In an implicit admission that hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are part of the problem bemoaned by President Biden in his Sunday evening call for civility from the Oval Office, MSNBC yanked "Morning Joe" from the air on Monday morning and instead ran breaking news coverage.
The network's decision, coming in the aftermath of an attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday evening during a rally in Pennsylvania, was made "to avoid a scenario in which one of the show's stable of two dozen-plus guests might make an inappropriate comment on live television that could be used to assail the program and network as a whole," according to a report from (equally problematic) CNN.
MSNBC has pulled 'Morning Joe' show off the air today after the Trump rally shooting. They're reportedly worried that the Morning Joe team may say something 'inappropriate' about the Trump assassination attempt, notes CNN. pic.twitter.com/fHG2PUaJE4
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) July 15, 2024
"Morning Joe" is said to return to the airwaves on Tuesday.
As CNN's report continued, MSNBC opting "to leave one of its most recognizable programs on the sidelines amid a seismic politics-driven news cycle, with the Republican National Convention getting underway in the wake of the Saturday shooting at Trump's campaign rally, is certain to raise eyebrows." Indeed.
Pulling Morning Joe off the air is an admission.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) July 15, 2024
WOW @NBCNews @MSNBC yanked Morning Joe off the air this morning over concerns its hosts would go off the rails - this may be the first sane programming decision made at MSNBC in Decades
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) July 15, 2024
Amazing admission by NBC here of how damaging to the country their flagship morning show is, and that they can’t trust them at all at a moment like this. https://t.co/gAFTeKCb7r
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 15, 2024
This is misleading. Morning Joe has been on-air for basically every big news event since its inception.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) July 15, 2024
This isn’t some routine case of preemption. It’s a calculated decision to keep the lunatics off the air given their direct hand in pushing the Trump is Hitler rhetoric. https://t.co/X4kgP5BU3K