MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski appeared unaware of contradictions in their coverage of former President Joe Biden during a recent “Morning Joe” segment. The segment featured authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes promoting their new book, “FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House.”
The segment on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, highlighted a disconnect between the hosts’ previous strong defense of Biden’s capabilities and revelations that many Democrats, including party leaders, had privately expressed concerns about Biden’s fitness for office long before his poor debate performance this summer.
“People thought this was a five-alarm fire,” said Jonathan Allen during the segment. “For some of the leadership of the Democratic Party, the debate was an opportunity to try to move Joe Biden out, which they’d wanted to do.”
An excerpt from the book states that although Democrats publicly dismissed Republican claims that Biden was unfit for the role, they were privately concerned about relying too heavily on an aging leader who had clearly lost some sharpness. Additionally, Allen disclosed in a tweet linking to the book’s Amazon page that in secret discussions during 2023, DNC officials considered scenarios in which Biden might die or withdraw before Election Day.
The segment becomes noteworthy when contrasted with Scarborough and Brzezinski’s previous on-air coverage of Biden. In May 2023, Scarborough praised Biden’s intellectual stamina, stating on a podcast that the former president would call him late at night to provide detailed critiques of Scarborough’s opinion pieces.
Scarborough said that Biden would sometimes call him at around 8:30 p.m., when he and Mika were usually already asleep due to their early-morning schedule. He’d answer the phone half-awake, and Biden would launch into a sharp, detailed critique of his latest op-ed. The former president would then spend nearly an hour reviewing it line by line, pointing out everything he thought was wrong, with the kind of intensity and precision that made it clear he wasn’t just skimming—he had really read it.
In February 2024, when Special Counsel Robert Hur described Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” who could not recall what years he served as vice president, Scarborough defended Biden forcefully, characterizing Hur as a partisan Trump supporter who had published a “bad-faith” report.
The following month, Scarborough pointed to Biden’s daily exercise routine and urged viewers to note how physically fit and trim he appeared.
Brzezinski also stood by Biden, referencing her mother’s ability to operate a chainsaw well into her 80s as an example of age not necessarily being a limitation—using it to argue in favor of a second term for Biden.
Even after the debate, Biden faced widespread criticism, and Brzezinski did not waver in her support. The morning after, she pushed back against the rush to replace him, saying the immediate calls to pull the plug and find a new candidate were premature. While she acknowledged the debate did not go well, she called for a more balanced and less reactionary response from the media, which she described as overly shrill and imbalanced.
The debate itself sparked tension on the “”Morning Joe” set. During one exchange following the debate, Scarborough argued that Donald Trump would win the election “unless there’s a change.” At the same time, contributor Mike Barnicle said Biden “let every fastball fly by him” and was not up for the debate. Brzezinski interjected, telling everyone to “calm down” and criticizing what she viewed as an overly harsh media reaction. The heated exchange was reportedly edited out of the show’s rebroadcast.
The following Monday after the debate, Brzezinski opened the show with what critics described as a 15-minute de facto Biden campaign advertisement, calling him “the man for this moment” and asserting that “so many draw hope from his empathy and his ability to have perspective, even right now, and to persevere when he is completely counted out.”
Media ethics expert Dr. Dan Axelrod has criticized the “”Morning Joe” hosts, saying Scarborough “sounded more like a publicist than a journalist” when defending Biden’s intellectual fitness. Axelrod argued that the hosts have blurred the lines between journalism and public relations due to their close ties to the Biden administration, including Brzezinski’s brother serving as Biden’s ambassador to Poland.
In June 2024, Scarborough expressed frustration about Biden being “kept in a bubble” by those around him, indicating “widespread anger” within the Democratic Party about Biden’s performance and electability. During this segment, Brzezinski suggested Biden might not be the Democratic nominee in the 2024 election, citing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s political acumen as an indicator that the party could consider alternatives.
The apparent contradiction between the hosts’ previous strong defense of Biden and their current matter-of-fact discussions about the campaign’s challenges has drawn attention from media critics who question the consistency and objectivity of their coverage throughout Biden’s presidency and campaign.
