Imagine if Israel's prime minister Bibi Netanyahu had been defeated in yesterday's elections. You have to think Morning Joe would have heralded the news at the very top of today's show. That's big news, when the "right side of history" prevails. Instead, they led with major-league baseball and Brexit chaos. When she eventually got around to reporting Bibi's win, a bitter Mika Brzezinski sounded like she was sucking on lemons. Mika emphasized the negative, and made unsubtle, sarcastic analogies to President Trump.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears set to be reelected to a fourth consecutive term in office and fifth overall. Near complete results show Netanyahu's Likud party with a very narrow victory. The election was seen as a referendum on the divisive and bombastic Netanyahu. And if the results stand, he would become the longest-serving leader in Israel's history.
It's not all in the clear for him though, as Israel's attorney general recommended indicting Netanyahu [Mika seems to giggle] on a host of corruption, bribery, and fraud charges. Netanyahu has called the investigation a "witch hunt."
Then came an audible "Hmm" from the peanut gallery. They're hoping Netanyahu gets indicted...which hasn't happened to Trump, which makes them bitter.
When Brzezinski spoke of the distribution of cameras to Likud poll watchers, she verbally underlined the party's assertion that it was done to discourage "voter fraud." Again, the attempt to draw a negative parallel to President Trump was transparent.
BRZEZINSKI: Meanwhile, Netanyahu's Likud party has confirmed it hired and gave hidden cameras to 1,200 polling station observers, claiming it was an effort to expose "voter fraud." Hidden cameras have been captured in several Israeli-Arab towns, and several people have been detained, surrounding an effort to hide a camera in an attempt to disqualify one polling station. Secretly recording in polling stations is illegal in Israel.
