In the course of a long Morning Joe segment today focusing on an exposed Tucker Carlson text message to a colleague that the way some January 6th rioters were beating up an Antifa guy isn't "how white men fight," Michael Steele commented:
The fact that something like that could be sent to a colleague and it sort of sits there, and nothing happens or comes from it, and it's not until you get into this sort of adversarial, prosecutorial setting in which it becomes public or potentially becomes public that they see some reaction. So it really speaks to the culture inside the building in many respects that that type of communication doesn't rise to a point where, you know, he's brought in by the leadership of the company saying, what the hell are you talking about, how white men fight?"
If Steele is shocked that there would be no immediate corporate repercussions for Tucker saying that in a private communication between two people, how about a TV host bragging—live on the air—about how he would threaten and attack someone merely doing something he didn't approve of? Steele need look no further than across the morning's panel, at certified very-white-man Joe Scarborough.
Want to know "how white men fight," Michael? Last year, we caught Macho Joe, commenting on tourists in the Capitol the day before January 6th, bragging about how he'd attack one. Mind you: not someone who had confronted or attacked Joe. Just someone doing something Scarborough didn't approve of
Scarborough was talking tough about the notion that someone was touring the Capitol and supposedly sort of "casing the joint" for a later riot:
"If I'm giving a tour on any day of the year, and a guy's stopping and taking a picture of, like, metal detectors, taking a picture of entries, you know? I'd stop and say, hey, hey, hey Inspector Clouseau! Put the camera down or I'm gonna make you eat it . . . I would slap the camera out of his hand. If I were a Member of Congress, and a guy's doing this, I'd say, what are you doing? Stop. And I'd slap."
Tough stuff, Joe! So that's how a white man fights! And speaking of slapping, no indication that Joe got a slap on the wrists from the MSNBC suits for his bellicose braggadocio.
And speaking of MSNBC's corporate culture, this wasn't the only time Muy Macho Joe flashed his tough-guy persona. Earlier this year, we caught Joe bragging "I'd die" before negotiating like Kevin McCarthy did with fellow Republicans. Joe, guess who recently caved and agreed to negotiate with McCarthy over the debt ceiling? None other than your boy, Joe Biden! Will Scarborough be calling on Ol' Joe to turn in his man card?
And last year, Scarborough claimed he wouldn't let anyone "emasculate me," like Donald Trump allegedly did to J.D. Vance. More fightin' words from that master of machismo, Joe Scarborough!
On Morning Joe, Michael Steele criticizing the Fox News culture for the lack of immediate corporate repercussions for Tucker Carlson having written in a private communication to a colleague that the way some January 6th rioters beat up an Antifa guy isn't "how white men fight" was sponsored in part by Chewy and Consumer Cellular.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
5/3/23
6:14 am EDTJONATHAN LEMIRE: So Michael Steele, just want to kind of get your reaction here to this latest revelation. A text message that seems to be part of a larger puzzle as to why Tucker Carlson was shown the door.
MICHAEL STEELE: Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. I think that a lot of what, you know, we now know from the Dominion case really filled in some of the backstory about exactly how these hosts like Tucker operated within the Fox ecosystem.
I mean, the fact that something like that could be sent to a colleague, and, and it sort of sits there, and nothing happens or comes from it. It's not until you get into this sort of adversarial, prosecutorial setting in which it becomes public, or potentially becomes public, that you, we see some reaction.
So it really speaks to the culture inside the building, in many respects, that that type of communication doesn't rise to a point where, you know, he's brought in by the, the leadership of the company saying, what the hell are you talking about, what do you mean: how white men fight?"
