Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” spoke to a crowded auditorium on Friday night at the Gertrude C. Ford Center.
Scarborough and Brzezinski discussed the state of journalism and politics during the Trump administration with award-winning authors Jon Meacham and Walter Isaacson. The event was sponsored by the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics and by Mississippi Today.
The panel focussed on the rise of President Donald Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign, and Scarborough said Trump’s strategy would not be replicated a second time.
“It just so happened that Hillary Clinton did not campaign in Wisconsin, didn’t campaign enough in Michigan, did not campaign in the industrial Northwest,” Scarborough said. “And Donald Trump figured out how to win with enough white votes. Mark it down right now — that will never happen again.”
An audience member asked the panel how journalists should act and respond to a president who often has a contentious relationship with the media. Scarborough said he and Brzezinski decide each day not to act like “the world is coming to an end,” regardless of what the president says.
“Marty Baron, who is the editor of The Washington Post, put up a sign in his newsroom, and I think it should be in every newsroom, especially in the age of Trump. But it’s good for any time,” Scarborough said. “It says, ‘We are not going to war; we are going to work,’ and that’s something that Mika and I have to tell each other before the show.”
Earlier that morning, Scarborough and Brzezinski hosted their show at Boure on the Square, where the show was centered around the historic Senate elections that will take place in November. This year, Mississippians will have the opportunity to vote in two different Senate elections. The pair sat down with U.S. Senate candidates Chris McDaniel, Mike Espy and David Baria to discuss their platforms.
Curtis Wilkie, an Overby Fellow and Cook Chair of Journalism at Ole Miss, and Adam Ganucheau, a political reporter for Mississippi Today and former editor-in-chief of The Daily Mississippian, were also on the set to provide their thoughts on the upcoming historic Senate elections.
Before the program, Scarborough and Brzezinski talked with The Daily Mississippian and emphasized the national importance of Mississippi’s upcoming U.S. Senate races.
“This is just crazy,” Scarborough said. “After the elections in November, we could have a black progressive in Florida (and) a black progressive in Georgia. There’s a possibility of having a black United States Senator in Mississippi … that would be remarkable.”
Brzezinski said Friday’s program was a part of a larger conversation that the entire country needs to have about this election cycle.
“It’s fascinating to me — the impact that this president is having on America,” Brzezinski said. “It’s not just about left and right anymore. It’s about fact and fiction, and I personally think that the media needs to be out there, front-and-center, as best it can and in any way it can, sticking directly to the facts.”
