MSNBC staffers lash out at 'Morning Joe' co-hosts meeting with Trump: 'Disgusting but frankly unsurprising'

MSNBC staffers are lashing out at "Morning Joe" co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski after they shocked their liberal viewers by revealing their recent Mar-a-Lago meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. 

"Cowardice," one MSNBC employee reacted to Fox News Digital. "Doing exactly what [anti-Trump historian] Tim Snyder warns on our air not to do: obey in advance. It’s disgusting but frankly unsurprising."

The source said MSNBC's rank and file are now "largely disdainful" of the network's morning stars, saying it "feels like they are just opportunistic."

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Others have taken to social media to voice their objections. MSNBC contributor Jennifer Rubin called it "disgusting" on Bluesky, the X-like social media site growing in popularity with progressives. MSNBC host Katie Phang offered an indirect swipe, posting on X, "Normalizing Trump is a bad idea. Period."

"Katie Phang is right. It’s normalization (and it’s access bulls---)," the MSNBC employee told Fox News Digital. "Journalists don’t need access to their subjects to hold them to account. None of it is believable. The obvious answer is believable: they are opportunists."

The insider expressed concerns that MSNBC will face significant blowback as a result of the Mar-a-Lago, meeting with left-wing viewers already lashing out. Some already calling for a boycott of the network. 

"This feels serious," they said. "I can’t imagine [parent company] Comcast minds this development. But the MSNBC people do."  

MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Another network insider defended the meeting and its goals to Fox News Digital, saying they found the criticism "curious" given the hosts challenged Trump at the meeting on his rhetoric and positions.

"Not sure when going in to voice concerns about threats against journalists and politicians was a bad thing," they added.

Scarborough appeared to anticipate backlash to the meeting on Monday morning.

"We're not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump," he told viewers. "We're here to report on him and to hopefully provide you insights that are going to better equip all of us in understanding these deeply unsettling times."

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Scarborough and Brzezinski have emerged as two of Trump's fiercest critics ever since he took office, a complete reversal of the relationship they had with him during the GOP primary in 2016. 

Friday's meeting was the first time they had seen Trump in seven years, Brzezinski said, and Scarborough added that they didn't see "eye to eye on a lot of issues, and we told him so." Scarborough said they went over such topics as abortion, mass deportation, and threats of retribution against political opponents and media outlets. The meeting, according to the hosts, was about an agreement to "restart communications."

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"For those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back – why wouldn’t we?" Brzezinski said. "Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country. We have been as clear as we know how in expressing our deep concerns about President Trump’s actions and words in the coarsening of public debate. 

"But for nearly 80 million Americans, election denialism, public trials, January 6, were not as important as the issues that moved them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote. Joe and I realize it’s time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him."

Trump spoke with Fox News Digital on Monday about the "extremely cordial" meeting he had with the MSNBC hosts.

"I received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting for him and Mika, and I agreed that it would be a good thing if such a meeting took place," Trump said in an interview. "Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication … In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago.

"The meeting ended in a very positive manner, and we agreed to speak in the future," he added.

Fox News' David Rutz and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.