Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the United Nations, has called out MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for their recent face-to-face meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, accusing them of attempting to boost their ratings after years of harshly criticizing him.
The former governor of South Carolina and one-time Republican presidential candidate took to the social media platform X to slam the hosts, who revealed they had met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to “restart communications.”
“Let’s be clear, Joe and Mika didn’t suddenly see the light, they saw their ratings,” Haley wrote on X. “They realized they needed Trump for their survival,” she added.
Haley, who has been a vocal critic of Trump in the past, also remarked on the hosts during her SiriusXM show. “I mean, let’s be clear. They saw the ratings tank and they realized, ‘Oh, we better get on with Donald Trump or else we’re not going to have a show.’”
The former ambassador also took issue with Scarborough and Brzezinski’s past treatment of her, claiming they “tore me up” whenever she expressed support for Trump. “Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough tore me up when I said anything about voting for Donald Trump or what I agreed with him on, even though I criticized him when I thought he was wrong,” Haley said. “I praised him when I thought he was good. They tore me up.”
Haley’s comments followed widespread criticism of Scarborough and Brzezinski for their hypocrisy, given their previous strong condemnation of Trump, including calling him a “fascist” and comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
MSNBC employees also expressed outrage toward the hosts. An MSNBC staff member told Fox News Digital, “Cowardice. Doing exactly what [anti-Trump historian] Tim Snyder warns on our air not to do: obey in advance. It’s disgusting but frankly unsurprising.”
On Monday’s broadcast, Brzezinski and Scarborough opened the show by discussing their meeting with Trump, acknowledging the deep political divides in Washington and among the American public. Brzezinski explained that while they had long criticized Trump, it was now time for a new approach.
“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,” Brzezinski said.
“But for nearly 80 million Americans, election denialism, public trials, January 6th were not as important as the issues that moved them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote,” she continued.
“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,” Brzezinski added.