The far-left cable television network MSNBC pulled its highly rated morning show Morning Joe — helmed by former Congressman Joe Scarborough and his wife, Mika Brzezinski — for Monday morning in the wake of the assassination attempt on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Saturday. The program will return on Tuesday.
NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde, in conjunction with MSNBC president Rashida Jones and hosts Scarborough and Brzezinski, reportedly made the decision not to air the program in the wake of one of the more significant moments in recent political history.
Fears of Inappropriate Remarks
CNN reports that “a source familiar with the matter” says that the network pulled the show over fears that a guest on the show might make an inappropriate remark on live television, which might be used against the show or the network as a whole. The network will instead focus Monday’s coverage on Saturday’s assassination attempt and, presumably, the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“Given the gravity and complexity of this unfolding story, NBC News, NBC News NOW and MSNBC have remained in rolling breaking news coverage since Saturday evening,” a spokesperson for the network told CNN. “As we continue to cover this story into the week, the networks will continue to cross simulcast, alternating between NBC News, NBC News NOW and ‘MSNBC Reports,’ so there is one news feed covering this developing situation.”
The network and the show, in particular, have been highly critical of former President Trump and his 2024 bid to retake the White House. Scarborough has referred to Trump as “unhinged” and “immoral,” while Brzezinski has been stalwart in her defense of Trump’s opponent Joe Biden, defending Biden’s disastrous debate performance versus Trump as “one terribly bad night versus a decade of destruction to our core beliefs, our democratic values and yes, our Constitution.”
“Existential Crisis”
Reaction to the preemption was swift and came from both parties.
“The fact that Morning Joe’s own network can’t trust its flagship brand not to spew reckless and inflammatory cr*p during breaking news tells you all you need to know about the credibility of the MSNBC line-up,” a senior Republican consultant told Fox News Digital.
Journalist Steve Krakauer claimed the move represented an “existential crisis” at MSNBC.
“The fact that Morning Joe was off the air today is significant — it signals an existential crisis within MSNBC, and the broader Acela Media apparatus,” Krakauer noted.
“It’s the adults in the room getting involved, stepping back, and saying ‘maybe talking in loose terms about ‘existential threat to democracy’ and treating politics like entertainment was wrong,” and that “the stakes are extremely high and real now, and maybe we need to get more serious about how we convey the news to our audience,” Krakauer added.
Some leftist journalists expressed outrage, but for different reasons.
“What the f—, MSNBC? You preempted your excellent weekend programming… and now you’ve silenced [Morning Joe] in favor of your anodyne streaming news cos-play called Now?” posted BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis. “This is when we need the analysis and conversation these shows bring us (yes, with controversy; that is how public discourse works through it: with discussion). It is shocking that NBC/Comcast do not understand their own company’s programs and raison d’etre.”
Whatever MSNBC’s true reason for pulling the show, it represents an unwillingness to trust Scarborough and Brzezinski to maintain control of their show amid loose-lipped and rabidly anti-Trump guests. Pulling a news show at such a crucial news moment is not a good look for the network.
