'What's Happening at MSNBC?'

[sop]

"David Frum just shared a disturbing anecdote from an appearance this morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. According to his short article at The Atlantic, he made a flippant reference to reporting that Pentagon nominee Pete Hegseth was known for drinking on the job at Fox News. The specific line was: 'If you’re too drunk for Fox News, you’re very, very drunk indeed.'"

"He went on to compare the case to that of John Tower in 1989, a long-serving senator whose Secretary of Defense nomination (Dick Cheney got the nod after Tower bowed out) was torpedoed over claims of drinking and womanizing. According to David, after he said this, an MSNBC producer piped up in his ear objecting to his comments and warning him not to repeat them. Not long after, David was ushered off the set, apparently sooner than expected. Then Mika Brzezinski read out an apology for what he’d said."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/whats-happening-at-msnbc

[duncang]

1. I haven't watched morning joke since well before the election.

They were pathetic then and haven’t changed their ways. I won’t watch them, Mitchell or Tur.

I hope it doesn’t spread to msnbc’s other shows. I don’t think it will but you can never tell especially if they get rid of some of the people.

[lark]

10. Ha, those 3 are verbotten on my tv as well since the election and the kneeling at merde a logo.

I can't take much of any of the news these days, it's so unrelentingly awful! When I do watch, it's a few minutes of Lawrence, Nicole or Rachel.

[Bluetus]

2. MSNBC is on full ass-kissing mode

This is not really anything new. It is interesting that the story is told publicly, undoubtedly there have been hundreds of similar cases in recent years.

I have been saying for years the MSNBC is not our friend. I'm glad to see that people are starting to recognize that more openly.

[jimfields33]

4. Alcoholism isn't funny is all they were saying.

I think it was responsible for them to apologize.

[Farmer-Rick]

14. But that comment was not just about alcoholism

It was about the culture of the top propaganda station for the current fascists in power. Fox is technically a quasi governmental arm since so many of their idiotic propaganda readers have been appointed to destroy our democracy.

I doubt MSNBC gives and *uck about all the alcoholics struggling with their addictions.

A real journalist would have asked about that out of control culture perpetrated by a quasi government corporation, monopoly and propaganda outlet. Not to mention the lead organization to supply government appointees.

[Bluetus]

47. What is the difference between Comcast, Disney and Newscorp

Style only. They all have the same agenda.

I wouldn't be too quick to single out Fox. They are just more direct than the others. Arguably, we are damaged more by supposedly "friendly fire" from outfits like MSNBC and NYT

[BootinUp]

53. Nonsense. Again we conflate opinion with a commitment

To be accurate on facts. The day that faux news makes a serious effort not to lie and or obstruct facts about elections you let me know please.

[Bluetus]

62. The evening programs ARE opinion shows, not news reports.

Of course, when they report something as fact, it should be accurate. But it is 100% within the commission of these programs to provide insights, which can certainly include informed speculation as long as it is identified as such.

[Farmer-Rick]

54. Very True

But the thing with Fox is that Trump is appointing their propaganda readers to cabinet positions and other executive positions.

So far I've counted 5 Fox employees in major executive branch positions. I bet there are more.

At this point you might as well say the Aussie Rupert Murdoch is running our American cabinet appointments, is the chief executive of the quasi government propaganda center and is really part of the US government. Thank God we didn't vote for him.......

[GiqueCee]

18. I don't believe was intended to be funny...

... it was simply pointing out the grotesque permissiveness afforded on-air talent – and I use the word, "talent" quite loosely – at Pox News. Surely you can recall the obfuscation and whitewashing of Bill O'Reilly's despicable behavior toward women, an offense considerably more odious than Hegseth's habitual inebriation. And the O'Reilly fiasco was milked dry by comedians of both genders, and all those in between.
I, for one, would afford neither Hegseth nor Pox News any deference whatsoever. They certainly wouldn't give it to any of us if the roles were reversed.

[Eyeball_Kid]

33. Hegseth is accused of drugging and raping a woman.

Can anyone get more "odious"? It's almost as if his drinking is a red herring. He's accused of a serious felony. Alcoholic drinking, as hideous as it is, is the sideshow.

[3Hotdogs]

9. They were, and still are useless. Now they are useless and scared.

Maybe they were afraid of lawsuit from Fox.

[BonnieJW]

30. Fox would never sue over that.

Imagine the deposition.

"Did you ever notice any of your coworkers exhibiting the effects of alcohol while on the air? Did you ever smell alcohol on them?"

[littlemissmartypants]

45. Full on Disinformation Propaganda State TV mode more like it. Wow! ...

I've never watched them just for the record. ❤️

[MadameButterfly]

64. Amazing that Joe and Mika are choosing to get on board with Trump

It's worth it to them to be Vichy under Trump's fascist regime. How do the sleep at night and get up in the morning? Is anyone going to keep watching them?

[littlemissmartypants]

68. They're fascists but do they realize they are? ...

I never watched them or MSNBC. They could fall off the edge of a flat earth and my life would not change.

[Sundance1220]

55. Not Nicole Wallace

I still watch her show (which I record). I assume Rachel also isn't turning. Neither is Lawrence.

[Bluetus]

61. Wallace has always been the one who speaks most plainly about the way things are

and I greatly appreciate her for that. The others tend to be rather mealy-mouthed on the core issues. Rachel and Lawrence have particular topics that get their attention from time to time, and they might throw out a good rant on those topics. But as a general rule, they pull 99% of their punches.

I remember vividly, for example, that in December 2020, after Trump lost the election, he implanted his cronies, including Patel, at the top of the Pentagon. Rachel reported on that, but she would never state the obvious out loud, and even today, still has not, as far as I know. The obvious thing was that these stooges were implanted there for the very purpose of guaranteeing that no part of the Pentagon, especially the National Guard, would be activated to put down the Jan 6 insurrection. It was obvious before the fact and completely undeniable after the fact, yet she could never simply say that. Instead, she did her "Golly, doesn't this seem strange? I can't figure it out." routine.

She is a smart lady who knows the score. But she couldn't manage to say it out loud. Wallace is a lot more direct, but I'm sure she is on a short leash too.

[MadameButterfly]

63. The CEO of MSNBC is not our friend but don't tar and feather

everyone over there. Rachel Maddow is not Joe Scraborough

[Bluetus]

67. She is smart and decent. And on a short leash.

[SheilaAnn]

3. Joe was especially annoying and irksome with his ongoing (20 mins. at least) on their visit to Mar-a-Lago. I turned off.

It's the only news show I can get early in the a.m. (I'm old, up at around 5 a.m.) so can sometimes catch a repeat of
previous night before shows. Joe was pontificating to the point Mika looked embarrassed, I went to Netflix.

[BonnieJW]

31. You should try podcasts

You can listen to them on your phone anytime.

[SheilaAnn]

35. I don't have a smart phone and do have hearing issues Thanks anyway. n/t

[live love laugh]

42. I don't understand how they pretend for long periods then "come out".

How people can be fooled by them is even less understandable, especially seeing that Joe was clearly a Republican before everyone embraced his fake political persona.

[Dennis Donovan]

5. From the article:

The final thought I had is this. I don’t watch a lot of political TV. In fact, I’ve been laid up for the last three days with a bad cold. (Almost all better, thanks for asking.) So I haven’t seen any other MSNBC shows. But it’s hard for me to imagine that the allegations about Hegseth’s drinking haven’t come up in the 24/7 talk at MSNBC and often in at least somewhat flippant ways.

Have all the guests there gotten the same message but not said anything?

Is this really just something going on at Morning Joe?

Valid point. His drinking was discussed at length on all the post-4pm MSNBC shows, but none of them apologized.

[sop]

11. Trump never apologized for repeatedly accusing Joe of murdering his office intern.

If MSNBC's lawyers are so sensitive about defamation, they should have sued Trump..

[JohnSJ]

6. Don't be surprised if most of the MSM and commentary shows fall right in like they did during the Mccarthy era. A lot

of people's lives will be destroyed before this is over, and no one should expect the press to come to their rescue, and with Kash Patel expect a redux of Hoover on steroids.

I believe it will be a very dark period for the country, and there is a real possibility our democracy will not survive it this time.

[moniss]

12. Right you are and I am amazed at how many

people on our side of the spectrum think it will just be OK 4 years from now. Those of us who live through the '50's through the '70's know that repression and intimidation now is nothing compared to what it was like then.

[LatteLady]

19. Rule #1: Do not obey in advance

From Timothy Snyder’s book on Tyranny.

The visit to kiss Trump’s ass, the apology to Fox, etc. are all advance obedience behaviors in anticipation of and acquiesce to the coming autocracy.

We - the outrageously stupid, apparently - have all the information we need to know that this show and this network are enabling the autocracy and we had best get our “news” elsewhere.

That doesn’t mean we go find a news bubble of agreement with our views. But it means that this information source is corrupted and can’t be trusted.

[JohnSJ]

28. I fully expect most of the MSM to do similar things, using the lame excuse that it was to allow access to the sociopath.

[DaBronx]

27. Yep

The darkness is palpable.

[PatSeg]

7. That is really disturbing

Reinforces my choice to turn off cable news, though I turned off Morning Joe a long time ago.

[Icanthinkformyself]

8. Doing the 'Neville Chamberlain'

is never a good idea. Pre-emptive appeasement is ugly and gets you nowhere. Just check the history books. The 1930s was full of appeasers. Look at what it accomplished. 50 million dead will be a drop in the bucket when the next WW is engaged.

[MadameButterfly]

65. I think Keith Olbermann goes over the top sometimes when he criticizes

former colleagues but he warned us about Joe Scarborough and it seems he was right

[PortTack]

13. Screw msnbc....they are not our friends!

[kansasobama]

26. Despite warts, MSNBC is our only MSM friend

Last edited Thu Dec 5, 2024, 02:56 PM - Edit history (1)

We need to support it.

[live love laugh]

49. How exactly are they YOUR friend?

[PortTack]

57. Disagree and I won't. There are literally dozens of podcasters that report the news..the real news without

Having to support the conservative right

[Clouds Passing]

15. But but but the Hunter Biden pardon

[jalan48]

16. It's corporate and always has been. It presents the corporate viewpoint with a left flavor to appeal to us.

Times are changing and a new, more hard line conservative flavor is called for. All hail Trump!

[Mr. Mustard 2023]

17. I stopped watching MSNBC because

I learn more by reading on-line than listening to talking heads repeat the same point for a day or six. However, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid, Nicolle Wallace and Lawrence O'Donnell provide a good service, imo because they are at least disagreeing with D.C. and saying the words "Republicans are wrong, or lying" and provide videos for us to use on line.

Very few media sources say those words, so having them do it is invaluable imo.

With that said, the morning and afternoon line up of MSNBC are a joke. They're freaking Republicans, and the carnival barker took them out in one election cycle, yet they're lecturing Dems on how to play hardball?

Speaking of "hardball" I remember very well this moment from Chris Matthews:

"Is Hillary Clinton showing too much cleavage? Let's play Hardball."

Then I remember Stephanie Ruhle being asked about how seniors can get screwed if their 401k's collapse as they are about to retire. She answered like a good Wall St toadie by ignoring the question and saying "Wall Street historically provides at least a 10% profit". That's what she said!

Andrea Mitchell is insufferable. Stephanie is not a friend of the working class and good old Michael Steele is 'oh so tough and rugged' he got fired by the RNC and as I said earlier, Trump wiped the floor with Bush era Republicans in one election cycle. Yet Michael Steele is in the know? Nope.

Same with Rick Wilson. I like Rick and he tried but The Lincoln Project was going to "show us Dems how messaging is done" and we have the deadbeat felon again.

Sure MSNBC. Sure Bush/Reagan Republicans - uh huh. Or better said "Okay Boomer".

[DaBronx]

29. Andrea mitchell

Have to change the channel. Her guests look like hostages. They don’t want to be there.

[yorkster]

48. Your last two words weakened your

otherwise well written article. Will rec it anyway...

[oldmanlynn]

50. Havent watched MSNBC since election

Even though MSNBC is the closest to being a progressive leaning news outlet. There are no others. CNN is more down the middle.

Certainly we have to keep MSNBC around but they need to hemorrhage alot of cash for helping to normalize trump as they still are.

There is no industry push back to the massive disinformation propagated by right wing Russian tied sites like Fox News and newsmax etc

[Layzeebeaver]

20. the issue is not about mentioning a nominee's drinking habits...

it was clearly about making a reference to FOX news and the people there.

All smoke no fire.

If MSNBC continue saying that about fox, it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[thesquanderer]

39. though Cecily Strong played a drunk Jeannine Pirro on NBC's SNL for years (n/t)

[Layzeebeaver]

43. Which is considered parody.

It’s completely different.

[thesquanderer]

51. Oh, people are taking Morning Joe seriously? Sorry, my mistake. (n/t)

[Layzeebeaver]

66. lol. that made me laugh. Good one!

[Skittles]

59. just curious

but.......have you HEARD what they say on Fox about us liberals?

[bmichaelh]

21. MSNBC is part of MSM

MSNBC is part of MSM although there are great journalists like Rachel Maddow.

Many of MSM and MSNBC tried to excuse Trump's incompetence by saying "...but it was COVID'.

Trump tried to repeal ACA some 3 years before COVID.

Millions would have lost their insurance.

Trump's incompetence is not a bug but a feature.

Vaccines was a major reason why we got out of COVID.

Trump does not learn anything from the past.

And Trump has nominated many anti-vaxxers to healthcare positions in his new administration.

I am sorry, but Ivermectin pills will not work against the next pandemic.

[Fullduplexxx]

22. I dont understand why people give him the ratings

[617Blue]

25. People are addicted to this shit and can't give it up. Many here line Musk's pockets

and they continue to go to Twitter.

[33taw]

23. Further confirming my decision to not watch MSNBC. Fire Joe and Mika and I might start up again.

[617Blue]

24. Jesus people stop fucking watching MSNBc for chrissake - are you addicted or something?

Stop paying attention to this crap if for no other reason than your daily sanity and happiness.

I don't understand why so many here continue to go to Twitter and corporate news and support the clampdown? Do you have no self control? Wake the fuck up.

[Skittles]

69. THANK YOU

seeing posts from people watching the crap and whining about it, THERE IS A SOLUTION!

[CrispyQ]

32. Joe's a coward. Note, it's the Morning Joe show, but Mika made the announcement.

I'm not excusing her either, but Joe's the big coward. He never came across to me as anything but a suck-up.

[Eyeball_Kid]

34. Gag orders against criticisms of Fox by MSNBC have a long history.

Keith Olbermann has documented numerous orders by MSNBC executives to keep criticisms of Fox muted. For DECADES. This is nothing new.

[walkingman]

36. Any recommendations for evening or late night left-leaning or radically left streaming channels.

I usually turn to MSNBC around 9PM-11PM for viewing. Any other recommendations?

[Linda ladeewolf]

37. They are calling it

Obeying in advance. They are bowing down to the new fascist leader.

[iluvtennis]

38. Wow 🙁. Been boycotting Morning Joe...only watch Nicole W, Rachel M, and Lawrence O'D. n/t

[txwhitedove]

40. Cant see the forest because of the trees, or some such. Ooh, get rid of the alcoholic abuser and

replace him with a Pam Bondi, Rick De Satan, or Dick Cheney. Not alcoholic womanizer, but cold, calculating and know exactly what they're supposed to do. Yeah, that's better.

[Mike Nelson]

41. A couple of things I can't get around...

... why did Mika feel the need to apologize for Frum? He was a live guest. I guess she could have read a statement from MSNBC, but it seemed like a personal apology. Also, Joe & Mika have been saying negative things about FOX "News" for years. Most of the time they allude to a "rival network" that is "right-wing," but we know exactly who they are talking about... they allude to certain hosts, also. So THEY DO THE SAME THING! Actually, they are/were correct... I guess this is all good for attention = ratings. Maybe that's the point.

[SpankMe]

44. Yeah, I hate MSNBC's rightward turn. But, MSNBC's all we've got for the time being

When I say "all we've got", I mean it's the only ostensibly liberal national network on the air. The big-3 networks, plus PBS and CNN are basically "normal" (i.e., not liberally biased), but they're not FoxNews in tone, either.

MSNBC, despite their recent "moderating influences" is still mostly liberal leaning (with a few exceptions - ahem...Morning Joe). If MSNBC goes out of business for whatever reason, we fall back on liberal TikTok'ers, liberal YouTubers, liberal podcasters and the like to get our preferred perspectives. These social media resources are fragmented and you have to specifically subscribe to, and look for, them. Only liberals will access them. We'll be in a bubble.

MSNBC, on the other hand, is on all cable and satellite networks and could (and likely would) be accessible to anyone channel surfing.

The MSM isn't getting out the information the public needs. MSNBC largely does. If it goes away, then conservative perspectives without a counterbalance will dominate.

[karin_sj]

46. We need to keep watching the honest commentators

Last edited Thu Dec 5, 2024, 05:12 PM - Edit history (1)

We need honest newscasters who believe in our democracy more than ever now. Yes, we've been disappointed in MSNBC and CNN, but there are still good and decent people out there that are worth watching. The autocracy movement would love for us to give up and stop watching, and thereby ending these shows. I believe we have to keep supporting the ones who are honestly reporting the news, like Nicolle Wallace, who is doing a magnificent job of calling out the horrible things that the incoming administration is going to do and the horrible people they want to put in charge. Lawrence O'Donnell and Joy Reid are also well worth watching. Others, like the weekend crew and evening news shows seem to be stepping up more. Don't watch the apologists like Katie Tur, Andrea Mitchell, Jen Psakai, and anyone else who is more focused on Biden pardoning his son than the clown car of wretched, compromised haters of democracy that they want to put in charge of our most important governmental roles.

I was ready to completely stop watching the news, but lately, I've been checking in on Nicole, Lawrence, and Joy, and they are performing a valuable service by investigating these miscreants, and having FBI experts, autocracy/fascism experts, Russia experts, etc., on their shows. So, please stop with the "Good, let them go out of business" rhetoric. We still need them.

[BootinUp]

52. I am going to share this anecdote with some

Faux news fans.

[ificandream]

56. Ugh. The rest of that article is just conspiracy theories.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

58. John Tower was rejected by the Senate for those who don't remember

It should be likewise for Pete Hegseth.

[Joinfortmill]

60. Morning Joe can go pound sand.