Quick Hit:

In an odd twist, MSNBC's "Morning Joe" claims the mainstream media leans in favor of Donald Trump, citing its commitment to "objectivity" as the problem.

Key Details:

• Joe Scarborough argued that the media’s efforts at objectivity unfairly benefit Trump.

• Scarborough’s show, "Morning Joe," has repeatedly compared Trump to Adolf Hitler over the years.

• Studies show 89% of Trump coverage by major networks is negative, while 84% of Kamala Harris coverage is positive.

Diving Deeper:

MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" made waves this week by accusing the mainstream media of having a pro-Trump bias. The claim, as Bobby Burack wrote in his op-ed for OutKick, is "so patently absurd" that it seems only a select few TV shows would promote it. Burack lists shows like The View, ReidOut, and The Dan Le Batard Show as examples—now adding Morning Joe to the mix.

Host Joe Scarborough argued that the American media is "so concerned with being objective" that its 2024 election coverage actually favors Trump. "For some reason, the mainstream media, nine years into Donald Trump's era in politics, still doesn't know how to cover Donald Trump," Scarborough claimed, adding that they are "still engaging even at this late hour in moral relativism."

Burack points out the irony, noting that Scarborough’s own show has been a relentless critic of Trump, often painting the former president in the most extreme terms. "Comparisons between Trump and Adolf Hitler had become a regular theme on 'Morning Joe,'" Burack observed. He also noted that the show was canceled for a day in July, reportedly over fears that someone might say something "irresponsible" after an assassination attempt.

According to the OutKick piece, Morning Joe has likened Trump to a dictator or a "threat to Democracy" at least 14 times in the past two years, based on a review by the Media Research Center.

While Scarborough might complain that the media doesn’t go far enough in criticizing Trump, Burack points out that the broader media landscape is still heavily skewed against him. A study from NewsBusters found that 89% of coverage of Trump from ABC, CBS, and NBC was negative, while 84% of Kamala Harris coverage was positive. "The legacy media is in the bag for Kamala. That's not a dispute," Burack concludes, adding that Scarborough simply wishes it were "in the bag further."