In a sea of press productions sustained by deranged hatred of Donald Trump, few come close to "Morning Joe." The MSNBC show hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski has long been home to some of the most hysterical, dishonest takes about the soon-to-be current president.
In early October, Scarborough spent time on the show musing about Trump representing the death of democracy. He went so far as to call himself "fearful" and "nervous" about the prospect of Democrats losing the election. More tellingly, after the president-elect's first assassination attempt, MSNBC pulled the show off the air because they knew they couldn't trust its hosts and commentators to not suggest Trump deserved it.
'Morning Joe' Pulled Off the Air After Assassination Attempt, Because Reasons
With the election now decided, though, there's been a slight change in tone.
SCARBOROUGH: It will be interesting, Mika, so you've got the North Koreans out there fighting and trying to push forward with the Russians into Ukraine. But the question is, again, and we've talked about this a good bit over the past few years, you have Donald Trump, what he says to Vladimir Putin, and then you have the actual policies that have been fairly tough in the first administration because the Senate was pushing for really tough restrictions.
Hang on just a minute. At what point in the last several years did anyone on "Morning Joe" admit that Donald Trump was actually fairly tough on Vladimir Putin? Because all I remember are the hysterics about mythical collusion and a possible Trump second term leading to Ukraine being handed over to Russia on a silver platter. Of course, I do remember Joe Scarborough being one of the most blatant examples of a press figure comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler. It's a pretty long journey from that kind of insanity to casually stating that Trump was tough on Russia.
Why is this happening? Some of it is that we've entered the acceptance stage. Many in the press are toning down their rhetoric (but not all) and attempting to appear as if they had been balanced all along. Here's the thing, though: They weren't.
The lunacy that we saw from the press over the last decade and specifically the last year is simply unprecedented. The lengths to which these people went to put their thumbs on the scale, spreading lies and omitting crucial context can't be forgotten. They don't get a seat back at the table of credibility. They don't get to save their ratings by becoming "unbiased" again, whatever that would entail given what has transpired. Whether they want to accept it or not, their time is done, and we are in the last, desperate gasps of the mainstream press holding any relevancy.
Lastly, whatever shift there is, it's going to be temporary. While acceptance is the final stage of grief in a normal context, there's another stage for journalists: Reversion.
Things will calm down a bit in some press circles for the next few months, but the moment the bullets start flying again politically, they will go right back to doing what they did this past cycle. That's why there can be no redemption for these press outlets. Their continued failure is vital for the future of the country.