MSNBC Host Praises Steve ‘Dark Doocy’ on Trump Coverage: ‘The Man Has Suddenly Started to Talk Like An Actual Journalist’

MSNBC’s John Heilemann had some effusive words of praise for Fox News’ Steve Doocy, calling him “my new favorite newsman” for his coverage of the search at Mar-a-Lago and even referring to the Fox and Friends host as “Dark Doocy.”

Heilemann, guest hosting for Nicolle Wallace, discussed the “quite incendiary” response from ex-President Donald Trump and his GOP allies attacking the DOJ and FBI with his panel, saying it wasn’t just Trump’s inner circle but the “whole Republican party has adopted a very aggressive stance.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been one of the most extreme Republican elected officials in his rhetoric, said Heilemann, suggesting that the FBI could have planted evidence during the search and is now “really banging on the DOJ.”

Heilemann cued up a clip of Paul being interviewed on Thursday morning’s episode Fox and Friends by Doocy, calling him as “my new favorite newsman.”

“This man has suddenly become Dark Doocy,” said Heilemann, referring

to the “Dark Brandon” memes that Democrats circulated after several legislative wins by President Joe Biden.

“The man has suddenly started to talk like an actual journalist,” said Heilemann before playing the video of Doocy pushing back on Paul’s criticisms, pointing out that the angry rhetoric could lead to actual violence.

The Thursday segment was just the latest in a string of on-air moments in which Doocy opposed the GOP rhetoric regarding the search at Mar-a-Lago. He reminded network guest, Joe Concha, that Trump was the one who appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray, grilled Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) (“Whatever happened to the Republican Party backing The Blue?”), shut down Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) attempts to attack the FBI as “un-American,” openly called for Trump to “end the violent rhetoric,” and called out Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) recent defense of Trump.

“If you told me two weeks ago that I would be guest hosting this show and I’d be playing Steve Doocy almost every day as one of the few Republicans speaking for what used to be the way Republicans always talked and is basically common sense, I would have bet you every dollar in Neal Katyal’s bank account that that would never have happened, but there it is,” Heilemann declared, jokingly offering the financial assets of one of his panelists.

The

guest host then asked New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker why Doocy was “in such a minority in understanding the way the Republicans have politicized this,” including the danger to federal law enforcement. “This seems like a political trap they’ve set for themselves.”

“Yeah, it’s hardly a liberal point of view to say to a sitting senator that this is dangerous for the FBI and that this kind of rhetoric has undermined the credibility of law enforcement,” Baker replied, adding that it didn’t mean that the FBI should be “immune from criticism,” but there was a difference between legitimate criticism and rhetoric that suggests “extreme answers” like the Cincinnati man who was killed when he attempted to attack an FBI office.

“My guess is, I don’t know this, but my guess is that Steve Doocy knows people in the law enforcement space,” Baker theorized, “people who are probably very conservative, by the way, who find this to be very troubling, to find it perplexing to see Republicans of all people attacking the credibility of law enforcement when they’ve made great political points are being for ‘Back the Blue’ and for law enforcement.”

What was happening, Baker continued, was “beyond” mere criticism. “They didn’t wait to see the affidavit. They didn’t wait to see any

information before immediately talking about defunding the FBI, before attacking them as some sort of seditious organization and fascist and all these things, and it didn’t matter whether it was evidence or not, and it was a knee-jerk — to use your phrase — response to the fact that their hero, former President Trump, was under scrutiny.”

Watch the video above via MSNBC.