MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski reveal they met with Trump: 'Why wouldn't we?'
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are restarting communications with President-elect Donald Trump.
The hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" revealed Monday that they met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, which Brzezinski noted was the "first time we have seen him in seven years." She said they had also not spoken to Trump at all since March 2020, other than a phone call Scarborough made to the former president after he survived an assassination attempt in July.
"In this meeting, President Trump was cheerful, he was upbeat, he seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats on some of the most divisive issues," Brzezinski said. "And for those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back, 'Why wouldn't we?'"
According to Scarborough, topics in the meeting included "abortion, mass deportations," and "threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets," and he said it should come as no surprise that they "didn't see eye to eye on a lot of issues."
But both parties agreed they would "restart communications," Brzezinski said, comparing the meeting to the way a president's national security advisor will talk with world leaders with whom the United States has profound disagreements.
The "Morning Joe" hosts have been outspoken critics of Trump on their show but at one time had a better relationship with the president-elect, communicating with him frequently on and off the air. In December 2016, Scarborough told Politico that they "talk to Trump a few times a week."
But their relationship took a turn after Trump assumed office as the MSNBC hosts increasingly took issue with his actions as president and as Trump attacked the "crazy" and "psycho" hosts on social media. In a controversial 2017 tweet, Trump wrote that Brzezinski "was bleeding badly from a face-lift" when she came to Mar-a-Lago the previous year.
Brzezinski told viewers on Monday that although she and Scarborough have "deep concerns about President Trump's actions and words," nearly 80 million Americans voted for him, so it's "time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him." She added that they told Trump they will continue to "push back hard" on him when appropriate.
"Don't be mistaken: We're not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump," Scarborough said. "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."
Scarborough previously said that Americans who vote for Trump this year would be "knowingly voting for a fascist" and "a racist." He also said on "Morning Joe" that Trump is a threat to democracy and the 2024 election would determine whether "Madisonian democracy survives."