It’s been nearly a month since “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski made themselves the news when they told viewers about their visit with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. They’ve gone mighty quiet ever since — at least on social media.
The MSNBC flagship morning political talk show has aired weekdays on cable TV as usual. But the network’s main YouTube page and the “Morning Joe” X, Facebook and TikTok accounts, once flooded with daily clips, have all but stopped visibly featuring native “Morning Joe” video clips and its hosts since the backlash-igniting disclosure on Nov. 18.
The occasional “Morning Joe” content they have posted does not display the hosts’ faces, or their names — or even the words “Morning” or “Joe.” Instead, they have opted for topical thumbnails and titles; meanwhile, every clip from Joy Reid, Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow has their face on the thumbnail.
So, is “Morning Joe” laying low? MSNBC did not comment on our observations, which come from a place of familiarity – for years, TheWrap has routinely pulled the liveliest takes from “Morning Joe” and other topical news shows covering politics and media for news items.
While certain segments would be merchandised on MSNBC’s YouTube page with a title that began “Joe:” and featured Scarborough in the thumbnail, the last time either Scarborough or Brzezinski’s face appeared on MSNBC’s YouTube “videos” tab was Nov. 21, when the network posted Brzezinski’s appearance on the Daily Beast Podcast — defending against the meeting backlash, of course.
Over on the “Morning Joe” X account, once a reliable source for daily video clips and highlights, things have also gone fairly dark: The last video clip from the show was posted Nov. 8, in a wide-ranging post-election analysis hit with former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Since then, the account has mostly just posted guest lineups and news links from the main MSNBC page, as well as linking out repeatedly to an interview that Scarborough did with Bill Clinton (thumbnail: Clinton).
The last time “Morning Joe” posted on its Facebook page, which has nearly 400,000 followers, was Nov. 11, in another broad election analysis. And since “Morning Joe” launched its Bluesky account nearly three weeks ago, it has only posted one show clip featuring its hosts — on Dec. 4 — a 34-second hit on the killing of the United Healthcare CEO. The show’s Instagram page has featured Scarborough and Brzezinski more frequently since the controversy, however.
While MSNBC isn’t saying, it may be that the intense backlash against the visit — our own columnist called it “a betrayal” — prompted the decision to keep Scarborough and Brzezinski’s heads behind the ramparts for now. Meanwhile, the mugs and video clips of MSNBC’s other hosts — Joy Reid, Lawrence O’Donnell, Ari Melber and more — continue to appear across platforms.
The hosts have hotly defended their decision to meet with the President-elect, which took place Nov. 15 at his Florida estate. Brzezinski explained that the purpose was to “restart communications” with Trump, emphasizing the importance of engaging in dialogue despite past criticisms.
Critics fiercely accused the hosts of hypocrisy and questioned their journalistic integrity. Former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann labeled Scarborough a “political whore,” while “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin suggested they were “kissing the ring.”
MSNBC’s viewership has declined rapidly since the election — to be expected — but “Morning Joe” had a separate 17% drop after the Nov. 18 disclosure, which the network credited to a disproportionate amount of time-shifted viewing for the show’s first hour. The drop in social-media-asset output has been at least as precipitous.
