like John Kerry and Hillary quickly come out in support of Trump's strikes, but that Dems were saying things that were "almost disloyal to Barack Obama, saying we could have never moved this quickly."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on April 03, 2017 21 Comments
Kibitzing about Donald Trump's mental health is a favorite MSM parlor game. But Morning Joe took it to a new level today, devoting its long, opening segment to the matter. Donny Deutsch and Joe Scarborough were the ringleaders, playing Drs. Freud and Jung, respectively. Excerpts:

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 31, 2017 17 Comments
On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough argued that the MSM is failing to cover the story of the Obama admin "unmasking"and leaking the names of Trump campaign people caught up in the intercepts of Russians. According to Scarborough, 95% of the story is the attempt by the Russians to influence the election. But that still leaves the 5% that the MSM is ignoring because the people unmasked were disliked, and in the case of Michael Flynn, "loathed" by the media. In contrast, said Scarborough, the improper activity was "by people who, let's face it, most of the people in the media like and admire."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 24, 2017 9 Comments
Should conservatives be rooting for the health care bill to pass the House today, or be defeated or withdrawn? Joe Scarborough made an interesting observation today, quoting the late Senator Paul Simon at the end of his career on the biggest lesson he had learned: "sometimes when you win, you lose. And sometimes when you lose, you win." Scarborough pointed to the way Democrats whooped it up when they "won" on Obamacare in 2010 . . . and proceeded to experience six years of political "hell," losing 1,000 seats across the country. Opined Scarborough, "I think the best thing that could happen is this bill goes down today. Actually, that they pull it. Let them start renegotiating from the very beginning, do it the right way and move on to tax reform, something that will unite all conservatives.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 21, 2017 9 Comments
As the rest of the Morning Joe panel remained in three-alarm, apocalyptic mode this morning, there was one lonely voice bringing some balance to the discussion. MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin said it was "completely improper" of FBI Director James Comey to have revealed the existence of an ongoing investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Rejecting Mika Brzezinski's suggestion that Comey was "compelled" to make the revelation, Halperin added that Comey "says the standard is, if the public is interested in something, I'll reveal an ongoing probe. I've never heard of this standard. I think it's a dangerous one to set."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 16, 2017 22 Comments
Payback is a . . . Rand Paul. After John McCain, speaking on the Senate floor yesterday, accused Paul of "working for Vladimir Putin," Paul had a crushing comeback on today's Morning Joe. Said Paul of McCain, "he makes a really, really strong case for term limits. I think maybe he's past his prime. I think maybe he's gotten a little bit unhinged."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 14, 2017 13 Comments
If you haven't seen OMB Director Mick Mulvaney in action, do yourself a favor and watch the video here. On today's Morning Joe, Mulvaney showed himself to be smart, well-spoken, undefensive and down-to-earth as he systematically demolished Mika's, and by extension, the CBO's, claims about the Trump admin's health care proposal. Before Mulvaney appeared, the panel had engaged in extended hand-wringing over the loss of coverage that the CBO has projected. Mulvaney made three telling points:

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 10, 2017 33 Comments
Last month, Mika Brzezinski in essence banned presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway from Morning Joe. Saying she doesn't believe in "fake news," Mika declared that Conway has tried to book herself on MJ, but "I won't do it." Brzezinski took things a big step further this morning, seeming to call for Conway to quit the Trump administration. In the context of discussing the criticism of the White House by the Office of Governmental Ethics for not disciplining Conway for her endorsement of Ivanka's clothing line, Mika said "it's probably time for [Conway] to pack it up."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 09, 2017 22 Comments
Shortly before the presidential election, GOP public relations worker Steve Schmidt saw Hillary Clinton "trending over 400" electoral college votes. He also predicted that Dems would retake the Senate and were "close" to retaking the House. We know how all that played out. So you probably want to take this morning's comments from the man who brought you John McCain's 2008 campaign with a gargantuan grain of salt. Asked on Morning Joe what he would tell President Trump regarding his assertion that President Obama tapped his phones, Schmidt went on a rant.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 07, 2017 29 Comments
For David Ignatius, what is an acceptable number of terrorists and terrorist attacks in the United States? The question arises because on today's Morning Joe, Ignatius, of the Washington Post, was discussing the Trump admin statement that since 9/11, 300 people admitted from countries on the reissued executive order have been subject to "criminal, counter-terrorism investigations." Sniffed Ignatius: that's a "tiny number." Really? If those 300 had not been caught up in counter-terrorism investigations, how many would have carried out terrorist attacks? If only 1-in-20 had, that would be 15 terrorist attacks. Fifteen San Bernadinos, Pulses. Even one. Tiny?

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 06, 2017 24 Comments
Morning Joe suffered a split personality today over President Trump's tweets alleging that President Obama had tapped his phones. On the one hand, Joe and Mika waxed apocalyptic, claiming the country is "in crisis" and questioning President Trump's "stability." At one point, Mika even seemed to choke up as she said, "this is really a dark time which could get worse." But at the same time, Joe Scarborough zeroed in on former Obama spox Josh Earnest's "very legalistic" responses to questioning by ABC's Martha Raddatz. On This Week, Raddatz cited former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau's tweet, warning "I'd be careful about reporting that Obama said there was no wiretapping. Statement just said that neither he nor the WH ordered it." Pressed by Raddatz, Earnest admitted "I don't know" whether the Obama Justice Department sought and obtained a court-ordered wiretap of the Trump campaign.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 03, 2017 25 Comments
Joe Scarborough and John Heilemann were leading an overheated charge against Jeff Sessions on today's Morning Joe, when a surprising note of caution came from an unexpected source: Kasie Hunt. Hunt is an MSNBC correspondent, not a commentator, nor someone suspected of harboring hidden conservative leanings. Yet Hunt issued a blunt assessment on Dem dealings over Sessions. Observing that there's danger for Dems if they overplay their hand, Hunt said: "I think one of the lessons we learned in the 2016 election is Americans are sick of faux outrage."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 01, 2017 6 Comments
At the beginning of the primary season, the Huffington Post infamously consigned coverage of Donald Trump's campaign to its entertainment section. So it was striking that on today's Morning Joe, it was HuffPo's Sam Stein who chided his fellow liberals for refusing to acknowledge the obvious: that President Trump gave a good speech last night [see Stein's tweet, below.] Stein's take was echoed across the panel. Mark Halperin called it Trump's best speech ever, an assessment shared by Chris Cillizza. Joe Scarborough, who has been very tough on Stephen Miller, gave him high marks for writing such a good speech. Michael Steele heard echoes of Ronald Reagan. Bob Woodward suggested that Trump commanded the room in ways that even Reagan, Clinton and Obama had not.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on February 23, 2017 14 Comments
Joe Scarborough went on an epic rant this morning against liberal academia and the way it shuts down and ultimately radicalizes conservative students who grow frustrated with being stifled in the classroom. The segment began as an effort to explain Stephen Miller's personality, as Morning Joe cited a column by Andrew Sullivan in which he speaks of conservative students who are often "mocked, isolated, and anathematized on campus" and often react by adopting "brattish and obnoxious positions just to tick off their SJW peers and teachers."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on February 21, 2017 16 Comments
Mike Barnicle, of all people, set the tone for the opening segment of today's Morning Joe, exclaiming "thank you, Jesus" in response to President Trump's pick of H.R. McMaster to take over from Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser. The segment was one belated Valentines Day bouquet of praise for McMaster, coming from members of the panel itself as well as in quotes from a bi-partisan array that included several critics of the president, John McCain notably among them. Perhaps even more significant than the accolades for McMaster was the suggestion that his selection reflected well on President Trump himself.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on February 17, 2017 24 Comments
Has Mika Brzezinski been binge-watching House of Cards? The question arises because on today's Morning Joe, she offered up a Machiavellian theory which appeared to portray Mike Pence as scheming to take over the presidency. Joe Scarborough asked who within the White House will go to President Trump and tell him that he's undercutting his credibility. When Mark Halperin proposed VP Pence for that job, Mika Brzezinski replied: "it's not happening. He's waiting to be President." Was Mika implying that Pence has adopted a conscious strategy of letting President Trump implode so that he can assume the presidency when Trump is driven from office?
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