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‘Isn’t Going to Bring Audience Back’: Morning Joe’s Mar-a-Lago Meet a Ratings Hail Mary?

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The hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” are under fire after announcing Monday they visited President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, telling viewers it’s “time to do something different,” and that “threatening” the now-President-elect with prison (they did not name any of his crimes, alleged or convicted,) hasn’t worked. Some critics have suggested the visit by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski was an effort to shore up the network’s sagging ratings, while others blasted the attempt as “access” journalism.

Jeff Jarvis, the longtime journalism expert and CUNY professor (now retired) called the couple’s move a “betrayal of their colleagues, democracy, and us all. It is a disgusting show of obeisance in advance.” (Obeisance is generally understood to mean bow down, or offer deferential respect.)

Political commentator Craig Crawford responded, “Autocrat scholars call this Anticipatory Obedience.”

Jarvis appeared to sum up the Mar-a-Lago meeting as an effort to gain “access.”

“Oh, Lord. Joe and Mika went to Mar-a-lago. ‘What we did agree on,’ Mika said, ‘was to restart communications.’ Access. ‘He seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats.’ Credulity. They revert to their mean.”

READ MORE: Trump: Prepared to Declare ‘National Emergency,’ Use Military for ‘Mass Deportations’

Jarvis also blasted Scarborough and Brzezinski for not having on their Monday morning panel any pundit who would push back against them: “Of course, there is no one on the panel to ask, ‘How the fuck could you?’ as we all are at home.”

He also declared the couple created “The Scarborough doctrine,” which he described as, “You can’t root against the president of the United States without rooting against America.”

Scarborough, Jarvis declared, “won’t root against authoritarianism, racism, misogyny (against his own wife), fascism. He won’t root for the people and our Constitution. There you have it.”

“Was there any journalism to come out of this?” Jarvis asked. “No. The meeting was ‘on background.’ Joe assures they asked for an interview. Of course, they did: giving Trump just what he wants–airtime and attention. This is how they helped get him elected in the first place.”

“Right after that pathetic display, Mika reads headlines about attacks on LGBTQ people and Trump drawing up a list of military officers to court martial and there is no nod to the irony. Oh, yes, let’s get along–with the destruction of the nation.”

Nodding to a number of top MSNBC hosts, Jarvis remarked, “I try to envision Joy Reid, @maddow, @Lawrence, @NicolleDWallace, @chrislhayes, alongside frequent guests @esglaude, @MollyJongFast, and others watching @JoeNBC & @morningmika’s betrayal this morning. Did they throw coffee at their TVs or merely shake their heads, knowingly?”

MSNBC host, and legal contributor and correspondent Katie Phang, without naming names, posted on social media: “Normalizing Trump is a bad idea. Period.”

Scarborough and Brzezinski told viewers that at Mar-a-Lago, “we talked about a lot of issues, including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents, and media outlets.”

And while they “didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues, and we told him so,” they “did agree” to “restart communications.”

They described Trump as “cheerful,” and “upbeat,” claiming that “he seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats on some of the most divisive issues.”

READ MORE: GOP Senator Says Gaetz Investigation Report Can Be Subpoenaed After Johnson Tries to Block

“And for those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back: why wouldn’t we?”

“Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country,” they said, not blaming Trump.

“What also does not work is threatening political opponents with arrest, harassment and even jail. That is a failed path,” they said—appearing to blame Democrats for wanting allowing the justice system and the rule of law to rule the day, while ignoring that Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened his political opponents with arrest, harassment and even jail.

“Recent history has proven that impeachments and trials turned those on trial into political martyrs and only make them more popular with the American people, just ask Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.”

“We’re not here to defend our normalize Donald Trump,” they concluded. “We’re here to report on him.”

Democratic strategist Max Burns lamented, “Don’t need to crack down on the free press when the free press will crack down on itself.”

Philadelphia Inquirer national opinion columnist Will Bunch added: “‘Morning Joe’ capitulation is another of my worst fears about life under Trump 47 – that those of us who plan to keep writing against Trump’s autocratic ways are going to be marginalized as ‘dead enders’ who aren’t getting with the program, which will make it easier to shut us up.”

Some have suggested the couple went to Mar-a-Lago to help the network’s ratings.

Puck’s Dylan Byers had shared some dismal statistics last week:

“CNN, MSNBC ratings plummeted after elections,” noted SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile. He warned, “Morning Joe bowing to Trump, & the rest doing finger-pointing & both sides coverage, isn’t going to bring audience back.”

Similarly, Mediaite editor-in-chief Aidan McLaughlin observed, “The thing about this is that it comes as MSNBC’s audience has collapsed. Imagine if a Fox News host announced they met privately with Biden when the network saw its audience flee after the 2020 election?”

Indeed, some on social media suggested they may be done with “Morning Joe.”

Political podcaster and progressive commentator JoJoFromJerz, who has nearly one million followers on X, offered up a profanity-laced response that effectively urged MSNBC to take “Morning Joe” off the air.

Media critic Susan Bordson explained:

“There are a few news shows I keep as standard in my dvr settings in case I want to check out segments or audit them later. @Morning_Joe was one of them. Today, I eliminated it from my @MSNBC recording list. Ethical news commentary does not require ACCESS practices.”

Podcaster Keith Olbermann, a former MSNBC host, also blasted Scarborough, writing: “Why is anybody surprised? Since 1998 I’ve said Scarborough was the worst person I’d ever encountered in this business. He proves me right, year after year. Today it has become Vichy MSNBC.”

“Let’s face it,” wrote former editor John McIntyre. “Morning Joe and Mika were self-important and tedious. Now we know that they are also craven, and there is no need to give them our attention.”

Watch the videos below or at this link.

READ MORE: Backlash as Trump Skips FBI Background Checks — One Nominee Called ‘Likely Russian Asset’

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‘Is Canada Next?’ Ex-Trump Official Says Greenland Threat Worse Than Imagined

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January 19, 2026

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A former top Trump official is warning that President Donald Trump’s threats to Greenland are worse than could be imagined, and wonders if he will stop there or target another close U.S. ally, like Canada, next.

John Bolton, who served as Trump’s National Security Adviser during the first Trump administration, told NewsNation that the “damage that Donald Trump is doing to America’s reputation, to the trust and good faith and reliance, our European allies and friends around the world have on us is just impossible to state.”

He called it “extraordinary” to “threaten the invasion of a NATO ally, to seize by force a territory from a democracy.”

“The impact in Europe,” he said, “you cannot calculate how bad this is for us.”

READ MORE: ‘Dictators’ Tea Party’: Trump’s Board of Peace Ridiculed as New Details Revealed

Trump has ramped up his threats to acquire Greenland, and has refused to commit to not using military force to take control of the semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Bolton added, “if you want to rip up the NATO alliance, if you want to convince every other American ally around the world — Japan, South Korea, Australia — that we can’t be trusted, go ahead and use military force against Denmark in Greenland.”

“Go ahead and threaten your best friends and allies with retaliatory tariffs, because they just won’t give in,” he continued. “This is so counterproductive for the United States that it’s gonna take years to repair the damage that Donald Trump is doing, and none of it will do anything for the security of Greenland or the NATO alliance.”

“Well,” he added, “consider what it means for the United States to invade an ally like Denmark. Is Canada next? Shall we invade Great Britain? How about Spain?”

Bolton asked, “what is it that gives Trump the idea that the only way to deal with one of the friendliest countries in the world toward America, for 250 years, is to threaten military force?”

READ MORE: ‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

 

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‘Dictators’ Tea Party’: Trump’s Board of Peace Ridiculed as New Details Revealed

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17 hours ago

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January 19, 2026

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The rollout for President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace, which has drawn controversy and is facing resistance, does not appear to be going smoothly. The American president wants national leaders who join to donate at least $1 billion within the first year to become a permanent member. According to reports, Trump would be chairman for life, the organization could be filled with authoritarian leaders, and it is being seen as a possible rival to the United Nations.

Already, French President Emmanuel Macron, who appears to be leading the charge against Trump in Europe, reportedly has declined to join.

“The body was originally conceived as part of the U.S. president’s push to create a new governance framework for the shattered Palestinian enclave in the wake of Israel’s devastating two-year offensive against Hamas,” The Financial Times reported.

“The Board of Peace has had a rough landing,” reported Bloomberg News’ UK political editor Alex Wickham, noting that “it’s been criticized by Israel, questioned by Europe and has Russia’s friends celebrating.”

READ MORE: ‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

“World leaders were blindsided and bewildered by Trump’s demand they pay $1 billion for permanent membership, sources say,” Wickham noted. “European allies are working to modify the terms and coordinate a response, sources say. They are trying to persuade Arab leaders to help lobby Trump for changes.”

As chairman, Trump would have the ability to add or remove member nations, veto the board’s decisions and cast tie-breaking votes, and create or dissolve committees.

Critics are blasting Trump’s proposed Board of Peace.

Daily Mail UK columnist Andrew Neil said it will probably be Trump’s “most radical step yet to replace the post-WW2 global order. It will also be quite the dictators’ tea party. Putin, Lukashenko (Belarus tyrant) and the dictator of Kazakhstan have all been asked to join!!”

Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov remarked, “The board of peace stars dictators apparently.”

The Wall Street Journal’s chief foreign-affairs correspondent, Yaroslav Trofimov, observed, “Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ looks very much like a plan to replace the UN Security Council with an imperial court of vassals in which he is chairman for life, even after leaving the White House, with veto over every decision and the sole right to designate a successor. And a $1 billion fee for aspiring permanent members.”

Former chief White House ethics attorney Richard Painter wrote, “Almost 75,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in this war, and now we are auctioning off seats on a Gaza ‘Board of Peace’. For a Middle East peace policy, this is pathetic.”

READ MORE: Europe Divorcing America Now Seen as ‘Inevitable’: Report

 

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‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

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19 hours ago

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January 19, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s latest shot across the bow—a letter to the Prime Minister of Norway that critics say carries an implied threat of war over Greenland following his failure to receive the Nobel Peace Prize — has once again prompted calls for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” Trump wrote in his message to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?” Trump asked. “There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”

Norway is separate from Denmark, which governs Greenland, and the government of Norway does not award the Nobel Peace Prize — as many critics have pointed out. Trump reportedly believes that the Norwegian government “totally” controls who is awarded the coveted prize.

READ MORE: Europe Divorcing America Now Seen as ‘Inevitable’: Report

“Even by Trump’s standards, this letter is so dangerous and so delusional that there is no longer any question that the president is mentally ‘unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,’ as laid out in the 25th Amendment to the Constitution,” wrote Janna Brancolini at The Daily Beast. “Removal under the 25th Amendment might not be politically likely, but it’s a constitutional tool that must be seriously discussed. To do otherwise would be to indulge the dangerous alternative reality that Trump and his supporters are so desperate to construct.”

“The president is, simply put, not a well man. He subsists on a diet of fast food and aspirin, stays up until the wee hours of the night doom-scrolling on social media, and spent Christmas day rage-posting on his Truth Social platform,” Brancolini added. “This is why impeachment is not enough.”

Trump’s letter was so extreme that European officials were circulating a meme of the American president’s letter, written in crayon, as Alternet reported.

But in the U.S., critics including elected officials are calling for the 25th Amendment or other acknowledgment of what they say is the president’s incapacitation.

“These are the ramblings of a man who has lost touch with reality,” wrote U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) in response to the Trump letter. “He isn’t ok. He’s degraded significantly in the last year and he’s about to get us into a war with our allies.”

READ MORE: Anti-Gay Bias Surges ‘Sharply’ — Even Among These Least Expected Groups: Report

“Invoke the 25th Amendment,” urged U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).

“I don’t see how you can be a serious person and not find this extremely worrisome,” observed U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI). “He is not stable at all and his reality is warped. He was always a bit like this of course but now he’s 80.”

“This letter, and the fact that the president directed that it be distributed to other European countries, should trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness,” commented Professor of Medicine and Surgery Jonathan Reiner, a CNN medical analyst.

“Trump‘s new gigantic temper tantrum over Norway is deep into 25th Amendment territory,” remarked the Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson. “Hell, at this point? 25th Admt territory is far in the rearview mirror and we are descending further into madness by the moment.”

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh simply urged, “25th Amendment. Now.”

READ MORE: ‘Unconstitutional Conspiracy’: Judge Blasts Trump Administration Officials

 

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