I was invited onto MSNBC’s Morning Joe to talk from a studio in Washington, D.C., about an article I’d written on Trump’s approach to foreign policy. Before getting to the article, I was asked about the nomination of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense—specifically about an NBC News report that his heavy drinking worried colleagues at Fox News and at the veterans organizations he’d headed. (A spokesman for the Trump transition told NBC, “These disgusting allegations are completely unfounded and false, and anyone peddling these defamatory lies to score political cheap shots is sickening.”)
I answered by reminding viewers of some history:
>In 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated John Tower, senator from Texas, for secretary of defense. Tower was a very considerable person, a real defense intellectual, someone who deeply understood defense, unlike the current nominee. It emerged that Tower had a drinking problem, and when he was drinking too much he would make himself a nuisance or worse to women around him. And for that reason, his nomination collapsed in 1989. You don’t want to think that our moral standards have declined so much that you can say: Let’s take all the drinking, all the sex-pesting, subtract any knowledge of defense, subtract any leadership, and there is your next secretary of defense for the 21st century.
I told this story in pungent terms. It’s cable TV, after all. And I introduced the discussion with a joke: “If you’re too drunk for Fox News, you’re very, very drunk indeed.”
Pretty_Good_At_IRL on
I think this is much more about fear of a slander lawsuit than fear of Trump
LivefromPhoenix on
I’ve always found both hosts a little insufferable but this is almost beyond the pale. You’d think Trump had snipers trained on the studio the way they’re acting. I’d have more respect for them if they just came out and said they’re only saying this stuff because they’re afraid of Trump’s retaliation.
This insulting “we need to reach across the aisle and give Trump a chance” bullshit after they spent the last 4 years correctly diagnosing him as the biggest threat to American democracy in generations is just pathetic. I don’t think even they’re out of touch enough to *actually* believe they can attract MAGAs to their show with their recent incredibly transparent pivot.
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This morning, I had an unsettling experience.
I was invited onto MSNBC’s Morning Joe to talk from a studio in Washington, D.C., about an article I’d written on Trump’s approach to foreign policy. Before getting to the article, I was asked about the nomination of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense—specifically about an NBC News report that his heavy drinking worried colleagues at Fox News and at the veterans organizations he’d headed. (A spokesman for the Trump transition told NBC, “These disgusting allegations are completely unfounded and false, and anyone peddling these defamatory lies to score political cheap shots is sickening.”)
I answered by reminding viewers of some history:
>In 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated John Tower, senator from Texas, for secretary of defense. Tower was a very considerable person, a real defense intellectual, someone who deeply understood defense, unlike the current nominee. It emerged that Tower had a drinking problem, and when he was drinking too much he would make himself a nuisance or worse to women around him. And for that reason, his nomination collapsed in 1989. You don’t want to think that our moral standards have declined so much that you can say: Let’s take all the drinking, all the sex-pesting, subtract any knowledge of defense, subtract any leadership, and there is your next secretary of defense for the 21st century.
I told this story in pungent terms. It’s cable TV, after all. And I introduced the discussion with a joke: “If you’re too drunk for Fox News, you’re very, very drunk indeed.”
I think this is much more about fear of a slander lawsuit than fear of Trump
I’ve always found both hosts a little insufferable but this is almost beyond the pale. You’d think Trump had snipers trained on the studio the way they’re acting. I’d have more respect for them if they just came out and said they’re only saying this stuff because they’re afraid of Trump’s retaliation.
This insulting “we need to reach across the aisle and give Trump a chance” bullshit after they spent the last 4 years correctly diagnosing him as the biggest threat to American democracy in generations is just pathetic. I don’t think even they’re out of touch enough to *actually* believe they can attract MAGAs to their show with their recent incredibly transparent pivot.
Double standard strikes again