On the Thursday edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough and New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay took to the offensive to defend FBI Director Christopher Wray from Republican criticism.
In various segments, Morning Joe praised the FBI for targeting Trump and leveled blistering accusations at House Republicans. They blasted both GOP members of Congress who demanded answers from Wray and Trump supporters as a whole, with Gay resorting to playground-level insults.
Mara Gay bemoaned the fact that Republican representatives were doing what their voters wanted them to do:
“One of the things that is disturbing is I guess this is working with a portion of the American people. And that, for me, is just kind of hard to take … And so what exactly is this hold that Trumpism has on some portion of the American people, that their representatives are coming to Washington and acting amuck in this way? As Mika said, whether it's, you know, ignorance, stupidity or graft, you know, something more nefarious, I don't know.”
Gay here showed her own personal lack of maturity. Since she apparently didn’t like democracy in action - elected representatives doing what they promised to voters – she simply decided to call those voters and their elected representatives stupid and ignorant. Such conduct was more fitting for preschoolers fighting on a playground than so-called “journalists”.
Scarborough’s comments in a previous segment were less immature, but also reflected the growing media effort to protect the FBI from any criticism or attempts by the GOP to hold it accountable for political weaponization.
For his part, Scarborough tried to frame Republicans as anti-American just for asking Director Wray hard questions before Congress: “Some of the most powerful, some of the most influential people hate law enforcement. They hate the FBI. They hate the premier law enforcement agency in America. They hate military leaders. They're constantly trashing the United States military.”
He wanted to convince viewers that Republicans hate the FBI and the military, as opposed to the reality that the FBI launched several political persecutions of conservatives and covered for Democrats like Hunter and Joe Biden. Scarborough’s ultimate goal was to erase accountability when it comes to the FBI and other government agencies, by suggesting Republicans were for terrible things happening to Americans and their loved ones:
“Like, these Republicans want to gut an agency that protects Americans from terrorists, foreign and domestic, from people who are trying to steal their identities, from people who are draining money out of their parents' and grandparents' bank accounts, drug cartels who are trying to push more and more fentanyl into this country. That is who the house Republicans have declared to be their enemy.”
Gay’s bland insults were the words of a sad, frustrated political operative embarrassed that her side’s own nefarious activities were challenged and exposed in Congressional testimony. Scarborough’s angry rant and false characterization of Republicans was part of the MSNBC tradition of defending the left at any cost, nothing held back. But on the positive side, MSNBC’s desperation and increasingly unbelievable narrative showed their propaganda isn’t working anymore.
Morning Joe temper tantrums were sponsored by Trivago and Subway. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
07/13/23
6:30 AM ET
(…)
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I mean, the problem, Mike, is the leaders of the House Republicans are talking this way. The people that are running the committees. Some of the most powerful, some of the most influential people hate law enforcement.
They hate the FBI. They hate the premier law enforcement agency in America. They hate military leaders. They're constantly trashing the United States military. It is crazy what they’re doing. They're blocking the Marine Corps, the United States Marine Corps from having a commandant for the first time in 150 years. They say they wish American military people could be as tough and masculine as the Russian military.
(…)
Like, these Republicans want to gut an agency that protects Americans from terrorists, foreign and domestic, from people who are trying to steal their identities, from people who are draining money out of their parents' and grandparents' bank accounts, drug cartels who are trying to push more and more fentanyl into this country. That is who the house Republicans have declared to be their enemy.
(…)
7: 42 AM ET
MARA GAY: They're running interference for him. One of the things that is disturbing is I guess this is working with a portion of the American people. And that, for me, is just kind of hard to take. I mean, it’s also just -- I am old enough, I'm not that old, and I'm old enough to remember when, you know, support for law enforcement and the FBI, in particular, was actually something that was owned by Republicans, owned by conservatives. And it was actually liberals who were most skeptical. Of course, never to this level. I mean, this is obscene.
But it's kind of a stunning turn of events. I always think the same when you hear Donald Trump, of course, five years ago today kind of defending Vladimir Putin instead of our own law enforcement and security and intelligence agencies. You just think, it's like you're living in upside down world. And so what exactly is this hold that Trumpism has on some portion of the American people, that their representatives are coming to Washington and acting amuck in this way?
As Mika said, whether it's, you know, ignorance, stupidity or graft, you know, something more nefarious, I don't know. But one thing is for sure, is that the integrity of the FBI, the integrity of our institutions really remains and endures despite these attacks. And so I think that is heartening.
(…)
