MSNBC host Rachel Maddow criticized her own network for airing former President Donald Trump's victory speech on Super Tuesday, calling the decision "irresponsible."
Maddow said the decision to broadcast Trump is one that "we revisit constantly in terms of the balance between allowing somebody to knowingly lie on your air about things they’ve lied about before and you can predict they are going to lie about."
"And so, therefore," she continued, "it is irresponsible to allow them to do that. It’s a balance between knowing that that’s irresponsible to broadcast and also knowing that as the de facto — soon to be de facto nominee of the Republican Party — this is not only the man who is likely to be the Republican candidate for president, but this is the way he’s running."
"Well, here’s how we balance it," responded co-host Stephanie Ruhle. "Why don’t we fact-check the hell out of him?
"Yes, and we do that after the fact and that is the best remedy that we’ve got," Maddow claimed. "It does not fix the fact that we broadcast it, honestly."
As noted by Mediaite, Maddow has previously explained why she is not a proponent of broadcasting the former president's live speeches.
“We don’t consider that necessarily newsworthy and there’s a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things,” she said last year.
In January, after Trump won the Iowa caucuses, Maddow cut away from the coverage.
“The projected winner of the Iowa caucuses has just started giving his victory speech,” she said. “We will keep an eye on that as it happens, we will let you know if there’s any news made in that speech, anything noteworthy, anything substantive and important. The reason I’m saying this is, there’s a reason we and other news organizations have stopped giving an unfiltered live platform to former President Trump.”
“It is not out of spite,” Maddow continued. “It is not a decision that we relish, it is a decision that we regularly revisit, and honestly, earnestly, it is not an easy decision. But there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things. His remarks will not air live here."
“His remarks will not air here live.” MSNBC refuses to air Trump’s Iowa victory speech because he lies too much. (Video: MSNBC) pic.twitter.com/it9M814jHK
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) January 16, 2024
MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough condemned Trump for arguing in his speech that the United States was, "in some ways," akin to a "third-world country" at its borders.
“To me, the most offensive is that we’re a third-world country, that our economy sucks, that our military sucks, that our democracy sucks, when in fact just the opposite is true,” Scarborough said. “We are the greatest in the world. I’m proud to be an American. This is the greatest country in the world, and yet Donald Trump wins votes.”
Speaking directly to MAGA supporters, Scarborough asked, “What is wrong with you people? Why do you hate America? Why do you vote for a guy that says America is terrible? That it is a third-world country when all the evidence is to the contrary.”
“This is why they lose every year because they run campaigns dedicated to trashing the greatest country on the face of the earth," the MSNBC host added.
