Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski visited Mar-a-Lago to satisfy President-elect Donald Trump, they revealed.
Scarborough and Brzezinski have been extremely crucial of Trump main as much as the election, calling him “erratic,” slamming his election fraud efforts and warning of “how dark of a place” the US can be if Trump gained. But after airing their issues with a second Trump presidency, the pair met with Trump Friday for the primary time in seven years to “restart communications.”
“We talked about a lot of issues including abortion, mass deportations, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets,” Scarborough mentioned on Monday. “It’s gonna come as no surprise to anybody who watches this show…that we didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues and we told him so.”
Brzezinski mentioned: “What we did agree on was to restart communications.”
She continued: “We had not spoken to Trump since March of 2020, other than a personal call that Joe made after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania.”
During the assembly, the president-elect appeared “ cheerful” and “upbeat” and “interested in finding common ground with Democrats on some of the most divisive issues,” Brzezinski added.
For these questioning why they might meet with Trump at such a “fraught” time, Brzezinski mentioned she would reply: “Why wouldn’t we?”
“Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country,” she mentioned.
Morning Joe has been clear in expressing “deep concerns” about Trump’s “actions and words,” however for almost 80 million Americans, “election denialism, public trials, January 6, were not as important as the issues that moved them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote,” Brzezinski mentioned.
So, the co-hosts realized they wished to take a distinct method at present, she continued.
Scarborough tried to instill hope, including that somebody near Trump instructed him over the weekend that since he’s not searching for re-election this time round, “maybe, just maybe now could be time for both parties to get to work.”
Given the tightness of the election, it “seems to make sense for leaders of both parties to seek common ground if it’s possible at all,” Scarborough mentioned.
The pair spoke to prime Democrats over the weekend as properly, who signaled it was time for a brand new method and that they have been open to working with the president-elect if he’s open to working with them, Scarborough defined.
But, they emphasised, threatening political opponents with arrest, harassment and even jail is not going to work.
“We know this will be a consequential presidency. The question is whether it will be constructive,” Brzezinski mentioned. “It will take a new approach from all sides, from both parties, and a leader who will bring them together. Only time will tell if Donald Trump is that leader.”
The co-hosts made clear they may nonetheless push again on Trump when vital.
“Don’t be mistaken,” Scarborough mentioned. “We are not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump. We are here to report on him and to hopefully provide you insights that are going to better equip all of us in understanding these deeply unsettling times.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/morning-joe-mika-trump-florida-meeting-b2649071.html