‘Morning Joe’ co-host opens MSNBC show with 15-minute monologue defending Joe Biden after debate ‘disaster’
The co-host of MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ began Monday with a 15-minute monologue to defend President Joe Biden’s White House bid — despite admitting his debate performance last week was an “unmitigated disaster.”
‘Morning Joe’ co-host Mika Brzezinksi acknowledged the poor debate performance, in which Biden’s voice was hoarse and he appeared to freeze at times while struggling to gather his thoughts and articulate his answers during the CNN debate.
“It was bad…[Biden] couldn’t seem to land a thought. It was an unmitigated disaster by any measure.”
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MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzesinki defended President Joe Biden after his “disaster” debate.
President Joe Biden appeared to freeze at times during Thursday night’s debate. Getty Images
Nevertheless, she countered what she called the “global call” for Biden to drop out and make way for a new party candidate.
The left-leaning political commentator – and Biden family friend who said she has closely known the president and his family for decades – framed the sitting president as a lifetime underdog who will once again rise from the ashes come November.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden speaking to MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinksi and Joe Scarborough. NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Ge
She praised Biden for the “vintage sparkle” in his eyes and “winning smile” at a North Carolina rally the day after the debate.
“I still believe in Joe Biden,” Brzesinksi said. “I’ve learned that counting him out is always a mistake and doing that now could be catastrophic for our country.”
She questioned Biden’s schedule prior to the debate – back-to-back trips to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, then to Italy for the G7 Climate Summit, then to Los Angeles before heading back to the East Coast – and called for better “management” among his aides.
“It makes me angry that he was moving across the world on four different time zones,” Brzesinksi said. “It seems to me this is a lack of discipline.”
She acknowledged the “sneering, mocking, jeering” headlines published across the country, pointing to multiple outlets who have published editorials calling on the president to step out of the race.
The New York Post cover for Friday, June 28, 2024.
The New York Times published an editorial Friday calling on Biden to leave the race to best serve his country.
The newspaper’s editorial board said while Biden “has been an admirable president,” American voters “cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago.”
The New York Times board said it will still endorse Biden if he stays in the race because of the “danger” former president Donald Trump presents.
But the Times continued: “There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr. Trump’s deficiencies and those of Mr. Biden. It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution echoed these sentiments, publishing an editorial Saturday calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race “for the good of the nation he has served so admirably for half a century.”
But Brzesinksi said Biden has been “counted out” many times throughout his life before bouncing back, from his two unsuccessful presidential campaigns to challenges in his personal life.
She recounted the history of Biden’s tragedies – from the death of his first wife and infant daughter in a 1972 car crash just after he was elected the junior senator from Delaware to suffering two brain aneurysms himself in the late 1980s to his son Beau Biden’s death in 2015 after succumbing to brain cancer.
First Lady Jill Biden with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski at a Forbes event in 2021. Getty Images
The MSNBC host defended Biden’s age as well, and the actions he has taken while in the White House.
“Age is wisdom and experience that in the case of Joe Biden leads to more bipartisan legislation passed than any president over the past few generations and the largest expansion of NATO’s alliance in history,” she said.
The co-host claimed that America is “stronger economically and militarily” under Biden than “any time in half a century.”
She said the sitting president “negotiated the toughest, most conservative border control bill in decades, only to see it get torpedoed by Donald Trump.”
Brzesinksi slammed Trump’s bid for presidency, saying the choice between Biden and Trump is “one terribly bad night versus a decade of destruction to our core beliefs, our democratic values and yes, our constitution.”
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on stage at Thursday night’s debate. AFP via Getty Images
She framed Biden and Trump as “a man slowed down by a cold versus a man with a cold, vile and merciless heart.”
And she questioned the lack of editorials calling on Trump to bow out of the race, citing just one from The Philadelphia Enquirer which said “the only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump.”