Joe Scarborough revealed that he continues to speak with the man he has publicly excoriated, President Donald Trump, in a conversation with Breaker editor Lachlan Cartwright.
“We’ve known each other for a very long time. We talk and communicate, and I try to get insight on what’s going on,” Scarborough said. Insight, he adds, isn’t about friendship. It’s about trying to figure out the moves, the intentions, the narratives that shape the world — from Ukraine to the Middle East. “I try to figure out where he’s going, what can I do that will help my viewers understand what’s going on and what’s coming up,” he said.
Now, Scarborough isn’t your typical MSNBC host. He’s been a vicious critic of Trump, but he’s not a liberal standard-bearer, nor is he a partisan cheerleader for the resistance. He’s something closer to a political iconoclast, a former Republican congressman who turned his sharp elbows on Donald Trump with the kind of disdain few in Washington or on television dared summon.
Scarborough has called Trump some of the worst historical comparisons you can imagine. He’s worked tirelessly, along with co-host Mika Brzezinski, to block a second Trump term, often with near-surgical bluntness. Yet post-election, Scarborough and Brzezinski made the controversial decision to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago for an off-the-record conversation — a move that drew sharp criticism both outside and inside MSNBC. The tension is clear: the same man who condemned Trump as dangerous now engages him, ostensibly for the sake of his audience.
The paradox is almost literary. Scarborough is a host trying to maintain distance while maintaining dialogue. His conversations are strategic: calls about Ukraine, discussions about Israel and Netanyahu, assessments of administration plans. And while he rarely receives straight answers, he persists.
This is what makes the story unnerving and fascinating. To Morning Joe’s relatively centrist-leaning audience (compared to, say MSNBC prime-time viewers), the access seems reasonable—journalistic diligence, a way to illuminate the chaos. To the more progressive faction, it will look dangerously close to enabling a moral compromise in the name of information. Scarborough walks a thin line between principle and pragmatism, between iconoclasm and influence, and the balance is fragile.
Scarborough also spoke about the shifting media landscape in a way that will likely read to many as throwing shade at his parent company, NBC/MSNBC.
“I’m not knocking NBC here,” he said in the manner that someone caveats an insult. “I would say… they’re operating like Seinfeld is still on. Great show. Great show! But it ain’t 1997 anymore, right? We are in a new world, and I love the proof’s always in the pudding. What have you done? If you put out a great newsletter tomorrow that I read, and they go, holy sh*t! I gotta read that the next day. That’s the reaction I hope for every week.”
“And you know. Pre-COVID, I was telling (ex-MSNBC honcho) Phil Griffin, cause he was like, you really, you need to be in 30 Rock around there. I was like, ‘Phil, it’s the content, man!’ I could be in a closet. Give me half-decent lighting. It’s the content that matters. It’s what you tell people. It’s a story you tell to people. It’s cracking odds.”
Speaking of cracking content, kudos to Cartwright for launching a new pod with such a high-profile guest making big news.
Watch above via YouTube/Breaker
The post Joe Scarborough Admits He Still Talks to Trump — Here’s Why first appeared on Mediaite.
