What do you think it means that Mika and Joe from MSNBC’s Morning Joe met with Trump?

It’s a nice switch from bashing the guy. Try talking to him, and have a real conversation!

It’s going to be interesting to see how the interview is spun after the fact.

I suspect that it means MSNBC is scrambling. They are on the auction block right now from Comcast, the parent company. Mika and Joe’s viewership has dropped off significantly and a lot of it has to do with their rabid, lie-filled anti-Trump tirades on a regular basis.

As journalists, it should be their jobs (or at least the jobs of their field reporters) to interview the subjects they want to bash. I think they finally got that memo, though it might be too little, too late. Joe said that they didn’t agree on everything and that they told Trump that, but that they wanted to open up lines of communication. I’m sure Trump didn’t expect them to agree with him on everything.

This article actually says something about Trump as well. MSNBC has been a huge mouthpiece for the DNC for decades now. They have made up and spread a lot of lies about Trump and done nothing but negative reporting on him since he hit the political stage back in 2015. Yet Trump was willing to meet with two of the worst of that bunch to have a chat. That shows grace on his part. He could have said “sorry, you made your bed, now you get to lay in it”, but he didn’t. He did more to legitimize them than they even came close to doing for him. The real test is now theirs. What will they do with this? Will they tone down the rhetoric? Will they try to start reporting fairly? Or will they just try to rewrite whatever he says to them to try twisting it into another lie…again?

I would not let those two near me or anyone I cared about. They cause serious nausea. They are neither entertainers nor journalist. No use for them at all.

Who and who talked to who?
All of it means nothing to me or means anything in the scope of the world.

^^Joe and Mika spoke to Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

It’s like kissing the ring of the Godfather.
Were they on bended knee?

Kissing ass so that Trump and his authoritarian dictatorship doesn’t close them down.

Trump is like Putin, take over the media and close down any avenue of opposition,.

@elbanditoroso Trump nor his imaginary authoritarian dictatorship has nothing to do with it. Comcast was looking to sell them because their numbers are horrible. In fact this article shows that since the election, MSNBC has lost 54% of their primetime viewers. That is a huge loss.

I wonder if Elon Musk would like to buy it? Maybe go in on it with Ramaswamy and/or Trump’s family?

@seawulf575 your explanation.

@elbanditoroso Yeah, my explanation. Backed by facts and logic, unlike your explanation that is backed by lies and fear mongering.

Probably normal to lose viewership after the election is over. I assume some of it will come back once the new president is sworn in.

@JLeslie MSNBC went down 54%. Fox news went up 21%.

I think all reporters should keep the lines of communication open with all politicians. I think Fox and other right-leaning channels should have met with Obama and Biden more, and MSNBC and CNN and others should feel free to meet with Trump and other Republican politicians.

I think liberal media has to start playing semi-nice with Trump to stay relevant. I think it’s funny, personally.

Right, @KNOWITALL just like Fox started playing nice when Biden was elected.

Geez…

@KNOWITALL The problem is they really can’t play semi-nice with Trump. They have spent 10 years building him into the Anti-Christ and that is what their viewers want. Mika and Joe already caught flak from their viewers for even daring to talk to Trump. So they are stuck, like many of the other left-wing outlets. They have a niche following that demands 24/7 “Hate Trump” and nobody else (those that don’t watch normally) trusts them to report the truth so they really can’t pivot from what they’ve built.

@seawulf575 They can do it. They might capture their old audience back. Let’s see what Trump does.

@elbanditoroso That is an entirely different audience with different values. Fox reported on Bidens failing faculties while left-leaning news was still saying he was perfectly competent-until plausible deniability was no longer an option and they booted the poor old fella. Probably why it (Fox) is now the most-watched cable news network in the US.
MSNBC isnt in the top 4. For them, that’s not good news (little pun there lol.)

@JLeslie That’s sort of the point. It doesn’t matter what Trump does. The left-wing media like MSNBC has spent a decade doing 100% anti-Trump stuff. Joe Scarborough is the king of calling him and his followers Nazis, Hitler, threats to democracy, etc. Trump is all they have. At the same time they have run cover for the Democrats no matter what they did. This is what their brand is. That is what their viewers crave. They expect to tune in and hear Trump bashing 24/7. If they change now, their audience doesn’t get their fix and they go ballistic. Meanwhile, the ones that tuned them out, the ones they called Nazis and idiots all the time have no use for them to even see if they are changing.

I truly think they will change…when they are sold and under new management. They MIGHT have a chance at new viewers at that point.

@seawulf575 I have no guess that I feel strongly about.

I sort of left MSNBC during Trump, but I still watch in drips and drabs. If Morning Joe went back to having conversations with Republicans again and not trying to manipulate so much, I would probably watch more, but it can’t be Republicans who just tow the party lines.

It would probably have to be Republicans no longer in office. The current Republicans can’t speak out when they disagree they get kicked out by the party. Billionaires who want a theocracy target them and find candidates who will always agree with them and fund their campaigns. I have posted multiple times a link to the CNN special about the religious extremists controlling the Republicans in Texas, and I feel sure it’s everywhere. Have you ever watched it? You probably agree with what they want, so maybe it doesn’t bother you.

@JLeslie To start with, Democrats are usually the party of voting on party lines. You will find Republicans voting with Democrats far more than you will find Democrats voting against the majority of their party. That is that part that always gets swept under the rug.

As for religious extremists in Texas, there are a couple things about that I can comment on. First, what is your definition of a religious extremist? I’ve been accused of being one because I won’t turn my back on my beliefs. Forget that I shouldn’t have to denounce God just to avoid nasty labels. Using terms like that is a slippery slope. It opens the door to many, many more manipulations. And just a point, this topic is sort of off the point about the question but since we are in social I can go further.

I didn’t see the CNN special as I don’t usually watch CNN. I will say that given CNN’s past, the term “religious extremists” probably came from them. I did see an article the other day about something to do with Texas wanting to put Christian studies into school curriculum. Despite your belief that I would agree with what they want to do, that belief is based on your belief that I am a “religious extremist”. Welcome to that slippery slope. My views of church and state are pretty common sense, I think. I don’t buy into the garbage that has morphed into today’s beliefs about things like that. If students want time during a school day to pray, they should be allowed to do so. If a group of students wants to form a religious study group that meets at the school after hours, that should be okay as well. Hell, I’d even say if a high school wants to have a Christian awareness class as an elective that should be okay as well. I would recommend that the parents sign off on that one, but then I feel they ought to be signing off on all electives their children want to take. The point behind the separation of church and state is that the government should not be pushing one religion, not that there is overlap in the students lives.

But forcing a religious class or teachings onto students is not really a good thing. I felt it was wrong when the one school forced students to write out the Islamic affirmation prayer and called it a calligraphy exercise. Of course, all those that scream about Christianity in schools were suddenly trying to make excuses for that one. But if I’m not going to support that, I can’t get behind pushing Christianity for the exact same reason. As an elective, it might be okay, but not as part of the routine curriculum. One of the founding principles of this country is that people’s religious rights are theirs and not for the state to push one or the other belief.

My take on religion, my beliefs, is that there is a whole lot of good that comes from the wisdom of the Bible. It has been corrupted by bad players, that is true, but overall, it gives good guidance for leading a moral life.

Now, how do you feel about gender studies being pushed into the schools? Gay pride flags being pushed and any support for Trump being punished? If you are upset about religious extremists, aren’t you upset about those that worship at the altar of society? Is it okay to have books in elementary schools that give graphic details about giving blow jobs and having sex as minors? Books that are so bad that when people read from books like this at the school board meetings, they get cut off because it is “inappropriate” because the school board member says they have “children at home that can live stream the meeting”. Another example would be this jewel where an 11 year old reads from a book the checked out from his school library. The librarian even asked him if he wanted more like it.

See? This is the problem. There is a fight to keep all these things but as soon as someone wants to teach something that pushes love and morals, it is an outrage because those people are “religious extremists”.

^^I support comparative religion elective course in high school. That’s it for religion. One semester. The only other thing close to that is kids talking about traditions surrounding a holiday they celebrate as like a show and tell.

I don’t support gay flags or any other flags except the US flag, school flag, and maybe the state flag displayed in a prominent place. If there is an LGBT club and they have a flag in their room or if kids wear a flag I’m ok with it, although I prefer uniforms.

Age appropriate I’m ok with some sex in books, so for me that would be at the high school level. Most kids are reading it before that, which is fine they can buy them or check them out of the public library. Your example was the school library not curriculum, I think it’s important to make that distinction, it is not being taught in the classroom. I am much more worried about violence in books. Anyway, challenging the book you linked to be taken out of the school library is perfectly fine with me. Take it out.

I agree with most of what you said, except the part about the library. The school library is there for the students. The books should be age appropriate. The one video I showed had an 11 year old reading from a very explicit book and he reported that the librarian offered to help him find more just like it. That stops being merely available. Yes, they might have books like that at a book store or online and it would be available for children if they wanted to find it. To have it in the school library that usually doesn’t have a ton of books and for the librarian to offer more, you now have a figure of authority at the school pushing that stuff. Yes, challenging the book to get it taken out of the library is getting done. But the problem is not getting rid of it, it’s why it is there in the first place. It shouldn’t be. That was an administrative decision to put the books like that in the library. And there is a huge push back from the left (that pushed for that to be in the library) to keep it there. For what purpose? What is the educational value for a 4th grader to learn in detail how to have gay sex?

@seawulf575 Those are cherry picked examples of explicit books in school libraries. I really doubt books like that are in most elementary schools. Honestly, I am fine with not teaching “gay sex” at all, which is actually the same as straight “sex” too, because straight couples can do all of the stuff gay couples do. If I was designing a sex ed class, I’d probably stick to the basics and skip oral sex and anal sex altogether, except there is the problem of the risks with both. Maybe bring it up in terms of STD’s and girls getting harmed. I can’t tell you how many girls I know that have been harmed from anal sex, I would be happy if they taught young men it can hurt women. The problem is porn shows it, and my bet is almost all boys watch porn.

@JLeslie Those were indeed two examples of this sort of crap. Did you need more? It really isn’t hard to dig them up. It was a whole big battle on the news for a while with one side asking why this nonsense was in the schools and the other side calling them Nazis for wanting to ban books. I could go on with more examples. Do I really need to? How many examples would it take for you to not say they were just cherry picked?

But this side discussion was brought on by a point. That pushing towards religious extremists is a bogus argument. You feel people that want to promote religious views are extremists, but you miss that there are so many others out there, pushing their agenda, that are already entrenched.

@seawulf575 It doesn’t really matter how many at this point, because we agree about it.

I’ve watched religiously for the past two years. I’m one of many who has taken a media vacation since the election results. The only show I watched after the results was Morning Joe. I tuned them out when they began to blame the “wokeness” of the left. I returned to see what they had to say this Monday and my jaw dropped. I was one of the thousands who abandoned them in their first hour. Mika was crying tears the weeks before the election for young women who have died due to Trump’s abortion ban. Now here she is saying they need a new approach. F*ck her and her $9 Whole Foods butter. Then Joe belittles his audience and mentions disconnect between social media and the real world. I’m a real dedicated viewer who uses social media. They have lost me.