For the second day running, Morning Joe has struck a surprisingly positive tone about President Trump, specifically regarding his approach to peacemaking and diplomacy.
Yesterday, we noted Washington Post editor and MSNBC commentator David Ignatius saying there was "something to" the notion that Trump could win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Ignatius was back at it Wednesday, offering guarded praise for the olive branch that Trump has offered to Iran, proposing to help make Iran a great, prosperous country in return for its agreement to abandon its nuclear weapons development program.
Ignatius described Trump as having "big ideas for change," saying he was "struck" by Trump having said that the US has no permanent enemies, and that the situation with Iran can change if it moves forward with the current negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.
Ignatius added that Trump's pulling back from Netanyahu's proposal to attack Iran and destroy its nuclear program, "illustrates that Trump, at least in the Middle East, is trying to look at policy issues through a different lens rather than automatic support of traditional allies."
Even Joe Scarborough pitched in with praise, suggesting that because of the "chaos" of Trump's first term, he didn't receive the credit he deserved for the Abraham Accords and Project Warp Speed.
We might look at this as Morning Joe's declaration of a temporary truce with Trump. The show and the rest of the liberal media are sure to go back on the attack given any opening.
But given the deals the Trump administration has achieved with China and other countries, the stock market's rebound from the initial post-tariff slide, and Trump's peacemaking efforts around the world, it's hard for even his most stubborn antagonists not to grant the President some credit.
Here's the transcript:
MSNBC's Morning Joe
5/13/25
6:15 am EDTWILLIE GEIST: During that speech yesterday in Saudi Arabia, the president also said he's willing to negotiate with Iran on a nuclear deal, but made it clear the United States will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I want to make a deal with Iran. If I can make a deal with Iran, I'll be very happy, if we're gonna make your region and the world's a safer place. But if Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero like I did before.
The choice is theirs to make. We really want them to be a successful country. We want them to be a wonderful, safe, great country. But they cannot have a nuclear weapon.
This is an offer that will not last forever. The time is right now for them to choose. Right now, we don't have a lot of time to wait.
GEIST: So, David Ignatius, the two sides, the United States and Iran, actually have been talking quite a bit for this relationship over the last couple of months and trying to get to a place where they can talk at least about the nuclear program in Iran.
The president talking about massive, maximum pressure from the United States. So where does this all stand right now?
DAVID IGNATIUS: So, Willie, it stands in mid-negotiation. There've been four meetings between U.S. representatives and Iranian. They have not broken through the central issue, which is whether Iran will be allowed to enrich uranium after a deal. The US is firm, as it has been for many, many years, in saying Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. But there's this additional demand. Iran will not enrich uranium. The Iranians have pushed back hard on that, saying they have a right to do this. It's just hard to predict where this is going to turn out.
But I was struck by the language that Trump used in Saudi Arabia, where he said the United States has no permanent enemies. The state of virtual war that's existed between the United States and Iran since 1979 is not a permanent condition of life in the Middle East if Iran will move forward in these negotiations.
That's a big, a big shift. It illustrates that Trump, although sometimes it's hard, as we've been saying, to distinguish what's signal and what's noise, has big ideas about change in this part of the world. His willingness to step back from conflict and consider negotiations, even with adversaries. To admit somebody who was formerly a member of an al-Qaeda affiliate as the legitimate ruler of Syria. Those are big changes. No question about it.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I mean, David, you look at what has happened, you look at the Abraham Accords that, again, were, I think, much like Operation Warp Speed, were sort of clouded by so much more chaos that was going on at the time.
The Abraham Accords, obviously, as you've said, very significant. You look what's happening in Syria. It's a risk, but it's a risk that obviously our allies in the region other than Israel wants the president to take.
And, of course, the president's promised peace in Ukraine.
. . .
IGANATIUS: Here's what my reporting tells me. At the very beginning of Trump's second term, Prime Minister Netanyahu came to Washington with pretty elaborate plans for a military strike on Iran to take out what remains of the nuclear program.
And the argument was, Iran has never been this weak. This is the time to do it. There's a window of opportunity. Trump listened to all that. There was a lot of speculation about whether a joint US-Israeli attack might be coming. And then Trump pulled back.
And he's pulled back more and more, month by month, to the point that he is now where he's really opening the door to a different kind of relationship with Iran. But I think it began with Trump's resistance to the idea of getting into another conflict in the Middle East. He just wasn't sure about Israeli arguments. This was one and done, hit him, and you won't have to worry about it afterwards. He did worry about it.
So I think that's the start of it. And it illustrates that Trump, at least in the Middle East, is trying to look at policy issues through a different lens rather than automatic support of traditional allies.
