During a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair's Emily Jane Fox, MSNBC Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were asked about a “pseudo-feud” they've been having with Chris Cuomo, co-host of the Cable News Network's New Day rival program.
At one point in the discussion, Fox asked Brzezinski and Scarborough: “Some of your competitors have come out and criticized you guys in a much less veiled way. Chris Cuomo tweeted that you were campaign spokesmen. Let's just clear this up: How often are you talking to Donald Trump?”
The MSNBC anchors replied that they “probably talk to [Trump] once a week or so,” adding that they've seen him twice since the presidential election in November.
According to an article by J. D. Durkin for the Mediaite.com website, “Fox's question stems from a Tweet a few weeks ago where Cuomo alleged that Scarborough and Brzezinski 'have always been boosters' of the president-elect.”
Scarborough did not mince words while answering questions in the interview, which was released Thursday evening:
First of all, you have to take whatever Chris Cuomo says or retweets with a grain of salt because he also retweeted something saying that Morning Joe was a racist show.
Unfortunately, he's obviously unhinged by something. We've never said anything bad about him, never said anything negative about the show.
However, Cuomo noted, “things turned south” for the MSNBC program “when Trump froze them out but coverage” was “always stilted. They are transition spokesmen now.”
Back in June, Cuomo wrote that Scarborough “is a pol not a journo after all."
“The long-standing controversy,” Durkin later stated, “circles on allegations that the Morning Joe co-hosts have had a 'cozy' relationship with the real estate mogul turned GOP nominee turned president-elect. Cuomo went so far as to once accuse Scarborough of “hypocrisy at the highest level” who had Trump on the most and was the least exacting.”
The Tweet in question that Scarborough cited was from the Twitter account of @bugg_ray a few weeks earlier, which Cuomo promptly retweeted:
I have found such peace at @CNN @newday! @chriscuomo calls it as he sees it with no fears! @MorningJoe: Racist Propaganda TV!
According to a June 9 Mediaite article by Alex Griswold, Scarborough complained that CNN was too accommodating of Donald Trump and reliant on him for ratings, but time slot rival Chris Cuomo took to Twitter to accuse Scarborough of Trump favoritism and hypocrisy.
The New Day co-host’s mini-rant began when a Twitter follower said that Scarborough denounced those who support Trump’s proposed Muslim ban. Cuomo was understandingly skeptical,” Griswold noted.
“When a follower provided video evidence that the MSNBC host did denounce Trump,” Griswold stated “Cuomo ‘defended’ him, saying that was impossible because Scarborough was a friend and booster of Trump,” he growled.
“When Cuomo was asked specifically about Scarborough’s accusations about CNN, he flat-out called him a hypocrite,” the Mediaite correspondent stated.
Also on June 9, Griswold noted that Scarborough “dished on his competitors” during a Thursday podcast, accusing CNN President Jeff Zucker of calling Donald Trump personally every time he wanted Trump on the network."
CNN “has basically turned their entire broadcast center over to [Trump],”Scarborough told Politico’s Glenn Thrush, saying “he’s on CNN all the time.”
“Have you talked to Zucker about any of this stuff?” Thrush asked. “Do you ever run into him?”
“No, but he and Zucker are very close. Zucker personally calls Trump and books Trump,” Scarborough responded. “And Trump laughs and calls Zucker ‘my personal booker’ because Zucker will call Trump.”
“He hasn’t said that publicly, but he’s said it,” Scarborough continued. “I’ve said it publicly now. But you know, Trump will laugh every time Zucker calls because Zucker will call to personally book him.”
Scarborough’s accusations come after CNN accused him of being too close to the Republican presidential candidate.
As proof of the claim, CNN noted that Scarborough visited Trump in his hotel room on the night of the New Hampshire primary. The former congressman addressed those charges succinctly: “It’s total bulls**t.”
Griswold added that Cuomo has taken veiled shots at Morning Joe’s treatment of Trump before.
“This morning he’s going on with friends and making sure that he can clean up and reclassify anything that he doesn’t like about how the interview went yesterday,” Cuomo said after interviewing Trump in August. That morning, Trump was on Morning Joe.
It’s not unusual for rivals to hammer each other, especially if they both have programs airing at the same time, Still, this exchange demonstrates that liberals aren’t always as “tolerant’ and “compassionate” as they would have us believe.
