It is fair to say that Joe Scarborough was less than impressed by the moderation efforts of Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum during Wednesday’s Fox News Town Hall with former President Donald Trump.
Thursday’s Morning Joe opened with a spirited discussion about Trump taking credit for effectively killing the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. After a questioner asked if Trump could reassure that he would “protect all life, every person’s right to life, without compromise,” Trump replied, “For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it. And I’m proud to have done it.”
While the intent of the segment appeared to be hanging a lantern on Trump’s controversial and unpopular stance on reproductive rights, Scarborough seemed more focused on Fox News and how the Town Hall appeared to be a “paid advertisement” on behalf of the Trump campaign. The insults came swift and cut deep.
“I would call it softball — a softball event,” Scarborough opened. “I’ve never seen one as fawning. I’m not even sure why they had two hosts there. You know, they could have just had one and just sit there and say, ‘Smile and say, you’re great.'”
“It’s not like he was backed into the corner —he admitted that he was the one who terminated Roe v Wade,
“It was just an embarrassment. Like, Fox News ‘Ooh, we’re going to be for DeSantis’…Even DesSantis’s people were like, ‘Seriously, this is a paid advertisement for Donald Trump,’ which it was.”
“I’ve never seen a paid advertisement on Fox News like, or anywhere else.,” he concluded before referencing a deep Fox News cut circa 2010. “This was like a Glenn Beck survival scene, back when he had a show there. It was like an advertisement for Donald Trump. And even in that setting, he did this.”
As an example of Scarborough’s criticism, Trump said that Democrats “will kill a baby” and later, “They are the radicals because they are willing to kill the baby in eight months, nine months, or even after birth.”
No one is for killing a baby “after birth,” which Trump is lying about, but to Scarborough’s point, neither Baier nor MacCallum corrected the former president on that dangerous lie.
Scarborough is, of course, a cable news competitor, and so his criticism should be viewed in that light. Baier did press Trump on
Watch above via MSNBC.