"Bend the Knee; Kiss the Ring" — Internet reacts to Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski meeting Trump in Mar-a-Lago

Joe Scarborough and Mike Brzezinski, the hosts of the Morning Joe chat show, met President-elect Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago on Monday, November 15, 2024. The hosts said that they got in touch with the President-elect a day before they met him at his Florida estate.

During the show, Brzezinski said that it was the first time they had seen him in seven years. She said that the President-elect was quite cheerful and upbeat even when they spoke about issues where they had different perspectives.

According to Mika, the primary purpose of this meeting was to open new channels of communication, even though she and Joe had critiqued Trump on several occasions. The meeting garnered attention from netizens who took to X to express their take.

Many netizens seemingly called out the journalist couple for going to the President-elect's estate to interview. Others said that "desperate ratings" called for "desperate measures." Some seemingly questioned if Joe and Mika's comparison of Trump with Hitler was "bullsh*t."

"It’s great isn’t it. Bend the knee, kiss the ring."

"Desperate ratings call for desperate measures, eh?" another netizen wrote.

"In other words, Joe and Mika went to see the king at his castle, and they bent the knee," added a tweet.

"Soooooooooooooooooooo the Hitler thing was bullsh*t," wondered a user.

Many netizens wondered how the President-elect agreed to get into a conversation with the MSNBC hosts. Some said that it was "weird" for him to have communication with Joe and Mika as others expressed surprise that he "let them on his property."

"I’m surprised he let them on his property lmao," a netizen wrote.

"This is weird. Why should there be communications with Joe/Mika?" questioned another one.

"Ratings concerns are real," declared a netizen.

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The Morning Joe co-hosts criticized by MSNBC employees after meeting Donald Trump

Netizens weren't the only ones mocking hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for setting up a meeting with the President-elect. Many staffers from MSNBC also critiqued them for the interview, according to FOX News.

One MSNBC employee reportedly spoke to FOX News Digital and said that it was "disgusting but frankly unsurprising" and opportunistic.

"Cowardice. Doing exactly what [anti-Trump historian] Tim Snyder warns on our air not to do: obey in advance," the employee reportedly said.

Another reported insider explained that the journalists had just gone in to voice their concerns. The insider seemingly disagreed with the first person.

"Not sure when going in to voice concerns about threats against journalists and politicians was a bad thing," they said.

Sunny Hostin, the co-host of The View said on Monday that every country deserves a free press, which would place the truth in front of them. Hostin added that she thought that it wasn't necessary to go all the way to Mar-a-Lago to "kiss a ring."

Joe Scarborough tried clarifying that they weren't trying to "normalize" Trump and just wanted to "provide insights."

The President-elect also spoke to FOX News Digital and confirmed that he appreciated the meeting and that the hosts wanted "open communication." He added that it would have been better had it been done even earlier.