MSNBC should change the show's name. Out with "Morning Joe." In with "Scarborough, Brzezinski, Lemire & Geist."
If that sounds like the name of a law firm, it is. Morning Joe quite literally turned itself into one today in its passionate quest to distinguish Joe Biden's possession of classified documents after leaving the vice-presidency from that of Donald Trump after he left the presidency.
The revelation of Biden having been in possession of classified documents obviously comes as an embarrassment to the liberal media that . So Morning Joe set out today to make the case that Biden's infraction is nothing like Trump's. Willie Geist argued "Taking classified documents is a very serious matter...But there's no comparison here."
Scarborough tried to conclude humorously: "This is what the kids would call false equivalency, or what Aristotle in many of his writings would call malarkey. And I agree with Aristotle."
Speaking of "no comparison," last August Scarborough gloated after the Mar-a-Lago raid for documents: "You break the law, you go to jail . . . In America—even in the age of Trump! No! Man! Is above the law!" And he dropped his F-word nine times:
That's why we have law enforcement, to actually bring fascists to justice. So, please, don't run around with your hair on fire and say, oh my God, we can't actually enforce the laws of our land. We can't actually protect classified documents, because fascists may get upset on a TV show.
Today, Scarborough led Jonathan Lemire through a lengthy interrogatory, in which he facetiously suggested that, with respect to numerous matters, Biden's handling of the situation was identical to that of Trump's. In each case, Lemire dutifully responded that, no, Biden had handled the situation in a very different, more cooperative and truthful manner, than had Trump.
Scarborough wisecracked that clearly, Biden as vice president was known to flush government documents down the toilet. Mika added "Eat them!" As you can see from the screencap. Willie Geist, playing along with the courtroom gag, accused Joe of asking a series of "leading questions," and facetiously asked them to be "stricken from the record."
Scarborough joked "I'm reading on the Twitter machine that it's just alike. But there doesn't sound [sic] to be any similarities."
Morning Joe going to great lengths to distinguish Biden's possession of classified documents from Trump's situation was sponsored in part by Allstate and Abbvie, maker of Skyrizi.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
1/10/23
6:01 am ETMIKA BRZEZINSKI: The Department of Justice is reviewing classified documents found at a personal office for President Joe Biden. This discovery appears to be very different from what happened at Mar-a-Lago. We'll explain. Plus, after hundreds --
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, I'm going to ask Jonathan Lemire, actually. We're going to go down this. I'm going to Jonathan Lemire if it really is different, or whether it's just the libs trying to hide things from the American people. But we'll, we'll go through the questions with him.
MIKA: Okay, yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: Are we going to do it now, or later?
MIKA: Yeah, you know. He's feeling it, so.
SCARBOROUGH: Do you mind if we ask, if I ask a couple of quick questions. Because you, this is your beat, right?
JONATHAN LEMIRE: Joe, go for it.
MIKA: Is he allowed to say no?
SCARBOROUGH: I want to talk about the college football championship. So, on these docs, I mean, it's the same thing, right? Cause Trump had docs, Biden has -- first question, so did Joe Biden's lawyers lie to the FBI and the DoJ about actually having all the documents returned to them? Did he do that?
LEMIRE: No, they did not. As soon as they discovered that there were these documents in this think tank associated with Joe Biden, they then notified the federal government.
SCARBOROUGH: But, but, but the DoJ obviously, just like in the Trump case, so they had to go on a long, drawn-out negotiations, right, to try to get these Biden documents back like they did in the Trump case -- long, drawn-out negotiations [Mika heard laughing off-camera] over months. They had to do that, right?
LEMIRE: Actually, Joe, no, they didn't. The Biden team turned over the documents the very next day after they discovered them.
SCARBOROUGH: Okay, but the Biden team, though, before they turned it over, just like the Trump team, because I'm sure it's the same thing --
MIKA: [sighs] Oh my God.
SCARBOROUGH: -- This is the same thing, in both of them. I'm sure the Biden team, in between that time when they turned it back, Biden had them go in to the warehouses and remove, the rooms, and remove documents, right? Get them out of there after they were notified by the DoJ, to hide them somewhere?
LEMIRE: No, President Biden has said that he first learned that these documents even existed and were in his materials when his lawyers discovered them in November --
SCARBOROUGH: Okay, okay, okay --
LEMIRE: -- There was no effort to hide them. They turned them over.
SCARBOROUGH: Hold on, though. Okay, so fine. But it's still the same thing, because we all know, we've all read the stories, when Biden was Vice President, he would often tear up government documents, flush things down the toilet.
MIKA: Eat them [makes eating gestures].
SCARBOROUGH: Biden would eat them, flush them down the toilet. Biden did that—just like Trump, right?
MIKA: In the mouth.
SCARBOROUGH: This is the same thing, really, and the libs just can't admit it's the same thing, right? Because he tore up a lot of government documents?
LEMIRE: He was known for saying malarkey a lot. No, he didn't, he's not known to tearing up documents or eating them. And his White House has pledged full cooperation with the investigation.
MIKA: Okay.
SCARBOROUGH: I'm confused, Willie. I'm genuinely confused here. I mean, if I'm looking around the way I am, I'm confused. [Mika giggles.] I mean, this doesn't sound anything like --
MIKA: Willie wants no part of this, and I agree.
SCARBOROUGH: No! It doesn't sound anything like it. But yet, I'm reading on the Twitter machine that it's just alike. But there doesn't sound [sic] to be any similarities. This has to be the libs trying to pull something over on us.
WILLIE GEIST: First of all, those were leading questions all, Your Honor, and I would like them stricken from the record, if possible.
SCARBOROUGH: So noted, duly noted.
GEIST: Taking classified documents is a very serious matter. We're not saying it's not.
SCARBOROUGH: Yes it is.
GEIST: Of course it is. But there's no comparison here.
SCARBOROUGH: All right. So, this is what the kids would call false equivalency, or what Aristotle in many of his writings would call malarkey. And I agree with Aristotle.
