The panelists of MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday agonized over possible repercussions likely to result from President Trump’s tweet attacking London Mayor for his comments that Londoners ‘have no reason to be alarmed.’ “It’s absolute nonsense,” Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes proclaimed before smugly stating, “There’s been a huge swell of support for Sadiq Khan and it obviously reflects very badly on the President. It makes the Brits just think what planet is he on? It's really damaging.”
Scarborough went right along with the attack before continuing the dialogue with political analyst Mike Halperin:
JOE SCARBORUGH: Again, and Mark Halperin, what planet is he on? This is what we all talked about, and we all feared for some time when Donald Trump was using his tweets to attack Meryl Streep or attack, you know, sports franchises or whomever he decided to attack. We said, well, what happens if he's president and he uses Twitter to attack our allies?
Well, you can see what happened in Germany. You can see his attacks against Merkel. And now, again, an attack against our most important ally in their time of need. And you just wonder, why can't somebody in the white house -- why can't somebody in his orbit, why can't Melania go in there and take the phone and break it in half?
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I mean, when are they gonna learn?
MARK HALPERIN: This is top five of his worst cluster of tweets as President, I think.
Panelist Richard Haass mourned that,“there’s no special relationship because of Donald Trump. It [Great Britain] is strategically adrift in a way it has not been.” He later went on to suggest that the attack by Trump on Khan betrayed a much more sinister motive:
SCARBOROUGH: But, you think there's something behind it?
RICHARD HAASS: One possibility is that this is a dog whistle. Look, I don't know, but the mayor of London is Muslim. He's a member of the Labour Party. This is a way to get out political signals. That's how it's perceived over there. As Zanny can confirm or not. But, this is how it's being read or this is why it's contributing to the anti-Americanism and the sense that they have increasingly had it with the American president. This is just counterproductive.
BRZEZINSKI: I totally agree with you.
SCARBOROUGH: You know who this is? It's President Bannon. There is no doubt that President Bannon — this is what President Bannon promotes inside the White House. And that's exactly what's happened. What's the reaction, though, to this sort of strategy?
BEDDOES: Well, the reaction in London is increasingly one of, you know, exasperation and anger, you know, what the heck does the President of the United States think he's saying? But I think Richard’s right that there is, Sadiq Kahn, the Muslim mayor of increasingly cosmopolitan city London --
BRZEZINSKI: Says something pretty basic.
BEDDOES: Absolutely. Stands for everything that the, if you will, Bannon view of the world stands against. London is an unbelievably successful global, cosmopolitan, multi-cultural city with a Muslim mayor and we're very proud of it. It's a fabulous city and it's not reeling and it's going to carry on despite these attacks.
SCARBOROUGH: No, it is not reeling?
BEDDOES: It's absolutely not reeling.
A terrorist attack occurs leaving several people dead and dozens injured, and yet, the media choose to obsess over the President’s tweets about the London mayor. Remember everyone, always keep your priorities straight!
