This is a worrying sign that Morning Joe I felt like he needed to apologize for something I said.
Updated at 8 p.m. ET on December 4, 2024.
This morning I had a disturbing experience.
I was a guest on MSNBC Morning Joe speaking from a studio in Washington, DC, about a article I had written about Trump’s approach to foreign policy. Before I got to the article, I was asked about Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense, specifically about an NBC News report. report that his excessive alcohol consumption worried his colleagues at Fox News and the veterans organizations he had headed. (A Trump transition spokesperson told NBC: “These disgusting allegations are completely baseless and false, and anyone peddling these defamatory lies to score political dirty tricks is sickening.”)
I responded by reminding viewers of some history:
In 1989, President George HW Bush appointed Jean TowerSenator from Texas, for Secretary of Defense. Tower was a very considerable person, a true defense intellectual, someone who understood defense deeply, unlike the current nominee. It emerged that Tower had a drinking problem and that when he drank too much he became a nuisance, or worse, to the women around him. And for that reason, his nomination collapsed in 1989. You don’t want to think that our moral standards have declined so much that you can say: Let’s take all the drinking, all the sexual assault, subtract all defense knowledge, subtract all leadership, and there you have your next Secretary of Defense for the 21st century.
I told this story in piquant terms. It’s cable TV, after all. And I introduced the discussion with a joke: “If you’re too drunk for Fox News, you’re very, very drunk.” »
During the next commercial break, a producer spoke in my ear. He objected to my comments about Fox and warned me not to repeat them. I said something evasive and received another round of warnings. After the break, I was asked a follow-up question on a different topic, about President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son. I did not return to the previous discussion, not because I had been warned, but because I had stated my point of view. I was then told I was excused from the studio chair. Shortly after, co-host Mika Brzezinski read an apology for my remarks.
Earlier in this block, there was a comment on Fox News, in our coverage about Pete Hegseth and the growing number of allegations about his behavior over the years and his possible alcohol addiction or drinking problems. ‘alcohol. The comment was a little too casual for the moment we find ourselves in. We just want to make that comment as well. We want this to be clear. We have differences in media coverage with Fox News, and that’s a good debate that we should have often, but for now I just want to say that there are a lot of good people who work at Fox News who care about Pete Hegseth, and we’ll leave it at that.
She’s right, of course: There are good people at Fox News. But if NBC’s reporting—based on interviews with 10 current or former Fox employees—about Hegseth’s alcohol abuse is accurate, many of those same good people failed to publicly report that their former colleague, named as head of the United States Armed Forces, was known in their own building for his drinking. This would be a startling and shameful evasion of responsibility on a matter of grave national importance. What is the appropriate language to denounce it?
I am a great admirer of Morning Joe show and the commitment of everyone involved to bringing well-informed political debate to a national audience.
I also recognize that the prominence of the program has exposed hosts and producers to extraordinary pressures and threats in the Trump era. Trump has repeatedly spoken about his determination to retaliate against hostile media. Shortly before leaving office, Trump amplified a conspiracy theory that Brzezinski’s co-host, Joe Scarborough, was a murderer. Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, has compiled a list of enemies target with surveys. Trump’s nominee for FCC chairman speculated on removing licenses from platforms that displease the new incoming administration. Interfering in mergers and acquisitions to punish critics was a functionality of the first Trump administration. Now MSNBC may be split by Comcast, leaving the future of the liberal network very much in question. The hosts of Morning Joe visit Mar-a-Lago in November to reconcile with Trump. They really have reason to worry.
As for my own comments: you can decide for yourself whether I have overstepped the bounds of the televised debate. But I also notice that if I made a misstep, well, my face was on the screen, my name was on the chyron, and anyone who was offended knows who to blame.
It is very worrying that our leading public affairs discussion forums are already feeling the chill of intimidation and responding with appeasement efforts.
I write these words knowing that I am probably saying goodbye forever to a television platform that I enjoy and have benefited from both as a viewer and guest. I benefited from personal kindnesses from the hosts that I have not forgotten.
I am not writing to scold anyone; I write because fear is contagious. Let it spread, and it will cripple us all.
The only antidote is courage. And it’s also contagious.
This article originally misrepresented Comcast’s plans for its news channels.