The hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, made the surprising announcement earlier this week that they had met with President-Elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The hosts had once been close with Trump, including during his initial run for president, although they had fallen out during Trump’s first term and hadn’t met in person in several years.
It was clear all along that MSNBC’s viewing audience wasn’t thrilled about the move, with the show closing comments on its social media channels. CNN, meanwhile, reported that the hosts had taken the meeting because of fears of retribution by the new administration. The two were “credibly concerned that they could face governmental and legal harassment from the incoming Trump administration,” per CNN, and this led them to take a meeting with the man who, for a time in 2020, was pushing a baseless conspiracy theory that Scarborough had something to do with the death of a young female employee in his Congressional office, in 2001.
Now, word is the show has seen its ratings plunge, following the news of the Trump meeting.
According to a post by Mike Sington, a former NBC executive-turned-media analyst, the show “hemorrhaged viewers” for the couple of hours after the announcement of the meeting on Monday:
“Morning Joe” hemorrhaged viewers after hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announced at the top of the show their meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. (Mediaite/Nielsen) pic.twitter.com/QHdyYAWauu
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) November 19, 2024
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It has been reported since the election that ratings have dropped for both MSNBC and CNN in recent weeks, as Democratic-leaning viewers tune out of politics.
Many critics ripped Joe and Mika’s move to meet with Trump, including noting that Scarborough had called Trump a fascist in the past:
cc: @Morning_Joe @JoeNBC pic.twitter.com/Nww3NwyLBq
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) November 19, 2024
However, there are some reasons to believe the Morning Joe ratings struggle might not be permanent. In early 2021, especially after Donald Trump lost the election and some viewers were critical with the network for acknowledging that he had, Fox News suffered a ratings drop, as pro-Trump viewers flocked to Newsmax and other alternatives. However, the drop was temporary, and Fox News had returned to strong ratings by the end of that year.
Meanwhile, Comcast announced Wednesday that it plans to spin off its cable networks, which include MSNBC, indicating that the network could become severed from NBC News, and might even have to change its name.
Featured image via screengrab
