Conservative 
Search
Trending
Current News
We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.
Even by Joe Scarborough’s history of long rants, this one was L-O-N-G—and very defensive.
For over 20 minutes on today’s Morning Joe, Scarborough raged on in defending his and Mika’s approach on two matters.
First, on yesterday’s show, David Frum commented on the report that some of Pete Hegseth’s Fox News colleagues had expressed their concern to an NBC News reporter about Hegseth’s drinking. Said Frum: “If you’re too drunk for Fox News, you’re very, very drunk indeed.”
In response, after the segment with Frum ended, Mika said: “The comment was a little too flippant for the moment we’re in.”
Scarborough said that Mika’s comment “turned into a column,” with the headline, “The Sound of Fear.” Oddly, Scarborough didn’t note that the column had been written by none other than… David Frum. In the column, Frum suggested that Joe and Mika have been intimidated, and that Mika’s comment was an attempt to “appease.’
In response, Scarborough went to great lengths in an attempt to prove that he is not a fearful guy.
“Let me tell you something. I wasn’t fearful in Congress when Newt Gingrich and leadership said they were going to destroy me, run people against. I said, go ahead, make my day. Wasn’t fearful on this show. Nobody has once told me what to say here. Well actually, one person did one time. One leader did one time. I said, I’ll you what: if you think you can do such a damn good job, why don’t you come here and do the show four hours a day? I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine quitting. But I’m going to do my show. I’ll do going to do my show the way I want to do my show.
Muy Macho Joe even went full Clint Eastwood, bragging that he told Republican leaders who threatened him, “Go ahead. Make my day.” Scarborough also addressed the criticism that he and Mika have received from others in the media for having recently gone to Mar-a-Lago for a background conversation with President-elect Trump.
Scarborough’s point, which has some merit, is that the very media outlets that are criticizing him are, behind the scenes, also seeking to get interviews with Trump or with people close to him. Scarborough quoted a reporter who said he’d be fired if he turned down an opportunity to interview the President-elect.
Scarborough being Scarborough, he also managed to work in boasts about his reporting prowess, mentioning that he had interviewed Middle East leaders, and endured the anger they expressed directly at him, and had sat for an hour in the Elysee Palace with French President Macron.
Scarborough closed with a variation on Sean Hannity’s famous encouragement to his viewers, which in turn is from the Bible, “Let your heart not be troubled.”
Scarborough encouraged his liberal fans, that despite the prospect of another Trump term:
“I say this now to people who watch the show and love the show. People who are fearful and concerned. Let me tell you something: we should have no fear. [Do] not show fear. [Do] not be fearful!”
Here’s the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
12/5/24
6:02 am ETMIKA BRZEZINSKI: Shall we dive in?
JOE SCARBOROUGH: What you think? We heard about something that happened yesterday.
MIKA: You can. Absolutely.
SCARBOROUGH: Is it all right? Point of personal privilege?
MIKA: Point of personal privilege.
SCARBOROUGH: So yesterday, we had a good friend of ours on the show. And a who’s been a guest for some time. A guy who, he knows, has been one of my heroes for years now. A great writer, David Frum. He writes for The Atlantic.
David came on the show yesterday, and we’re having a good conversation. But we were talking about the Fox News employees that actually talked to Courtney Kube and other people at NBC News, and said that he [Pete Hegseth] had been drinking too much there.
And I was devastated. It was a devastating report. And David flippantly said, he was joking, he said, “If you’re too drunk for Fox News, you’re very, very drunk indeed.”
We went on with the segment. And just to let you know how things work here, I was asking Mika, should we address that or not? Because if somebody had said that about any news outlet, we’d usually say something about it. To reference the entire network.
So at the end, and I want to get the words right, Mika said this: “The comment was a little too flippant for the moment we’re in. We disagree with Fox News, but there’s some good people over there.”
MIKA: A lot are worried about Pete Hegseth.
SCARBOROUGH: We also, of course, talking about those people so worried at Fox News about America’s national security, that they were talking to an NBC News reporter —
MIKA: Coming forward.
SCARBOROUGH: Coming forward, saying Hegseth was not qualified.
. . .
This got turned into a column, and a headline, that said, let’s see, what was the headline? The Sound of Fear. Now, that wasn’t the sound of fear, that was the sound of civility.
And, in saying that Mika had apologized, she didn’t apologize.
MIKA: No, I didn’t.
SCARBOROUGH: She simply said it was too flippant. Now, I would recommend, if we’re in a stage where, a comment like this causes a meltdown. And I saw George Conway, another guy that we have on the show —
MIKA: Who we love.
SCARBOROUGH: — We love George. Saying, [adopts melodramatic voice] “Read this article, it’s going to make you very sad, but you must read it all. Oh! Because of the fearful times we’re in.”
Well, there’s some problem with the times that we’re in.
MIKA: You can’t be fearful.
SCARBOROUGH: You can’t be fearful. Just because some people have said that we’re fearful. Let me tell you something. You can talk to anybody that’s worked in the front office of NBC and MSNBC over the past 22 years. I tell you, I’m not fearful.
You talk to anybody who served with me in Congress. They will tell you: not fearful of leadership.
. . .
And I am telling you, “the sound of fear,” the apology, none of that is true. But guess what? This is what’s been going on now for several weeks.
You know, we went down to talk to the President-elect. And people wrote articles that were just false. But you know what we did? We did the corporate thing. Corporate said, don’t say anything. Just keep your head down. What did the royals say? Never explain, never complain. Whatever.
. . .
SCARBOROUGH: I think, actually, if they have a chance to talk on the background —
MIKA: I think, actually, they might be doing that.
SCARBOROUGH: — with the incoming President and President-elect, they would do it. In fact, as somebody wrote during this outrageously stupid, immature series of articles that lied time and time again about us, reporters said, I’d be fired if I had the opportunity to go in and talk to somebody who’s the incoming President of the United States, and they didn’t do it!
Ask any journalist at the New York Times, the New York Post. And that’s the funny thing, people at the Washington Post especially. Hair on fire media report. How dare they? How dare they? At the same time that the Washington Post is doing the same thing. Trying to speak to the president on background. Trying to speak to people around the president on background. That’s what reporters do.
And by the way, guess what? That’s what I’ve been doing for years. When I go speak to Middle East leaders on background, some who are not good people. Guess what? I do it to get information and background and give it to you. I bet you didn’t know! Cause I didn’t tell you. Because it was a background conversation.
When I went to the Elysee Palace last summer, and I spoke to Macron for about an hour in his office about Ukraine, about the EU, about the ability of NATO. About his problems with United States. I did that, but I didn’t reportit.
The only difference between what we did on that visit and what the New York Times and Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, everybody else is doing is. We were transparent. We actually told you.
. . .
You know why I went to leaders in the Middle East who were angry at the United States, and I sat there and I listened to them attacking me personally for 45 minutes because of U.S. policy? You know why I do that? To get the read of the leader. To get the read of where the country’s going. [Shouts] So I can come back here and talk to you and let you know what the hell is going on!
. . .
But let me tell you something. I wasn’t fearful in Congress when Newt Gingrich and leadership said they were going to destroy me, run people against. I said, go ahead, make my day.
Wasn’t fearful on this show. Nobody [inaudible.] By the way, I always have Republicans say, oh, they’re telling you exactly what to say. No! Nobody has once told me what to say here.
Well actually, one person did one time. One leader did one time. I said, I’ll you what: if you think you can do such a damn good job, why don’t you come here and do the show four hours a day? I’m fine.
MIKA: Oh, that’s hilarious.
SCARBOROUGH: I’m fine. I’m fine quitting. But I’m going to do my show. I’ll do going to do my show the way I want to do my show.
And I say this now to people who watch the show and love the show. People who are fearful and concerned. Let me tell you something: we should have no fear.
. . .
We should hold the line. Accept what we accept, with Marco Rubio and other appointments like that. But hold the line in these other areas. But not show fear. Not be fearful!
