as a lot of Americans figure out how to handle the next four years Tech multi-billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg said they're going to work with incoming Administration and earlier this month msnbc's Joe Scaro and Minka binski responded to all the backlash over their trip down to see you know who at Mar Lago take a look you will be smarter and you have been over the last several weeks because of what we talked about with Donald Trump TR for an hour hour and a half we got information on where they're going and I do report
that just like great reporters at the New York Times The Washington Post The Wall Street Journal Financial Times just like they do it and again if you had to talk to a journalist said oh you shouldn't talk to the president on background and again the complaint that we said he was a fascist that he talked like a fascist yeah he did during the campaign guess what watching guess what that means it's even more important we go there the meeting that we went to was not kissing the ring or bending the knee or all your other
ridiculous headlines it was a serious meeting and quite frankly if we hadn't told anyone about it if we hadn't shared it with our viewers to be transparent and that was our call because it was a meeting on background nobody would have known about it nobody would have we weren't flouncing in there and and doing a big show of it this was a private meeting on backround Maya ah segment over yes apparently uh so the question is is opening a dialogue the best move here yeah well can I just say Merry Christmas I'm so excited for
this [Applause] is this is one I have really strong feelings about and I actually agree with M and Joe I don't think I think as journalist you can you to cover someone adequately you have to talk to both the subject and people who support the subject Bob Woodward was on our show he's sat down with Donald Trump at length and then he reports important information we wouldn't have otherwise gotten if he didn't spent months and weeks pursuing those interviews and a lot of those convos I don't think people always realize are on background or they're
even off the Record meaning they can't share all the details but they can chase things and find stories that he's kind of pushing them to so I see it as a basic journalism sort of thing that you have to do and to take it to a really extreme place and I'm in no way comparing Donald Trump I also worked in diplomacy was at the Department of Defense I worked the defense and I also worked for the vice president we literally sat down with the Taliban in Afghanistan we were trying to reach a peace negotiation the
idea that dialogue is a bad thing doesn't matter doesn't work on the world stage not I would never I would never but it's um it's just to say the idea dialogue is so important in fraught times and when people are not seeing eye to eye and I think you absolutely have to have that conversation I agree with that to some extent I do and Bob wood would never sat down with Nixon just f Yi and he reported on Nixon from God for deep thrat from an objective point of view but that's leg people sorry deep
throat that's why history is important to know y'all that's right it turned out deep throat was getting reactions for different reasons I know but he he was an FBI agent but um I think the problem that people are having with it is that there there's a certain feeling that they're normalizing him and he's not normal he's not he's a very unusual he's a TV talk show host whatever it was that show he did The Apprentice yeah that's it and um and he became a president based on some a lot of lies so I don't think
that it's just that they're going down to talk to him like they talk to the Taliban I don't think so and by the way I I have a personal thing about this because when George W Bush was in the White House I knew that if I had a beer with the guy I would like him I knew it and so I didn't want to have a beer with him because I had things to say about George W bush that were critical of of him if I had sat down with the guy I would feel maybe
I can't anymore you see that's my problem with morning J the thing is you can sit down as a journalist with a subject without traveling to Mara Lago and having uh a meeting off the Record having a meeting on background after having said all of these things I think the reason that the First Amendment that's true I think the the the reason reason that the first amendment is the very first amendment which is freedom of the press and freedom of speech is because it is the fourth estate it is so important to the balance of
power in our country we as as Journal any journalist has to be able to report the facts fairly without fear of Retribution and also without fear of um well just without fear of Retribution and I think one of the criticisms that they are getting is that they sort of traed over to maralago because of their fear of Retribution and their fear of losing their ability to of access and and let me just say one final BOS too also yeah but let me just say one final thing I think we saw a real blurring of the
lines right uh with Shan Hannity's texts with then white house chief of staff Mark Meadows during the Insurrection I mean Meadows and Hannity exchanged more than 80 text messages between Election Day 2020 and Biden's January 2021 inauguration line but that is totally he is a partisan activist who's on Fox News and Sean H's a nice enough guy well these are opinion journalists as well well and Joe and M though he they're not texting with the white house chief of staff about an Insurrection just seems like a weird actually actually they were also sending text messages
but I didn't want to say this on the retribution can I just respond to that so I I I do think that they they were also um exchanging messages uh because they had that kind of access and you can have that kind of access like a b Bob Woodwards and still uphold the principles of Journalism and keep the trust of the people that is why I think uh Morning Joe is down 38% I think simp so I fully agree I I I don't know how people jump from zero to 60 on this the second they
went down there every headline was they're kissing the ring they're bending the knee if you check in with yourself and say could I go and have an interview and objectively not be moved because I had a beer with someone but sit there because I can't unhear what he said I can't unsee what he's done can I sit there and talk to him because background as in my experience in news has always been you do a lot of background because sometimes people won't go on the record so you do background to go sit down i' I've
been interviewed on background and I've interviewed on background that's common that's not abnormal it wouldn't be something that Joe and Ma would send a producer down because they did have a relationship so if you're going to get interviews or talk to the administration you do go down on whatever terms background not on the record go down to Mar Lago remember when we were talking about vice president Harris not going to Joe Rogan because he wouldn't come to her sometimes people can't go to places it wasn't because he couldn't come to her it was because because
she couldn't fit into our schedule but do you think they went down there just for background I I I'm going to take them for their word until I see otherwise I think the cynicism of it all is just these are people who honestly resistance Heroes and they do one thing in their entire audience's outrage I think it's I I just have a hard time with that these are people who have never held their criticisms of Donald Trump in any single way Joe and me are a lot they're very nice people but he was a republican
who encouraged Trump before he turned on him now he's turning back again it's very Su why you say he's turning back again Scarboro was on morning also the timing was interesting he went right down there right after the election he's going to be the American president need to hear from I'm not a journalist I'm not well I'm I'm going to start with that okay so my feelings about this are very different I always feel if people feel they need to do something let them do what they need to do and I I you know do
I think they should have gone does it matter they went and they they are explaining and I don't know why we can't just have somebody say and this is why I did it and move on well they got a lot of blowback yes I listen I understand the blowback but that is part of my problem because we can't get anywhere because everything contains blowback if you just have right Wingers interviewing Trump and only people who are journalists that support Trump you're not going to get important stories for the American I'm not talking about yeah I'm
just I'm just saying that they're because you make not you none of you but because you make it so hard to say you know what I feel like I need to do this for my own Peace of Mind from my peace of mind I know this guy I didn't like what he did did I did but I know that I'm I'm going to have to talk about him some more so let me so let me go down and let these people do what they do and isn't there a difference between a talk show host Journal
whatever he was a former former congressman and an investigative journalists like Bob Woodward there's a big difference there they're there to spew and give their opinions the way we do Bob is there Woodward is there to get to the truth out of the horse's mouth you do realize that we are all I'm sorry baby we're all painted with that this is why I say I'm not a journalist we are painted as journalists because people assume that we went to I didn't go to school I didn't I would go I went to school to the E
grade but joy as I'm I'm an I'm a partisan opinion H I am not a journalist I would still meet with any subject that I regularly talk about to ask questions to say what are you planning to do on this what is your commitment on this why did you to get information you're talking to someone who talks to Construction workers on the street about Trump all the time yells at construction workers no that was me that was me that was me they yell at me she yells at them that was we work together yes that
was me no but but what I'm saying whoopy in terms of the backlash there are consequences you know to whatever action and um my only point is when you see that 38% of your audience is saying wow that made me feel so uncomfortable I'm going to turn the channel I do think that requires a little bit of introspection as to why too EAS people are feeling that way they may be feeling be in your feelings if you're in your feelings okay but let people be in their feelings and do what they feel they need to
do
