MSNBC staffers lash out over ‘Morning Joe host’s meeting with Trump: ‘Disgusting, but frankly not surprising’

MSNBC staffers are lashing out at “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski after they shocked their liberal viewers by revealing their recent Mar-a-Lago meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.

“Cowardice,” responded an MSNBC staffer on Fox News Digital. “Doing exactly what (anti-Trump historian) Tim Snyder warns on our air not to do: obey in advance. It’s disgusting, but frankly not surprising.”

The source said MSNBC’s congregation is now “pretty much contemptuous” of the network’s morning stars, saying it “feels like they’re just being opportunistic.”

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Others have taken to social media to express their objections. MSNBC contributor Jennifer Rubin called it “disgusting” on Bluesky, the X-like social media site growing in popularity with progressives. MSNBC host Katie Phang offered an indirect swipe, writing at X: “Normalizing Trump is a bad idea. Period.”

“Katie Phang is right. It’s normalization (and it’s access control—),” the MSNBC staffer told Fox News Digital. “Journalists do not need access to their subjects to hold them accountable. None of that is credible. The obvious answer is credible: they are opportunists.”

The insider expressed concern that MSNBC will face significant backlash as a result of Mar-a-Lago, the meeting with left-leaning viewers already underway. Some are already calling for a boycott of the network.

“This feels serious,” they said. “I can’t imagine (parent company) Comcast objects to this development. But the MSNBC folks do.”

MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Another network insider defended the meeting and its goals to Fox News Digital, saying they found the criticism “curious” when the hosts challenged Trump at the meeting about his rhetoric and positions.

“Not sure when voicing concerns about threats to journalists and politicians became a bad thing,” they added.

Scarborough appeared to anticipate backlash for Monday morning’s meeting.

“We’re not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump,” he told viewers. “We are here to report on him and hopefully give you insights that will make us all better equipped to understand these deeply troubling times.”

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Scarborough and Brzezinski have emerged as two of Trump’s fiercest critics ever since he took office, a complete reversal of the relationship they had with him during the 2016 GOP primary.

Friday’s meeting was the first time they had seen Trump in seven years, Brzezinski said, and Scarborough added that they did not “see eye to eye on a lot of issues, and we told him that.” Scarborough said they went over topics like abortion, mass deportationand threats of retaliation against political opponents and the media. According to the hosts, the meeting was about an agreement to “restart communication”.

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“For those who ask why we would go and talk to the president-elect during such busy times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back — why wouldn’t we?” Brzezinski said. “Five years of political warfare have deeply divided Washington and the country. We have been as clear as we know when expressing our deep concern about President Trump’s actions and words in the public debate.

“But for nearly 80 million Americans, election denial, public trials on January 6 were not as important as the issues that led them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote. Joe and I realize that it is time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but talking with him.”

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Trump spoke to Fox News Digital on Monday about the “extremely cordial” meeting he had with the MSNBC hosts.

“I received a call from Joe Scarborough asking for a meeting for him and Mika, and I agreed that it would be a good thing if such a meeting took place,” Trump said in an interview. “A lot of things were discussed and I really appreciated that they wanted to have open communication… In many ways, it’s a shame it wasn’t done a long time ago.

“The meeting ended in a very positive way and we agreed to talk in the future,” he added.

Fox News’ David Rutz and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.