On Thursday’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski and guest Laura Brown, editor in chief of In Style magazine, decided to use the show as a soapbox to sycophantically praise Joe Biden as one of the most “inspiring” people in America, “a very, very frank and straightforward person” with an “Uncle Joe persona,” and a “warm,” “engaging,” and “approachable” “consoler-in-chief” who “loves givin’ hugs.” This sappy idolizing was sprinkled with photos and short video clips of Biden appearing eminently statesmen-like and even a few glamorous style shots of Biden in fashionable clothing, all apparently to build up a hip and cool image for a future presidential candidate.
The segment started off with Brzezinski introducing Brown’s recent article for In Style and quoting the former Vice President from it:
In an interview with In Style magazine, Joe Biden explained what he has to offer the presidency, saying, quote: “I think this moment in American history sort of fits into my wheelhouse and the strengths” that “I have. I am, I think most people would say, fairly knowledgeable about American foreign policy. I'm pretty good at diplomacy internationally and bringing people together, cutting through and settling things. And I think what people are looking for most, and I hope I have it, is authenticity.”
Brzezinski then turned the spotlight on Brown, who was in-studio to promote her puff piece:
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: How are you? Good to have you.
BROWN: I’m great.
BRZEZINSKI: That’s a fant-, so, this is -- is it a departure for In Style?
BROWN: Um, it is a progression-
BRZEZINSKI: [talking over Laura] A progression, I love it.
BROWN: -for In Style, I would say. And we are -- I am focusing on inspiring people,-
BRZEZINSKI: [interjecting] Yeah.
BROWN: -and I think there are few more inspiring in this country and particularly in this climate than VP Biden.
BRZEZINSKI: And Joe Biden fits into that category?
BROWN: Very much.
So, Joe Biden’s tired cliches condemning Trump as a threat to democracy, civil rights, and the “free press” qualify him as one of the most inspiring people in the United States? Well, at least one can’t argue that he’s particularly original.
After introducing the main theme of Biden as a type of “greatest man alive,” the panel moved on with the main part of the segment and began to paint Biden as a uniquely stylish and charming man representative of the best of all-American personal qualities, highlighting everything from Biden’s physical stature and his purportedly deep empathy to his “jazzy” espresso maker:
BRZEZINSKI: [interrupting] What struck you from the interview? I know on your Instagram there’s some fantastic pictures. You had fun.
BROWN: [starts talking under Mika] Yeah, oh God, yeah. Go for the video.
[shows stylized picture of Biden in leather jacket and jeans in office chair]
BROWN: Um, he is very -- he is so at -- well, you know -- you know him. He is very much at ease in his skin and he is a very, very frank and straightforward person.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
BROWN: And, what struck me was he has this sort of Uncle Joe persona,-
[shows stylized picture of Biden in jean jacket]
BROWN: -this kind of like, Rockwellian -- yeah, I put him in a Levi shirt, see?
BRZEZINSKI: [approvingly] Mm-hm.
BROWN: Persona, but he’s actually a little more -- like, he does have a statesman-,-
[shows stylized picture of Biden smiling with Ray-ban sunglasses on]
BROWN: -[laughs] statesmanship -- which I say with the Ray-bans on -- but, you know, to him that is incredible. And he’s very, very tall and quite imposing. And -- but he's just got an ease in his skin and I think after 44 years in public service, you have to have that.
BRZEZINSKI: And it seems like he was fairly open about the potential of running for president.
BROWN: Very much. And I mean of course, you know, that's the question everybody is asking. And, he was open in saying three and a half years from the time of the interview to the next, you know, election is a long time in politics and I am still mourning my son. My family is still mourning. [...] I think he’s metabolizing the entire thing. And it's a huge effort, I think it’s a huge mental and physical effort that I still don't understand how these people do it. [...]
MIKE BARNICLE: Had you met him prior to the interview?
BROWN: Yes. Uh, not prior to the interview. I met him twice during -- over the course of the interview. So, no, I met him in his kitchen actually. He has a really jazzy espresso maker. And he made me a coffee and then gave me a tour of the place and everything and it just seems like they're still getting used to being out of D.C., you know, like [paraphrasing Joe]: Ooh! Here is my gate and here is what I do when I don't have to do all of this all day [end paraphrase]. And he also has this jacket, the VP jacket with the patches. And he had them on, and he was like: “I guess I better take ‘em off.” He was -- put the patches off and put ‘em in his pocket.
BARNICLE: Did it strike you at all how relatively normal he is?
BROWN: I mean, I think he's famously normal and approachable, but, yeah. I mean, I think that there is -- when you're on that stage physically and metaphorically for as long as he has been, I could understand there could be a remove [sic]. But I think that he just doesn't have that technology. He is a very warm person,-
BRZEZINSKI: [interjecting] Yeah.
BROWN: -he’s the consoler-in-chief to so many people given his personal losses and he understands others. So, I think that's honestly where he draws -- his power and his strength is from being with people and engaging with people. He's a such a -- he’s a raconteur as much as he is anything else. He loves telling a story. He loves people around. He loves givin’ hugs. You know what I mean? He said [paraphrasing Joe]: oh, Jill tells me sometimes I'm a little touchy-feely with people. But you know, my mum said, never let people go by without saying something nice to them [end paraphrase]. You know, and so, what's wrong with that?
Nothing per se, Ms. Brown, but the panel’s non-stop adulation of the former Vice President did seem more like a pre-campaign promotional advertisement than a news segment.
Perhaps you might say that it would be too much to expect serious commentary or news from a fashion magazine editor instead of giddy laughter over how cool Joe Biden looks in Ray-bans, but Brown did have some serious political points to bring up in relation to her interview:
WILLIE GEIST: Just talking to [Biden], what's his genuine feeling about the early Trump years and where America is?
BROWN: He said that he was trying to give it a year. I think a lot of people were going to wish for the best, you know. And now he's like, we can't. You say -- basically he said -- he got very worked up and said “silence is complicity” and gave a number of examples about that. But he was like: they're throwing a “sheepskin” over democracy. They start with undermining the media, then the courts, and we have to stand up and we have to fight. And he was just, you know, very -- he speaks so passionately. It was almost -- it was alternately kind of upsetting and inspiring to hear him speak like that. But he -- at the end, he was like: we've gotta stand up, we've gotta fight. So that's what he's doing. And that's what he's motivating the rest of us to do.
Most of what Brown said is pretty predictable in terms of Biden’s anti-Trump criticism, but the last line is very telling. It appears to be a genuine admission of the id of liberal journalists all over America: Trump is a threat to us and our values and we, as the press, must fight him, no matter whose side the truth is on.
Brzezinski closed out the segment by encouraging viewers to read Brown’s article and Joe Scarborough chimed in briefly to voice his confidence that Joe Biden could surely take back Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania in 2020.
Look forward to more Biden propaganda in the future, especially if he runs, and don’t expect the press to tell you about stuff like this.
See the full transcript below:
7:50 AM EST
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: In an interview with In Style magazine, Joe Biden explained what he has to offer the presidency, saying, quote: “I think this moment in American history sort of fits into my wheelhouse and the strengths” that “I have. I am, I think most people would say, fairly knowledgeable about American foreign policy. I'm pretty good at diplomacy internationally and bringing people together, cutting through and settling things. And I think what people are looking for most, and I hope I have it, is authenticity.” And the editor in chief of In Style magazine, Laura Brown, who conducted that interview, joins us now.
LAURA BROWN [IN STYLE, EDITOR IN CHIEF]: Good morning.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: How are you? Good to have you.
BROWN: I’m great.
BRZEZINSKI: That’s a fant-, so, this is -- is it a departure for In Style?
BROWN: Um, it is a progression-
BRZEZINSKI: [talking over Laura] A progression, I love it.
BROWN: -for In Style, I would say. And we are -- I am focusing on inspiring people,-
BRZEZINSKI: [interjecting] Yeah.
BROWN: -and I think there are few more inspiring in this country and particularly in this climate than VP Biden.
BRZEZINSKI: And Joe Biden fits into that category?
BROWN: Very much. And when we heard he was -- has released a book, releasing a book, a memoir detailing the last year when Beau was alive, his son, and how he was managing the illness of his son with his job, rather big job. And so the minute that we heard that that was coming out, we kind of jumped. So we're very, very flattered that he spoke to us.
BRZEZINSKI: [interrupting] What struck you from the interview? I know on your Instagram there’s some fantastic pictures. You had fun.
BROWN: [starts talking under Mika] Yeah, oh God, yeah. Go for the video.
[shows stylized picture of Biden in leather jacket and jeans in office chair]
BROWN: Um, he is very -- he is so at -- well, you know -- you know him. He is very much at ease in his skin and he is a very, very frank and straightforward person.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
BROWN: And, what struck me was he has this sort of Uncle Joe persona,-
[shows stylized picture of Biden in jean jacket]
BROWN: -this kind of like, Rockwellian -- yeah, I put him in a Levi shirt, see?
BRZEZINSKI: [approvingly] Mm-hm.
BROWN: Persona, but he’s actually a little more -- like, he does have a statesman-,-
[shows stylized picture of Biden smiling with Ray-ban sunglasses on]
BROWN: -[laughs] statesmanship -- which I say with the Ray-bans on -- but, you know, to him that is incredible. And he’s very, very tall and quite imposing. And -- but he's just got an ease in his skin and I think after 44 years in public service, you have to have that.
BRZEZINSKI: And it seems like he was fairly open about the potential of running for president.
BROWN: Very much. And I mean of course, you know, that's the question everybody is asking. And, he was open in saying three and a half years from the time of the interview to the next, you know, election is a long time in politics and I am still mourning my son. My family is still mourning. Um, I don't know. We're gonna see how we do. He was like, my health, you know, is like, I’m 75, [slurred speech] and he’s like, my health is pretty good, you know. And just -- I think he’s metabolizing the entire thing. And it's a huge effort, I think it’s a huge mental and physical effort that I still don't understand how these people do it. So I think he's reconciling all of that.
MIKE BARNICLE: Had you met him prior to the interview?
BROWN: Yes. Uh, not prior to the interview. I met him twice during -- over the course of the interview. So, no, I met him in his kitchen actually. He has a really jazzy espresso maker. And he made me a coffee and then gave me a tour of the place and everything and it just seems like they're still getting used to being out of D.C., you know, like [paraphrasing Joe]: Ooh! Here is my gate and here is what I do when I don't have to do all of this all day [end paraphrase]. And he also has this jacket, the VP jacket with the patches. And he had them on, and he was like: “I guess I better take ‘em off.” He was -- put the patches off and put ‘em in his pocket.
BARNICLE: Did it strike you at all how relatively normal he is?
BROWN: I mean, I think he's famously normal and approachable, but, yeah. I mean, I think that there is -- when you're on that stage physically and metaphorically for as long as he has been, I could understand there could be a remove [sic]. But I think that he just doesn't have that technology. He is a very warm person,-
BRZEZINSKI: [interjecting] Yeah.
BROWN: -he’s the consoler-in-chief to so many people given his personal losses and he understands others. So, I think that's honestly where he draws -- his power and his strength is from being with people and engaging with people. He's a such a -- he’s a raconteur as much as he is anything else. He loves telling a story. He loves people around. He loves givin’ hugs. You know what I mean? He said [paraphrasing Joe]: oh, Jill tells me sometimes I'm a little touchy-feely with people. But you know, my mum said, never let people go by without saying something nice to them [end paraphrase]. You know, and so, what's wrong with that?
WILLIE GEIST: He was with John McCain last week when they gave McCain the award and he spoke about sort of the state of affairs, as John McCain did as well, in the country right now. Just talking to him, what's his genuine feeling about the early Trump years and where America is?
BROWN: He said that he was trying to give it a year. I think a lot of people were going to wish for the best, you know. And now he's like, we can't. You say -- basically he said -- he got very worked up and said “silence is complicity” and gave a number of examples about that. But he was like: they're throwing a “sheepskin” over democracy. They start with undermining the media, then the courts, and we have to stand up and we have to fight. And he was just, you know, very -- he speaks so passionately. It was almost -- it was alternately kind of upsetting and inspiring to hear him speak like that. But he -- at the end, he was like: we've gotta stand up, we've gotta fight. So that's what he's doing. And that's what he's motivating the rest of us to do.
(...)
