The decision to temporarily sideline the show and focus solely on hard news follows Saturday’s attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and criticism regarding the role news networks may play in fostering political division, according to CNN. Morning Joe is hosted by the outspoken anti-Trump duo Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. An unnamed source told CNN that MSNBC executives are striving to avoid a scenario in which one of the show’s "stable of two dozen-plus guests might make an inappropriate comment on live television" that could harm the network. “Given the gravity and complexity of this unfolding story, NBC News, NBC News NOW and MSNBC have remained in rolling breaking news coverage since Saturday evening,” a spokesperson for NBCUniversal News Group said in a statement to CNN. “As we continue to cover this story into the week, the networks will continue to cross simulcast, alternating between NBC News, NBC News NOW and ‘MSNBC Reports,’ so there is one news feed covering this developing situation.” Trump supporters have blamed the network for contributing to a charged atmosphere that led to the assassination attempt, citing the heated rhetoric that frequently appears on the show, CNN reported. Scarborough and Brzezinski have repeatedly drawn parallels between Trump and Adolf Hitler. In April 2018, a conversation on Morning Joe drew direct parallels to Trump and Hitler. “This is a diseased republic in which so many people agree on not speaking truth to power, in which so many people are so motivated by the protection of their careers, that they won’t do the thing that they promised themselves they would do when they were in high school and college reading about the rise of Hitler or reading about corrupt dictators in Africa and they said, ‘You know, if I’m even in a moment like that — you think to yourself in college — I’m going to be that guy who is brave.’” In September 2023, Scarborough said that “it’s not a reach” to liken Trump to Hitler. “This is not a reach, I can go back and talk about Nazi Germany and I do it without any concerns whatsoever,” Scarborough said. “And if people can’t start drawing the parallels, well, you’re just stupid or you have your head in the sand, or you’re one of them.” Last November, the Morning Joe hosts compared Trump’s Veterans Day speech to Hitler’s ideology. Scarborough said the speech was a “call for racial purity,” which he said is “absolutely fascinating since we are a nation of immigrants.” He added, “Now we’re going, just going full-on Hitler and talking about vermin.”MSNBC has pulled its political roundtable program Morning Joe for July 15 due to concerns that one of its hosts or guests may make inflammatory remarks that could damage the network’s brand.
