{"id":4225,"date":"2021-05-07T08:19:41","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T12:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4225"},"modified":"2021-05-07T08:20:36","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T12:20:36","slug":"open-letter-to-morning-joe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/05\/07\/open-letter-to-morning-joe\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to Morning Joe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Morning Joe” is cable news MSNBC\u2019s morning show.\u00a0\u00a0For three hours from 6 am, former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough (\u201cJoe\u201d) and progressive news analyst Mika Brezhenski along with Willie Geist and a cast of regulars analyze the news and events of the day.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Microphone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Joe and Mika –  Please stop.  You\u2019re doing it again.  It\u2019s like an addiction: \u201cI\u2019ll just have a little bit, just a couple of drinks \u2013 what can that hurt?\u201d  And if you hadn\u2019t already been down the hole, down the bitter catastrophe of 2016, maybe it wouldn\u2019t hurt.  But you were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You put a charlatan on the map.  You gave him literally millions of dollars of free air time in 2015 and 2016, enough that he was able to \u201ccall in\u201d and make himself a legitimate Presidential candidate.  To use the language of addiction \u2013 you were enablers, giving him the free podium to America.  In religious terms, you gave him the \u201cimprimatur\u201d of respectability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it made your ratings.  Because the half-hour conversations, even when Joe got the chance to chastise and harangue, confirmed your show as the premier cable morning program.  Those who supported his fraud, well they watched to hear what he said.  And those that scoffed at his candidacy, well they watched too.  They watched to hear him make a fool of himself, and to hear Joe condemn him, and to hear Mika\u2019s sly commentary about what he said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His supporters saw him as courageous, coming onto MSNBC<\/em>, the ultimate enemy.   And the \u201chaters\u201d laughed in their sleeves.  \u201cWas this the best the Republican Party could do?  Listen to Joe chastise and control him on the phone line\u201d. But who is laughing now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s A Choice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was more than five years ago.  But you, Joe and Mika, are falling into the trap once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am an addict myself.  MSNBC <\/em>goes on at 6:30 am (Eastern) in my house, and it stays on most of the day.  It is the background to our lives, whatever else we are doing.  It\u2019s on right now, even as a write this missive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Biden is doing good things.  He\u2019s crossing the country, reaching out beyond the Congress to convince Americans that rebuilding our infrastructure is a critical.  It  shouldn\u2019t take much convincing:  drive any highway and you\u2019ll know there\u2019s work to do.  My MSNBC<\/em> flickers multiple times a day \u2013 it\u2019s coming from the internet, and there\u2019s always a glitch, a momentary pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s doing the \u201cgood work\u201d of reuniting families cruelly separated at the border.  He\u2019s getting more and more Americans vaccinated against COVID.  And he\u2019s bringing consistency and strength back to America\u2019s image in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe, Mika:  talk about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the News <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sure you have to cover the fate of Liz Cheney, and the \u201cBig Lie\u201d, and election suppression in America.  But you don\u2019t have to give the charlatan any more room in your busy schedule.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understand why you would.  He\u2019s a ticket to ratings \u2013 even now \u2013 in exile in his \u201cElba Island\u201d of Mara Lago.  His \u201clovers\u201d aren\u2019t watching you \u2013 they are over at Fox and Friends<\/em> or worse.  But his haters want to hate \u2013 I want to hate \u2013 and feeding that hate gets more viewers.  And you are \u201cwinning\u201d the ratings war.  You are the most watched cable morning show (Adweek<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But history does repeat itself.  Returning to your addiction threatens to have the same consequences.  He\u2019s not history, and he\u2019s not a joke.  He\u2019s a threat, just as Napoleon was a threat during his first exile.  Don\u2019t play into his game.  We know his strategy:  better to say bad things about me, than not talk about me at all.  And we\u2019re talking about him again, over and over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe and Mika, you are keeping him relevant.  I know that you are \u201creporting the news\u201d.  But beware:  understand your addiction. You were in recovery, but the lure of the ratings is dragging you back down again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nation went down with you five years ago.  We can\u2019t afford to fall into that rabbit hole once more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Morning Joe” is cable news MSNBC\u2019s morning show.\u00a0\u00a0For three hours from 6 am, former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough (\u201cJoe\u201d) and progressive news analyst Mika Brezhenski along with Willie Geist and a cast of regulars analyze the news and events of the day. Open Microphone Joe and Mika –  Please stop.  You\u2019re doing it again.  It\u2019s like an addiction: … Continue reading “Open Letter to Morning Joe”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOpen Letter to Morning Joe : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The news was addicted to a former President in Florida. 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