Morning Joe Crew Accuses Media of Pro-Trump Bias: ‘So Concerned With Being Objective’ They Give Trump an ‘Advantage’
Morning Joe hosts slammed the “mainstream media” for its ongoing coverage of former President Donald Trump, accusing outlets of being “so concerned with being objective” that reporters were giving the Republican nominee an “advantage.”
The barrage of criticism came as the team covered Jim McCain, son of late Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who blasted Trump for cutting a campaign ad in Arlington National Cemetery.
The segment unraveled as co-host Mike Barnicle lashed out at Trump as a “delusional old man” whose “deranged” antics and remarks were being reported with “false equivalency” by mainstream media journalists. He said:
There’s a false equivalency going on in the coverage of this race in that Donald Trump can say whatever crazy thing he wants to say, about submarines and sharks and electric batteries, whatever he wants to say, and it’s not really covered in the sense that it’s covered describing who said it, why he said it and who the man is – Trump. Out of his mind.
And always in that story in the false equivalency by too many reporters and too many American newspapers is also: ‘By the way Kamala Harris changed her mind on fracking.’ They always throw in something like that in coverage of the story. It is ridiculous. We don’t cover the man for how dangerous he is.
Host Joe Scarborough agreed, weighing into blast the media for being “so numbed” by “hate speech” that it was failing in its duty to “cover Donald Trump.” He added that the media’s “concern” with “objectivity” – which he said was “actually not objectivity at all” – meant it was engaging in “moral relativism.”
Scarborough said:
The shocking statements come every day, and not surprising but still shocking what he says. And, you know, even Arlington, we’ve seen major newspaper outlets talk about how will this impact Kamala Harris and the issue of Afghanistan after he goes. And just acts like a brute and, you know, desecrates Arlington. That’s not a time to say, ‘well, how does it…’ – but, again, we see it time and time again.
For some reason the mainstream media, nine years into Donald Trump’s era in American politics still doesn’t know how to cover Donald Trump. They still are engaging even at this late hour in moral relativism and saying: ‘Yeah, but, yeah, but.’ And, again, they just don’t know how to put it in proper perspective because, as I said yesterday, they are so concerned about being objective that they’re treating this race like it was 1996…
Their ‘objectivity’, and I put that word in quotes, their ‘objectivity’ is actually not objectivity at all. It ends up playing to Donald Trump’s advantage every day because they are so numbed by the hate, the hate speech, that has spewed out of his mouth for the past nine years.
Accepting the analysis, co-host Jonathan Lemire, also the White House bureau chief of Politico, said that media professionals would agree that they were “still struggling” and “still adapting as to how to cover Donald Trump” because he is unlike typical politicians.
In defense of his journalistic colleagues, he continued: “It is almost a decade since and certainly much has been written fairly about the mistakes made in 2015, 2016. I would argue the media has certainly improved. We were better at covering 2020 than we were in 2016. I think in many ways we have been good about costing Trump’s post-presidency.
He added: “But you’re right, in an effort to appear objective and balanced, mistakes are being made and applied to both candidates when Donald Trump is a different animal. He is an insurrectionist candidate. We should never lose sight of it. He lies more than any other major political figure we have ever had, not even close. He is someone who flouts every rule and norm. He is someone who has been convicted of a crime, and all of that needs to be said and said. I think the other focus here needs to be as the media, on the stakes of this election, what it means. Not just the day-to-day developments. Yes, we have to cover that, too. It does matter. But it is about the stake. It is about what it means for the nation’s democracy and future.”
Watch above on MSNBC.
