On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski and former RNC chairman turned MSNBC political analyst, Michael Steele, teamed up to laugh off any concerns about the crimes of Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden.
They discussed how to shape the narrative about Trump and Biden, emphasizing how former President Trump was supposedly a criminal, but that Hunter Biden was just a “distraction” and a “boogieman” for the right. Steele went on to argue that Republican characterizations of President Biden were ridiculous.
Brzezinski complained:
You watch one network and they don't even want to talk about the insurrection. They don't even want to talk about reality. We can cover Hunter. We'll cover the hearing. We'll cover it. But also, can we talk about what is important and what might be even consequential? As opposed to you know, going after people, just going after people.
Brzezinski’s painful, begrudged comment that they would cover the Hunter Biden hearing was questionable. The media has repeatedly refused to talk about Hunter Biden, unless it became absolutely necessary to defend him. In fact, MSNBC’s sister broadcast network (NBC) completely ignored a recent bombshell hearing about him.
Her claim that Republicans were “just going after people” also held no water. Hunter Biden committed crimes in the open - his laptop that the media denied existing proved that. He also was considered by many conservatives to have been behind the cocaine found in the White House. To not go after Hunter Biden would be an affront to the rule of law and would tell the world that people in positions of power can do whatever they want, and are above the law.
Steele chimed in, ranting:
No matter how you try to weight it, the process eventually exposes the truth here and I think it's fascinating to me that Hunter Biden is nothing more than a boogieman for the right. He is the updated version of Hillary Clinton … You can say a lot of things about Joe Biden, being the head of a crime family is not one of those things. You know, I was making a comment over the weekend, they have him make this big mob boss, right, sitting around, I’m like. And then in the next sentence they tell you how old he is, right. He can’t figure out how to go to the bathroom. So I’m like, well what is it?
In terms of Hunter Biden, many parts of the truth that he committed criminal acts have already been exposed, hence the plea deal with federal prosecutors, and will continue to be probed by the House Oversight Committee and Chairman James Comer (R-KY).
Also, the idea the Republicans think of Joe Biden as an Italian mafia-style mob boss was ridiculous. Republicans have portrayed Biden as corrupt, yes, but not as a “godfather” type. And he very much can engage in crimes and corruption- while also being old and stupid.
The whole “deep state” argument put forth by Trump and his supporters was that many parts of the government worked together in their crime ring. Such a situation would not make it necessary for Joe Biden to be this lone mob boss, thus disproving the false dichotomy put forward by Steele, that Biden must either be a criminal genius or brain dead patient.
While Steele was trying to spike the ball over what he portrayed as a conflicting portrait of President Biden, perhaps he could explain the liberal narrative that then-President Trump was both a bumbling idiot who would inadvertently trigger WWIII and Russia’s most well-trained and devious spy.
Morning Joe’s Hunter Biden worship was sponsored by Booking.com and Nutrisystem. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
07/19/23
7:36 AM ET
(…)
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Michael Steele, to the politics of this, I mean it's not that these Republicans are looking at Hunter, I guess, people have a right to look at who they want to look at, it's just we're talking about an insurrection at our Capitol, we're talk about our democracy being -- we're talking about classified documents and it does seem -- it does seem kind of like what are we in two different worlds?
You watch one network and they don't even want to talk about the insurrection. They don't even want to talk about reality. We can cover Hunter. We'll cover the hearing. We'll cover it. But also, can we talk about what is important and what might be even consequential? As opposed to you know, going after people, just going after people.
MICHAEL STEELE: No no, you're absolutely on point there. We can do and our system is built, Mika, to do more than one thing at a time. Right? We can have the Hunter Biden investigation go along but we can also investigate Donald Trump. You know, you can talk about you know, wanting to lock him up and lock her up, but we can also investigate Donald Trump. You can try to shift and refocus the American people's views and images of this narrative, but we can also talk about the criminality of the former President of the United States.
Our system is built to do these things at the same time. What the Republican -- what the MAGA Republicans are trying to do is, to get us to focus on the one thing that is their distraction. The one thing that is the narrative they want to thread out and tell us that anything else, anything else is antithetical to the system to itself. It is the deep state forcing us and trying to grind the wheels of justice against, who, Donald Trump.
But as both Congress members just noted, this process is going to expose truth because that's how this system is built. No matter how you try to weight it, the process eventually exposes the truth here and I think it's fascinating to me that Hunter Biden is nothing more than a boogieman for the right. He is the updated version of Hillary Clinton. Right?
Fixated for 30-plus years on her. Now they have something else they can gnaw on, to throw around and to beat up and denigrate and, you know, this great Biden crime family. You can say a lot of things about Joe Biden, being the head of a crime family is not one of those things. You know, I was making a comment over the weekend, they have him make this big mob boss, right, sitting around, I’m like. And then in the next sentence they tell you how old he is, right.
He can’t figure out how to go to the bathroom. So I’m like, well what is it? I mean, is he sitting around saying “I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse,” and then nod off at the desk? I mean this - this is how ridiculous it is. These narratives that they're putting out there which is why we have to keep our eye on the justice system and let that process expose and show us the light behind what's going on.
(…)
