1/ Morning Joe - part of our so-called fourth estate - has morphed from watchdog to performative atonement theater, unwittingly (or with intentionality) giving cover to a man they recently told us would end democracy.
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6/ The result? Our civic customs and democratic institutions continue to degrade and erode, this time not by outright attack but by subtle complicity. Compliant media hands Trump cover, cloaking his aberrant ambition in legitimacy, and frames cruelty as virtue.
5/ But it’s not just about access and money—it’s also about vanity. Joe and Mika clearly love the limelight: the invitations to cocktail parties, the interviews, the proximity to power. This desire for approval corrupts their ability to hold power accountable.
4/ Access is currency. To get exclusives or airtime with any strongman, journalists are incentivized to pull punches. The very institutions meant to challenge power end up validating it. They’re betting that increased White House interviews correlate with performative repentance and compliance.
3/ Why should this surprise anyone? Morning Joe is not a public good; Comcast is a business. Headlines don’t pay bills—clicks, ratings, interview “gets”, and shareholder value do. And nothing sells better than a villain.
2/ Joe and Mika (hopefully not all of MSNBC) have preemptively capitulated to Trump. Who knows why. Misplaced good faith? A play for access? An attempt to leverage his narcissism with false-praise? Fear of retribution?
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I think their playing for access.