The liberal bias in press coverage of the presidential campaign has escalated dramatically in the last month before Election Day and on Wednesday’s Morning Joe, even MSNBC host Joe Scarborough had enough, calling out liberal co-host Mika Brzezinski and commentators on the morning show: “...the media can’t see past their sheer hatred of him, their uncontrollable sheer hatred of Donald Trump.”
He continued to scold his media colleagues for letting that “hatred” prevent any objective analysis of Trump’s electoral strategy in the final days of the race: “We can all be offended by what he did. We’re still supposed to report, but the sheer hatred is stopping analysts from realizing he’s doing the only thing he can do right now to keep his campaign alive....I’m not sure that right now this isn’t exactly what he needs to do to survive.”
Continuing the lecture, Scarborough acknowledged his own anti-Trump bias, “I said back in December I couldn’t vote for Donald Trump. I said in February he was disqualified.” However, he then observed: “The media is so invested in this...it’s almost like they’re going, ‘What will I be able to tell my children that I was there and I helped stop Donald Trump.”
Scarborough sarcastically added: “The had courage to stand up to a man with a 59% disapproval rating. How courageous!”
In the midst of admonishing his fellow journalists, he turned to Bloomberg Politics editor Mark Halperin and demanded: “Did he [Trump] win the debate, Mark Halperin?” Halperin begrudgingly acknowledged: “By most ways if you say, ‘Who won the debate?’ – he won the debate.”
Back on Monday, in the wake of Sunday’s second presidential debate, Scarborough proclaimed:
...despite what you think of Donald Trump, what you think of Hillary Clinton, what you think of how this race has gone over the weekend and where you think it's going to end...I think there are a couple of things that people in the press may not want to admit but it was plainly evident watching it on TV last night...it was Donald Trump's most effective debate performance to date. There's not a close second...and again, I know everybody in the press hates Donald Trump. I'm giving you the reality if you don't like it.
Then after going on the offensive, he went on defense in responding to attacks by liberal commentators, saying “I understand. You believe he's an evil man. I'm just giving you the political reality and this is the political reality: For the Republican base, Donald Trump delivered the attack against the Clinton machine that the Republican base in middle America have been waiting for, for years now.”
This was an interesting turning point because even his left-wing co-host Mika Brzezinski reluctantly agreed, saying, “No Republican in America could have done what he did last night.” She then went further and admitted that Trump has been effective in continually articulating the message that “The media is unfair! The media is not on his side! The media is trying to bring him down!”
Here are excerpts of the October 12 and 10 exchanges on Morning Joe:
10/12/16
6:04 AM ET(...)
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Now everybody sneers but in a change election when everybody hates Washington, D.C., is this a bad thing that senators and congressman that have a low approval rating aren't endorsing a candidate who is running against Hillary Clinton and beat a Bush?
I know, the media can't see past their shear hatred of him, their uncontrollable sheer hatred of Donald Trump. We can all be offended by what he did. We're still supposed to report, but the sheer hatred is stopping analysts from realizing he's doing the only thing he can do right now to keep his campaign alive. Hold the core together and use the last two weeks to expand. I'm not so sure that right now this isn't exactly what he needs to do to survive.
SCARBOROUGH: For what? Telling the truth? The guy jumped 7 points. Did he win the debate, Mark Halperin?
HALPERIN: By most ways if you say who won the debate, he won the debate.
SCARBOROUGH: I'm taking the attention off of you by making Mark Halperin say that.
Listen, I don’t care. The thing is, I said back in December I couldn't vote for Donald Trump. I said in February he was disqualified. I am in a position and I said I was voting for Jeb Bush from the beginning. The media is so invested in this, I think it's like -- I think you said last week it's almost like they're going, what will I be able to tell my children that I was there and I helped stop Donald Trump. They had courage to stand up to a man with a 59% disapproval rating. How courageous!(...)
10/10/16
6:05 AM ET(...)
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Despite what you think of Donald Trump, what you think of Hillary Clinton, what you think of how this race has gone over the weekend and where you think it's going to end up, whether you think last night made any difference at all to the final outcome in November. I think there are a couple of things that people in the press may not want to admit but it was plainly evident watching it on TV last night. Number one, it was Donald Trump's most effective debate performance to date. There's not a close second. Just not a close second. Secondly, despite the fact she had an unprecedented cheering section in the media, the fact is for somebody watching and people will see this if they watch it again today or so parts of it a week from now or a month from now, Hillary Clinton was on the defensive most of the night. She seemed unsure of herself most of the night and he dominated the second debate in the same way she dominated the first debate. And third, and I think most importantly for this political season, Donald Trump, who has made the Republican Party members lives living and breathing hells for the past year and a half, last night turned it up to 11. All of those people that jumped ship about halfway through the debate were looking at their TV saying oh shoot. Because – and again, I know everybody in the press hates Donald Trump. I'm giving you the reality, if you don't like it…
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: What he said was horrible, He's horrible.
SCARBOROUGH: Horrible. Yea, blah blah blah … I know. Listen, listen. I heard it last night. I saw it on Twitter. I understand. You believe he's an evil man. I'm just giving you the political reality and this is the political reality. For the Republican base, Donald Trump delivered the attack against the Clinton machine that the Republican base in Middle America have been waiting for years now. And so good luck being in Pensacola, saying I'm off of Donald Trump or saying in Kansas I'm not for Donald Trump anymore, especially when no Republican in America should have been surprised by what they heard on Friday.
BRZEZINSKI: No Republican in America could have done what he did last night. They just -- my God. It was epic. It was vintage Trump. He produced a day-long show that rocked the political world. Take a look at some of the moments…
SCARBOROUGH: With his back against the wall…
BRZEZINSKI: Oh yeah…
(...)
6:39 AM ET
BRZEZINSKI: Another thing is that it's Donald Trump against the establishment, the media and the establishment class and last night I will say he got a lot of follow-ups deserved ones because he wouldn't answer legitimate foreign policy questions. He didn't have answers. It was very clear he would go off on weird random tangents. Hillary Clinton was asked about Wall Street speeches and she didn't answer and there was no follow-up saying please answer the question. She went off and blamed it on Russia and blamed it on the hacking… instead of the content.
RICHARD HASS: …and there was no follow-up…yeah…
BRZEZINSKI: There was absolutely no follow-up. Which plays into Donald Trump's other line he has going here, which I think is extremely effective with his followers:
The media's unfair! The media is not on his side! The media is trying to bring him down!SCARBOROUGH: It was very clear once the tape hit on Friday that this campaign was going to become more populist, more vicious, a more destructive. I said it on Friday it played itself out this weekend. The question is where does it end up? Not only for the Republican Party but for this country. We have another month to go.
(...)
7:26 AM ET
EDDIE GLAUDE: We can talk about this as a continuous decline to the bottom. Let me ask you this question. I was really struck. All of this talk about more of the same with regards to Hillary Clinton. What political economic position did Donald Trump put forward last night that wasn't more of the same in relation to the folks that support him?
SCARBOROUGH: That's been my complaint. My complaint about Donald Trump and tax code and everything else and Donald Trump not paying taxes for 15 years, I think the biggest scandal is not that Donald Trump hasn't paid taxes for 15 years, we have a tax code that allows it and you have two candidates, two candidates that are going to do nothing to change that. Donald Trump won't do anything to change it and Hillary Clinton won't do anything to change it. Because Hillary Clinton has been funded her entire political career by some of the richest people on Wall Street.
(...)
