Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:59 pm
In a shameful display, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough did his best to defend Donald Trump’s history of sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny that was uncovered by The New York Times.
Video:
Transcript via Media Matters:
JOE SCARBOROUGH (CO-HOST): What’s the worst allegation of this explosive front page story? Name it.
MARK HALPERIN: I will comment on this in the spirit of Reince Priebus. If that’s the best they got on these issues and Donald Trump, Donald Trump should be celebrating that story. There’s some troubling things in the piece, but there’s nothing illegal, there’s nothing even kind of like beyond boorish or politically incorrect, which is built into the Donald Trump brand. So, if that’s the best they have in this score, Donald Trump can celebrate this story politically.
SCARBOROUGH: So Mike Barnicle, I’ve got two stories — and I did, I kept reading it. Because I was trying to figure out, what did he do? Because that’s the lawyer in me. Ok, let’s tear through it — you tear through all the documents and then you go, they did this, they did this. I have two things. When he met somebody, he kissed them on the lips as a greeting. I will tell you —
MIKA BRZEZINSKI (CO-HOST): Donny does that to you all the time.
SCARBOROUGH: That’s not a pleasant thing, but I’m serious, in the thousands and thousands and thousands of receptions I’ve had before, people have, women have come up and — of all ages and kissed me on the lips. I don’t like it, I wish they wouldn’t have, but I wouldn’t have run to The New York Times when they did it.
HALPERIN: And he denies it.
SCARBOROUGH: And he even denies it. And secondly, that he gave a woman a bathing suit to try on. I kid you not. That’s the story.
MIKE BARNICLE: That was the lead probably.
SCARBOROUGH: He gave a woman a bathing suit to try on. Now, when this was unfolding, I expected that she was going to try it on in front of him and then he was going to — Instead he goes, you look really good in that.
BARNICLE: Here’s the deal on Donald Trump and that story.
SCARBOROUGH: I’m sorry, that’s — if this is their lead story on Sunday, explosive, above the fold, especially considering who he is running against, it’s breathtaking.
BARNICLE: It’s about 7,500 twills, that’s an old of typewritten lines from the newspaper business, of things that are totally not surprising, because they have to do a Donald Trump. It’s boorish behavior, you wouldn’t want it occurring to your daughter by a guy, but it’s Donald Trump. And when it comes to Donald Trump, it comes with the dinner. People expect it, they know it, they’re not surprised. They’re not even offended.
SCARBOROUGH: What’s the most offensive thing that Donald Trump did in that piece?
HALPERIN: I think the most offensive thing, if true, is some of the comments he made in the workplace to his employees.
Here are some of the behaviors that Scarborough left out. Trump sexualized his then 16-year-old daughter by asking other men if she was hot. Trump made unwanted advances towards women. Trump engaged in inappropriate physical contact with women. The presumptive Republican nominee was revealed to have demonstrated a consistent pattern of sexual harassment towards women that he had the ability to exert authority or control over.
If the New York Times piece was such a non-story why did Donald Trump avoid the Sunday news shows like the plague? If there was nothing to the story, why did the Republican Party trot out Reince Priebus on the Sunday shows to take the bullets for Trump? The answer is because Republicans know that not only is the story important, there is a pattern of behavior that is also true.
Fox News and Trump have gotten one of the women featured in the Times to change her tune, but the weight of the story remains the same.
MSNBC has sold itself out to Joe Scarborough and Donald Trump. They have allowed their morning show to be turned into Trump propaganda. The former Lean Forward network has turned over hours of programming time to a show that believes that inappropriate touching and sexual harassment are no big deal.
Viewers should at least expect not to insulted and have their values assaulted by a morning show. There is no defending Trump’s behavior, and those who try are just as deplorable as the presumptive Republican nominee.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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