Surprising candor from Mika Brzezinski this morning in comparing the Trump to the Biden pardons.
An agitated Joe Scarborough kicked off the discussion on today's Morning Joe by insisting that things would not "end well" for House Speaker Mike Johnson, Donald Trump, and the Republicans by downplaying the Trump January 6 pardons and focusing on Biden's family pardons.
But things started going downhill for Scarborough when Never-Trumper David Drucker of The Dispatch said he doubted there'd be a "big uproar" over the Trump pardons among the public or among Republicans: "They knew he would do this, and they have been OK with this because their voters have been OK with this."
In reaction, Scarborough immediately started backing off his dire warning that things wouldn't "end well" for Republicans:
"[Trump] glorified, throughout the campaign, the January 6th rioters. Voters knew he was glorifying them, calling them patriots. And they voted for him and elected him. So David makes a very good point."
Mika then delivered her surprising coup de grace:
"As hard as it is to say, this is his right as president . . . Donald Trump kept his word and Joe Biden did not . . . It is his right, and he promised. And then there's the counter-narrative, which is also undeniable. Joe Biden promised that he would not pardon his son or his family, and he did."
Mika remains a steadfast Trump antagonist. She made her statement not to exonerate him in any way, but to warn the media: "That's the trap, you know, reporters are going to get in. They're going to go around in circles. That's only going to feed into the negative narrative about the media. It's going to do nothing to prove a point about this. Nothing. It actually may undermine it."
And the "things" that Mika had in mind surely were the liberal media's goals of undermining Trump's presidency.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
1/23/25
6:23 am ETJOE SCARBOROUGH: After doing things that led to the death of several cops, talk to their families, they'll tell you that. You'll hear more people like Michael Fanone, who went to work that day to do their job to protect the United States Capitol, who had the hell beaten out of them. They were kicked, they were tased. And by these people that were bragging! They were iibragging about beating the hell out of law enforcement officers.
So the elevation of cop beaters? Uh, yeah. By Mike Johnson saying, oh, listen, let's not focus on the cop beaters. Let's, let's focus on the Biden pardons. You know, good luck with that. It's just not going to end well. It's really not. It's not going to end well for Republicans. It's not going to end well for the White House.
. . .
DAVID DRUCKER: All of these things were very well known. So this is not to excuse it, but just to point out politically, this is not going to be a shock to the system or a shock to the public, nor is it a shock to Republicans. They knew he would do this, and they have been OK with this because their voters have been OK with this.
And look, we could end up being wrong. There could be some sort of immediate pushback broadly throughout the country. But everybody knows who Donald Trump is at this point. They've listened to him for almost a decade.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
DRUCKER: And I'd be surprised if initially there was a big uproar.
. . .
SCARBOROUGH: He glorified, throughout the campaign the January 6th rioters. Voters knew he was glorifying them, calling them patriots. And they voted for him and elected him. So David makes a very good point.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Yeah, and not only did he campaign on this, this is his right. As hard as it is to say, this is his right as president.
And yesterday I was reading a lot about this and watching the coverage. And I was seeing reporters getting into huge fights with Republican congressmen. And they just kept going around in circles. Because, of course, Donald Trump kept his word and Joe Biden did not. That's also true.
And so that's the trap, you know, reporters are going to get in. They're going to go around in circles. That's only going to feed into the negative narrative about the media. It's going to do nothing to prove a point about this. Nothing. It actually may undermine it.
. . .
There are some potholes here that I think the media falls into, and we can't let that happen. Because there are some realities about this that are undeniable. It is his right, and he promised.
And then there's the counter-narrative, which is also undeniable. Joe Biden promised that he would not pardon his son or his family, and he did. And he also pardoned others who have done things. And it's extremely muddled. And it's not a fight that I think, personally, reporters and hosts want to get in to have iimoments. I really don't. I think we're getting in the way of things.
