MSNBC's Joe Scarborough knows that Donald Trump's FBI-pick, Kash Patel — who has promised to "come after" journalists — is dangerous. But, while sounding the alarm on the 44-year-old Trump loyalist today, the Morning Joe host also bizarrely suggested Patel is not only bad for the First Amendment, but that he wouldn't be good for Trump.
Scarborough first aired a 2023 clip of Patel telling Trump-whisperer Steve Bannon what MAGA had to do. "We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections," Patel said.
"We're going to come after you. Whether it's criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out," he continued. "But yeah, we're putting you all on notice." To which Bannon replied, "I want the Morning Joe producers that watch us, and all the producers that watch us— this is just not rhetoric. We're absolutely dead serious." (See video below, starting at 8:15, posted by MSNBC).
After playing the clip of Patel's threat a few times, Scarborough tried to warn not just his viewers, but also Trump, about Trump's own retribution plan. "This is not only bad for the men and women who run the FBI. This is not only bad for the rule of law. This is not only bad for the First Amendment. This is not only bad for the United States of America. This is bad for Donald Trump," Scarborough said, as if Trump isn't aware of who, exactly, Patel is. "This is bad for the Trump administration."
No, Joe, this is the Trump administration. To insinuate that blocking picks like Patel would stop MAGA from its payback project is ludicrous, being that Donald Trump himself is the one who said he would round up journalists.
It's understandable that Scarborough is scared, being that he and co-host (and wife) Mike Brzezinski were some of his fiercest opponents in mainstream media before Trump beat Kamala Harris in November. But suddenly both-siding after rushing off to Mar-a-Lago to make nice this late in the game only reeks of desperation — as in a last-ditch effort to prevent a middle-of-the-night visit from Patel's armed media enforcement division.
Previously: Donald Trump promises to round up the news media in dramatic "final battle" ad (video)
