MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski has called for Twitter to deplatform a sitting president.
Brzezinski used both her show and her Twitter to demand that President Donald Trump be deplatformed. She even went so far as directly accusing him of “libel” and claimed “world would be safer” if he were censored. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) schooled Brzezinski by replying, “The media should NOT be asking Silicon Valley billionaires to silence the President of the United States.”
Trump had blasted Mika’s husband and fellow Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough over an old incident regarding the death of a staffer. Intern Lori Klausutis “was found dead in Scarborough’s Fort Walton Beach office in Florida,” though the medical examiner reportedly “ruled the death accidental,” The New York Post wrote.
Brzezinski responded to Trump’s comment about the incident by slamming him on a May 20 broadcast. As Fox News summarized “She accused Trump of trying to use the past case to deflect from Scarborough’s recent criticisms of the president’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.”
Brzezinski claimed that Trump brought up the incident merely, “[b]ecause you’re mad at Joe, because Joe got you again today, because he speaks the truth.”
She continued by alleging that Trump targeted her husband because, “he speaks plainly about your lack of interest and empathy in others and your lack of ability to handle this massive human catastrophe, the fact that you have made it worse and you make it worse every day.”
“But the germs you’re spreading on Twitter...” she began before switching to address Twitter directly instead “First of all, Twitter, you should be taking these tweets down. You should be ashamed of yourself. You’ll be hearing from me on this, because this is B.S., but Donald, you are a sick person.”
Brzezinski followed up by accounting her intentions to follow through via tweet and contact Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey,
“I will be reaching out to head of twitter about their policies being violated every day by President Tump [sic]. Hope my call is taken. Please retweet if you agree.”
Conservative actor James Woods responded by theorizing “Twitter would be out of business today if Trump hadn’t been elected. Despite Jack’s Kumbaya bullshit, he ain’t killing the goose that lays the golden egg.”
On that same day, Brzezinski responded to this idea that Twitter would never discard such a famous asset by tweeting “Agree but worth trying to talk w @Twitter.” She went on to lament,
“It’s just crazy that Trump, the chief law enforcement officer of the US is using the power of the presidency to harass someone who is a critic— Nuts that this is accepted. Nuts. #democracy”
She also directly accused the president of libel when she tweeted “. @jack please take my call today. Please stop allowing your platform policies to be abused by the day. It’s called libel.”
Brzezinski tweeted the same overall call for censorship again with more force and better grammar.
“.@jack At what point is @Twitter a part of this? TAKE DOWN TRUMP’s ACCOUNT— the world world be safer. Retweet if you agree”
Later she confirmed that “A call is being set up with @jack and the GC. Thanks for your interest. I will keep you posted.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted the entire fiasco via Twitter when he proclaimed,
“The media should NOT be asking Silicon Valley billionaires to silence the President of the United States. If you disagree w/ what he says—as I also do at times—then engage on the merits. Say why you think he’s wrong. Journalists should NOT be calling for censorship. #FreeSpeech.”
