“Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have agreed to “restart communications” with Donald Trump after a long-standing feud with the president-elect but insisted they would not “normalize” him.
The pair, among the most vocal cable news critics of Trump during the 2024 election campaign, revealed they sat down with the incoming president at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate on Friday to have clear-the-air talks. It was their first face-to-face meeting in seven years.
Trump had a friendly relationship with Scarborough and Brzezinski, who are married, during the early days of his first presidential run. But their growing criticism ultimately led to a big falling out.
The enmity continued into the latter days of this election cycle when Trump branded Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, a “sick puppy” after he said the GOP candidate would seek retribution against the show if he returns to the White House.
The MSNBC morning show is hugely influential in political circles, with President Joe Biden said to be one its most loyal viewers.
In a prepared monologue on their Monday show, Brzezinski explained they decided to reach out to Trump’s team to see if they could have “the opportunity to speak with the president-elect” after being dismayed by his Cabinet picks.
She continued: “On Friday, we were given the opportunity to do just that. Joe and I went to Mar-a-Lago to meet personally with president-elect Trump. It was the first time we have seen him in seven years.”
Taking over, Scarborough added: “We talked about a lot of issues, including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets. We talked about that a good bit.”
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He added: “It’s going to come as no surprise to anybody who watches this show, has watched it over the past year or over the past decade, that we didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues and we told him so.”
Brzezinski then said: “What we did agree on was to restart communications.”
But Scarborough made clear the show would continue to hold Trump to account.
“Don’t be mistaken, we’re not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump,” the broadcaster added. “We’re 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.”