MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” trends on Twitter on a regular basis, but co-host Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough say they don’t do anything specific to attract political influencers on social media.
“No, oh my god. Honestly, we’re trying to avoid trending,” Brzezinski told TheWrap when asked if they plan specific rhetoric with the intent of going viral.
“We really don’t want to be a part of it, especially these days. We think these are some of the most serious times we’ve ever covered and it’s just not about trending anymore,” she said. “It’s about actually having the most measured, accurate response and analysis you could ever have because this is not like anything we’ve ever seen. I’m just very concerned and every word we say, every day, we try to be more careful.”
Scarborough said he’s not perfect and fears that seeing his name atop Twitter’s trending topics could mean that he failed to properly deliver his message. The message he typically delivers lately is that Donald Trump isn’t exactly his favorite president, which has resulted in personal Twitter attacks directly from Trump. Despite finding creative ways mock Trump, the “Morning Joe” namesake insists he doesn’t want to become the news.
“We try to keep our head down and try to do our job. We’re trying to make the story about the story and certainly not about us,” Scarborough told TheWrap.
Brzezinski said she doesn’t know why the show is so popular with political influencers, adding, “We’re really luck to even be asked that question.”
“If we knew the answer, they probably wouldn’t watch,” she said. “We have no idea what we’re going to say every morning but we kind of go with our gut, what we think is interesting and we hope that we strike it right.”
Viewers have told Brzezinski they watch the show from an assortment of high-profile places, such as the gym at Capital Hill.
“It’s crazy, we can’t get over it,” she said.
Scarborough thinks the format of the show, which allows “interesting people” to discuss “interesting things” for extended periods is the secret sauce that helps the show get noticed by Twitter watchdogs.
“A lot of it has to do with the smart people that come on the show,” Scarborough said. “I remember Bob Woodward walking in one day, the first time he was ever on the show, and he said, ‘What are we talking about today?’”
Scarborough fired back, “I don’t know Bob, what do you want to talk about?”
Woodward quickly mentioned an event that occurred the previous day in Afghanistan and Scarborough decided to spend a 15-minute segment discussing it on air.
“Afterwards, Bob said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this… usually people call me up the night before and [provide] the questions we’re going to ask you,’” Scarborough said. “It goes back to the freedom we have been given… they come on, we get to ask them questions and they go.”