Some delicious blue-on-blue violence broke out Wednesday afternoon as the left-wing CNN and the left-wing MSNBC went after one another over a CNN report that claimed ‘Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski “hung out in Trump’s hotel room last night during primary returns[.]” Via Twitter, Scarborough fired back at CNN’s media reporter Dylan Byers by denying the report and calling him a liar.
“Your sources are wrong, and your sources are CNN reporters,” Scarborough tweeted. “You spread a different lie about us every day.” Scarborough followed that up with, “I understand you guys resent that we double your audience every day, but enough of the lying. Did CNN hire you just to lie about Morning Joe? The obsession is unhealthy.”
Byers responded by challenging Scarborough, “Then go on rec and say I’m wrong. This game of not responding/staying off-rec then issuing ad hominems doesn’t work [.]”
MSNBC quickly released a statement calling CNN’s reporting untrue while admitting that, like many journalists that evening, the MSNBC co-hosts were in Trump’s suite for “five minutes” to watch the returns and “get Mr. Trump’s reaction to the victory.”
MSNBC also bragged about trouncing CNN’s execrable morning show “New Day” in the ratings:
CNN’s media reporter, Dylan Byers, is implying that Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski watched election returns with Donald Trump last night in New Hampshire. That is not true.
The Morning Joe hosts instead did what anchors are supposed to do — they interviewed the candidate’s senior staff to get background information on their strategy in New Hampshire, and on their campaign’s plans moving forward in South Carolina. The staff then invited the hosts to get Mr. Trump’s reaction to the victory. That discussion lasted less than five minutes. Other networks were allowed interviews as well.
It should be noted that Morning Joe is off to a great start in this election year. In January, the show had 28% more viewers than CNN’s morning show last month. And thus far in February, more people are watching Morning Joe than CNN.
Adding fuel to the fire was this on-air exchange between Trump and Scarborough that same day: “You guys have been supporters…and I really appreciate it,” Trump said, before correcting himself. “And not necessarily supporters, but at least believers. You said there’s some potential there.”
As someone who watches “Morning Joe” every day (it’s my job, it’s my job), Trump is correct. Look it up, I have no love for Joe Scarborough, but he was one of the few in the DC Bubble who took Trump seriously from the beginning. And that makes Scarborough stand out — not so much as a supporter, but as a believer, and that is to his credit.
While Scarborough’s smug colleagues throughout the DC Media were pointing and laughing, the former Republican congressman saw what very few (including Breitbart News) saw in the billionaire businessman.
Moreover, Scarborough has at times been pretty tough on Trump. Among other issues, Scarborough spent days blistering the GOP frontrunner for his proposed temporary ban on Muslim immigrants and his supposed mockery of a disabled reporter. In the middle of a televised interview, Scarborough once hung up on Trump when the two were vying for alpha-male status.
Scarborough does have his biases. He obviously hates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. He’s also pro-gun control, a bias that does not appear to offend the likes of CNN and Dylan Byers.
Moreover, if past is prologue, the left-leaning Scarborough will eventually stab Trump in the back. All that matters to Scarborough is his ego and his status within the DC Bubble. If he can be seen as The Man Who Turned On Trump at the exact right moment to hand the White House to Democrats, he will. That’s exactly what he tried with Mitt Romney.
As far as Dylan Byers, maybe he should clean up his own morning show-backyard. “New Day” is an extreme, left-wing garbage fire of anti-gun, anti-cop, anti-conservative, anti-Christian-hatred, a pro-abortion outlet where the serially dishonest Chris Cuomo (who doesn’t seem to know where babies come from) poses as a journalist and openly pledges to help the White House defeat those nasty Republicans.
For his part, Trump has criticized (quite accurately) Cuomo’s co-host Alisyn Camerota over her biases.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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