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MSNBC Tag

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 05, 2016 6 Comments
The American foreign-policy establishment is wringing its collective hands over Donald Trump's phone conversation with the President of Taiwan, and his subsequent tweet in which he took China to task for its currency devaluation, tariffs on American products, and military build-up in the South China Sea. But there was some surprising support for Trump's initiative on today's Morning Joe. First, Mark Halperin said this showed that Trump wasn't planning to be a passive "inbox president" [Ed.: sayonara, leading from behind], and that it was a way for the US to get "leverage" on China where we had none before. Joe Scarborough described years of frustration in which every year Congress would extend China's Most Favored Nation status for one year on the proviso that it improved its record, which it never did. Joe concluded that from his perspective and that of millions of Americans, "pushing back a little bit on China not the worst thing for an American leader to finally do.. There was an intriguing end to the segment. Going to break, Morning Joe played a riff from Rush Limbaugh's famous theme song, A nod to a new reality? The era of Trump/Rush?

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 29, 2016 46 Comments
Early in this presidential election cycle, Mika Brzezinski was a big Elizabeth Warren booster, repeatedly urging the Massachusetts senator to throw her hat into the ring. So it was nothing short of stunning to see Brzezinski go on a blistering attack against Warren on today's Morning Joe. The segment began with a clip of Warren in essence declaring war on Republicans, claiming Dems had won more presidential and senatorial votes, and declaring that they didn't intend to "whimper, whine or grovel." Wondered Mika: "do you lead with anger? . . I am getting tired of this act." "There's an anger there that was shrill . . . unmeasured and almost unhinged. It's not going to work."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 24, 2016 4 Comments
Something to give—surprised—thanks for this morning: an MSNBC anchor staunchly defending school choice and Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Education . . . while ably and aggressively arguing the issues with the head of America's biggest teachers' union! Stephanie Ruhle is the MSNBC anchor in question, and she took on Randi Weingarten, head of the AFT teachers' union. The topic at hand was Donald Trump's naming of school-choice advocate Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. Weingarten, acknowledging that the union is "so opposed" to DeVos, repeatedly accused Trump's pick of wanting to take a "sledgehammer" to public schools in an effort to "destabilize"them.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 21, 2016 21 Comments
Imagine if just after the 2008 election, a conservative pundit had said this of President-elect Obama: "how do you dog-train Obama? I mean it tough. Dog train. If he poops in the hall, you make his nose go in it." Western civilization as we know it might have ended right there. But on this evening's Hardball, that's precisely what Chris Matthews said—except about Donald Trump, of course. His point seemed to be that Trump must be brought to heel should he have the audacity to follow through on his promises to build the wall and end Obamacare.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 21, 2016 22 Comments
Last week, we reported on Morning Joe ripping the notion of Rudy Giuliani as Secretary of State, with Joe Scarborough saying "he’s temperamentally not qualified to be, and he’s not qualified to be it based on any experience or training or any contacts." This morning, the show was still on its anti-Rudy rampage, with Scarborough stating: "it's one of these things that everybody says off camera. I'm going to tell you it to you on camera . . . Even people close to Trump say Rudy Giuliani mentally is a few steps slower than he was several years ago."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 15, 2016 31 Comments
Morning Joe spent its opening segment scalding the notion of either Rudy Giuliani or John Bolton as Secretary of State in the Trump administration. Giuliani was described as completely unqualified for the job, and someone who has personally profited off national security matters, a la the Clintons. Bolton was blasted as a "neo-con on steroids" whose views are out of sync with Trump's, and is "donor-driven," with Sheldon Adelson's name being dropped. So who's Scarborough and company's pick for SecState? Joe and Mike Barnicle called the selection of Tennessee Senator Bob Corker a "no-brainer." Maybe so, but not necessarily in the way they meant it. Corker is infamously the man who facilitated President Obama's disastrous Iran deal. Corker has been castigated across the conservative spectrum, as here, here, here and here.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 11, 2016 29 Comments
Rachel Maddow has wondered out loud whether President-elect Trump might be under the influence of Russia. On her MSNBC show this evening, Maddow suggested that Trump might betray the most sensitive intelligence to the Russians—including the identity of US spies. She questioned whether US intelligence agencies should provide Trump with such information.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 10, 2016 58 Comments
This is a tough time to be a progressive. There is a widespread mental breakdown in nests of radicalism, like Ithaca. I take no pleasure in that. Seriously. Come on you guys, seriously, no joy whatsoever. I'm not like John Ekdahl. https://twitter.com/JohnEkdahl/status/796860473945812997

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 10, 2016 35 Comments
Want to understand the bubble in which the elite, liberal media lives? Check out the banner headline of today's New York Times: "Democrats, Students and Foreign Allies Face the Reality of a Trump Presidency." On today's Morning Joe, Mark Halperin nailed it: "Look at the headline of this story. This is the day after a surprising underdog sweeping victory and their headline is not "disaffected Americans have a champion going to the White House" or "the country votes for fundamental change." The headline is about how disappointed the friends of the people who run the New York Times are about what's happened.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 08, 2016 17 Comments
Ivanka has attracted attention as the Trump most likely to have a significant political future. But don't sleep on Donald Trump, Jr. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Trump, Jr. was impressively thoughtful, articulate, substantive and nuanced, without for one second backing down from making his case forcefully and unapologetically. For a taste of Trump, Jr., view the video as he unblinkingly attacks the double standard, asserting that any average American who had done what Hillary did with her email would be in jail. And when Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post scoffs at his assertion that African-Americans and Hispanics speak encouragingly to family members, Trump, Jr. politely rebuffs him.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 07, 2016 19 Comments
If Serpent Head is nervous . . . There was an ironic contrast on today's Morning Joe. On the one hand, Steve Schmidt—former McCain campaign manager turned Trump antagonist—sees no real chance for the Donald. Said Schmidt: "I've been in the camp that says it's been over for some time," and that "the bill is coming due for the tone and tenor" of Trump's campaign. Schmidt sees Hillary cruising to a win with 320-340 Electoral College votes. It was actually James Carville who in contrast said that it's "not impossible" for Trump to win, and indeed that he's a "nervous wreck." Of the swing states, Carville said he feels best about Florida for Hillary. But he added: "I think she has a better chance to carry Arizona than Ohio." Since all recent indications are that Trump has Arizona comfortably in hand, it sounds like Carville has written off Ohio for Clinton.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 06, 2016 27 Comments
In one of the more absurd statements of this absurd political season, Michelle Bernard, a guest on Joy Reid's MSNBC show this morning, said it was "hubris" for Donald Trump to imagine that he was "akin" to American leaders who have been the target of assassination attempts such as Lincoln, MLK, JFK, RFK and Reagan. How illogical can Bernard be? Whether or not Trump belongs in the political pantheon she described, can she actually believe that he could not possibly be the target of a madman? And what of others she didn't name who were the object of assassination attempts, such as McKinley, Garfield and Gerald Ford? Would it also have been "hubris" for them to have been concerned?

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 04, 2016 10 Comments
As MSNBC reporters go, Kasie Hunt is among the more even-handed. Even so, no one would confuse her for a covert Trump fan. So it was remarkable that on today's Morning Joe, Hunt offered up this personal observation born out of her being out on the Clinton campaign trail: "the events that Hillary Clinton is holding in these swing states, they don't feel like a winning campaign in the final week." Yikes! Hunt contrasted the "relatively small, relatively excited" crowds at Hillary events with the "screaming crowds of people" at recent Obama rallies, where "the vibe is just entirely different." Concluded Hunt: "you can feel on the ground that enthusiasm problem."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 04, 2016 32 Comments
On yesterday evening's Hardball, an overwrought Andrew Sullivan stopped just short of chewing the scenery, while repeatedly referring to Donald Trump and Ann Coulter as fascists. But precisely because of Trump's supposed fascist fear-mongering, Sullivan predicted that "Trump is going to win this election." Former New Republic editor Sullivan claimed that we are in a "fascist moment" because white Americans are reacting to the country becoming majority-minority. Calling Ann Coulter "the other fascist" along with Trump, Sullivan cited Ann's book "Adios, America" as epitomizing the fear of the foreigner driving Trump's support.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 03, 2016 24 Comments
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway was in the process of wrapping up a bravura performance on today's Morning Joe. Conway was crisp, pleasant, substantive and nimble. And this Insurrectionist found himself thinking: for once, Conway can focus on the issues as the campaign sees them, instead of having to clean up after some intemperate statement Trump had made. And then . . . Morning Joe rolled a clip of Trump at a rally repeatedly calling out by name NBC reporter Katy Tur for her failure to report the good news about his campaign. Willie Geist: "Do you think it's appropriate for Donald Trump in a setting like that to single out any reporter by name given the heat reporters have taken in this and that Katy had to be escorted out by Secret Service at previous rallies?"

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 02, 2016 44 Comments
Readers will remember the runoff race for governor of Louisiana in 1991 in which the notoriously corrupt Edwin Edwards faced off against ex-Klansman David Duke. The race spawned the greatest bumper sticker in American political history: "Vote for the Crook. It's Important." Now it looks like Hillary might need that same kind of sentiment if she's going to win. Take two telling anecdotes from today's Morning Joe. First, Eddie Glaude Jr., chair of Princeton's African-American studies department, told of someone in an airport telling him "if there's a crook who is going to go into the cockpit, who knows how to fly the plane, and then there's an idiot who doesn't know how to fly the plane, I'm going to vote for the crook." Later, New York Times reporter Yamiche Alcindor said she had spoken to Hillary supporters who "worry about whether she's going to end up indicted [but] would rather have Tim Kaine as president if it comes to that than Donald Trump." If this is the kind of support Hillary is relying on, she is in deep trouble.
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