Morning Joe Silent on Democrat Man’s ‘Shut Up’ to Susan Collins, CNN Laughs It Off

Erica Hill Edward-Isaac Dovere Jesse Arm-Luke Thomas CNN This Morning 10-16-26

It’s 2000, and in a debate for a Senate seat from New York, Republican Rick Lazio walks across the stage and invites 52-year-old Hillary Clinton to sign a pledge rejecting soft money.

Dem politicians and the liberal media go wild, accusing Lazio of being menacing and a bully. The New York Times and others depicted Lazio as an aggressor who had invaded Clinton’s space.

Cut to yesterday. In a debate for a Maine Senate seat, Democrat Troy Jackson told 73-year-old Republican Susan Collins to “shut up.” A protester erupted, and Collins guessed the protester was a Jackson fan.

Morning Joe devoted precisely zero seconds of its three-hour-long show to the incident. The Maine race was mentioned in the second hour, but only to report that Jackson is outraising Collins. As for the “shut up,” the law of omerta was in effect.

Scarborough did manage to work in a boast that, running for Congress in the previous century: "I always ran against people that had more money than I did...My opponent may have had all the money, but I had all the people, man."

Impressive, man! Except...in his last election in 2000, Scarborough ran unopposed. 

Things were somewhat better at CNN This Morning. At least they discussed the incident, though relegating it to the show’s last segment.

But even then, substitute host Erica Hill, after playing a clip of the "shut up" incident, dismissed it with a big smile [see screencap], saying “never a dull moment these days, that’s for sure.”

Without further comment, she pivoted immediately to President Trump’s 36% approval rating in Maine and whether Collins needs to distance herself from him.

Jesse Arm of the conservative Manhattan Institute called out Jackson and predicted Collins would win re-election. Hill responded by pointing to a poll graphic showing Jackson ahead and highlighting Jackson’s fundraising lead. Over the years, Democrats have often had polling leads vanish as Collins is re-elected. 

If a Republican debating Nancy Pelosi had told her to “shut up,” think a CNN host would have smiled it off with a “never a dull moment”? Rhetorical question.

In 2000, a Republican's walk across the stage to Hillary was treated as an act of aggression. In 2026, a Democrat's "shut up" to a 73-year-old female senator is deep-sixed, or treated as light entertainment.

Here are the transcripts.

MS NOW
Morning Joe
10/16/26
7:22 am EDT

ADRIENNE ELROD: And now, you know, the story that we're hearing a lot about, of course, Joe, is that Republicans have, you know, these two or three big donors, like Elon Musk, who are putting a ton of money into these races.

But the real power, of course, is in the grassroots, and that's where you're seeing a lot of, like, small dollar donations, which are fueling some of these Senate races.

And you go down, I mean, Sherrod Brown has out-raised Husted $23 million to $4.8 million.

Maine, Troy Jackson out-raised, Susan Collins, $20.4 million to $5.2 million. I mean, the list goes on and on.

So you're seeing these, in these major Senate races, and of course, House races too, that the Democratic candidates are the ones who are raising the small-dollar grassroots donations that are fueling their campaign. Whereas Republicans really have to rely on some of this major super PAC money in order to remain competitive.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: And, and, and JMart, the thing that I found in my campaign, even though it was on a much smaller basis. I always ran against people that had more money than I did, but I got twenty-five dollars here, fifty dollars there. I get all of these paychecks that went up and, you know, got, got small, small-dollar donors, got a lot of yard signs in people's yards.

I was supposed to lose the race, and I ended up winning 62 to 38 percent. Cause my opponent may have had all the money, but I had all the people, man.

And that's the thing, you know, yes, Elon Musk is writing maybe 150, 200 hundred million dollars in checks, but Paxton can only raise $10 million in Texas. Talarico's raising $60 million from a lot of small donors. At the end of the day, that usually fuels a campaign to victory.

JONATHAN MARTIN: Yeah, the, the tell is the enthusiasm gap that's, that's driving a lot of the small-dollar contributions and why, basically, every competitive Senate race features the Democratic candidate significantly outraising the Republican. On the hard dollar side, this has been a trend in recent years, Senate Democrats have been able to sort of, leverage the small-dollar culture.

 

CNN This Morning
10/16/26
6:53 am EDT

ERICA HILL: Maine Senate debate interrupted by a protester. And while that person wanted to hold Susan Collins to the fire, she flipped it back to her opponent, Democrat Troy Jackson. Take a look.

PROTESTER: Senator Collins, I'm so sorry to interrupt.

MODERATOR: I'm so sorry. Somebody's interrupting. We'll have our, our security deal with that.

PROTESTER: I'm terrified. I'm terrified. AI data centers are destroying our climate! They are poisoning our water!

SUSAN COLLINS: So this is obviously one of Troy's supporters.

TROY JACKSON: Oh, shut up. I didn't, I don't even know that kid.

ERICA HILL: [Smiles] Never a dull moment these days, that's for sure.

Another key theme we should point out of last night's debate, President Trump, who, of course, is figuring prominently. The president wants voters to act like he is on the ballot when they go to the polls.

Collins, though, is really trying to distance herself from the president. His approval ratings in Maine, he stands at 36% approval.

Jesse, is the key to a Republican win in Maine to distance from President Trump, as Senator Collins is trying to do?

JESSE ARM: Yeah, probably. I mean, Susan Collins has a record of running in Maine as an independent, as a moderate, as something of a maverick within her own party who is totally willing to break ranks.

And we saw this scene at the debate last night where, you know, two kind of far-left people lost their cool, one in the audience and then the other candidate who's running, telling her to shut up for, for suggesting that this race is getting rancorous because of Jackson supporters.

So I think, Susan Collins is actually in pretty good standing. Precisely because Maine voters understand that she is a very different kind of Republican, who is willing to break ranks with her party, and, voters have an appetite for that. In Maine, they have for a very long time. I anticipate that they'll probably return her to office.

HILL: You anticipate she'll return to office. So we just showed the, the numbers there, as, as you noted. No clear leader. But what is interesting is that Jackson's fundraising numbers have shot up a bit. They show he's outraising Collins nearly 4-to-1.