For a show whose hosts routinely flirt and joke with one another, panelists on MSNBC’s Morning Joe took an uncharacteristically (though unsurprising) no-nonsense view of President Trump’s recent remarks about Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Over the weekend, the President gave a speech to Republican donors during a closed-door lunch at Mar-A-Lago. During the talk, he reportedly mentioned the recent amendment to the Chinese constitution which removed the two-term limit for Presidents: “He’s now President for life. President for life. No, he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.” CNN reported that the President’s remarks were met with laughter and applause.
On Monday, hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski furiously wrung their hands over these comments, joined by a hyperventilating Eugene Robinson, who described Trump’s remarks as “one of the most stunning things” to have happened in the past week. Meanwhile, Scarborough preemptively dismissed the most reasonable explanation for the President’s words – that they had been spoken in jest: “So, there are many people who’ll say, ‘Oh, the President was just joking.’ I could give you a list of the thousands of things they claim the President was joking afterwards.” Adding that the audience’s laughter was likely indicative of “people made uncomfortable,” he then continued:
When Republicans are just saying it's just a joke, or when Republicans ignore the fact that this man is talking about being President for life, if they think that Donald Trump is joking, then they're fools. I don't think they're fools. I think they know exactly what he's saying.
Scarborough presumably would have to include CNN in his list of “fools,” as the network’s own reporting described the atmosphere at the event as “upbeat” and noted that Trump's speech was “peppered with jokes and laughter.” In fact, that characterization constituted the entirety of the time CNN spent on these remarks, while the rest of their article dealt with other more news-worthy portions of the speech.
Evidently the creative minds at Morning Joe were more reluctant to let a manufactured scandal go to waste. The panelists continued to scoff and gasp amongst themselves at length. “It’s totally disturbing,” Robinson complained, unnecessarily adding that Putin was “running” China’s elections.
Brzezinski agreed:
This guy wants to bring us back in time. The people in the room clapping and laughing? At this point, who would clap and laugh at that? I mean, I would be stone-faced.
Scarborough and Robinson took turns listing dictators whom Trump had praised in the past, growing increasingly panicked with each new name. Yet such outrage seems disingenuous when one considers MSNBC's own history of praising authoritarian dictatorships. For example, in August of 2017, NBC News correspondent Morgan Radford celebrated the supposed race-consciousness of Iranian dictator Ali Khameini when he retweeted Black Lives Matter. And just days before that, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell spent a full segment celebrating Fidel Castro’s 88th birthday.
In the news media, it helps to have a short memory about these sorts of things – at least as far as one’s ideological allies are concerned.
A partial transcript of the segment can be found below:
MSNBC's Morning Joe
03/05/2018
6:12 a.m. EST
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Well, last week China announced a move to alter its constitution, paving the way for XI Jinping to rule for life.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Boy, who ever saw that coming?
BRZEZINSKI: And during a closed door speech on Saturday at Mar-A-Lago to Republican donors, audio of which was obtained by CNN, President Trump said, quote, "He's now president for life. President for life. No, he's great. And l, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot some day."
EUGENE ROBINSON: "I think he's great. I think it's great." You know, that was like -- last week was just stunning thing after stunning thing after stunning thing, but that was one of the most stunning things. The Chinese leader makes a clear play to become leader for life, the heir to Mao Zedong and Dun Xiaoping, and the President of the united States you would expect to say, "This is not a good idea."
BRZEZKISNKI: Grave concern. The room reportedly responded with applause and laughter to the statement made by a smiling President. What the...?
SCARBOROUGH: So, there are many people who say, "Oh, the President was just joking." I could give you a list of the thousands things where they claim the President was joking afterwards. And if there was laughter, there was laughter, people made uncomfortable. But there are statements in the past that Donald Trump has made where he has praised Xi for consolidating power. China has become more and more autocratic over the past six months to a year. He's made conscious moves to become more and more autocratic. You have Donald Trump praising Erdogan when he consolidates power. Duterte, when he goes out and -- extrajudicial killings. So this is important, though. When Republicans are just saying, it's just a joke, or when Republicans ignore the fact that this man is talking about being President for life, if they think that Donald Trump is joking, then they're fools. I don't think they're fools. I think they know exactly what he's saying. But again, the first part is the most disturbing.
ROBINSON: It's totally disturbing. We all know Chinese elections are not what we think of as elections, or what we thought of elections before whenever Putin started running them. But they're not what we think of as free and fair elections. But we have always encouraged the sort of routines of democracy in China. We've encouraged anything that sort of looks like they're progressing in a direction of more freedom and representation. And now it's just fine that they're going to have a leader for life.
BRZEZINSKI: You look at some of his attitudes towards race and other things, and you worry. This guy wants to bring us back in time. The people in the room clapping and laughing. At this point, who would clap and laugh at that? I mean, I would be stone faced.
HEIDI PRYZBYLA: You have to hope that it was nervous laughter because the reason why -- joke is not funny when there's some tendency of truth here.
