Morning Joe staff fires back at liberal critics of secret Mar-a-Lago trip as viewers call for a boycott of the show

Staffers for Morning Joe are insisting hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski's decision to meet with Donald Trump was the right one after liberals slammed the pair. 

The married cohosts of MSNBC's  'Morning Joe' said on Monday they traveled 'personally' to meet with Trump on Friday in order to 'restart communications and set a 'new approach' ahead of his second term.

After a series of condemnations from progressives and fans of the show, their production team is speaking out in defense of their bosses, with one profanely saying the meeting 'was f***ing worth it.'

'That doesn't mean there are going to be earth-shaking changes but the temperature has to come down,' an insider told The Daily Beast. 

One said that the meeting was directly responsible to a pleasant interview Trump gave about the meeting on Fox News later on Monday.  

They added that turning down a meeting with Trump 'would be journalistic malpractice.' 

Another claimed: 'Any practicing journalist or news host would take an off the record meeting with the incoming President of the United States. End of discussion.' 

Brzezinski herself defended the decision on the show: '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?'

She added: 'My father [diplomat Zbigniew Brzezinski] often spoke with world leaders with whom he and the United States profoundly disagreed...That's a task shared by reporters and commentators alike....

'Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him.' 

An MSNBC spokesperson declined to comment.   

Brzezinski said they decided to reach out to Trump for 'the opportunity to speak with the President-elect, himself' because their viewers and 'regular citizens' have expressed fear following Trump's election and his recent cabinet selections.

'On Friday, we were given the opportunity to do just that. Joe and I went to Mar-a-Lago to meet personally with President-elect Trump. It was the first time we have seen him in seven years,' Brzezinski said as she opened the show Monday.

Scarborough continued, saying the three 'talked about a lot of issues, including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets.'

Trump and the 'Morning Joe' stars have had a contentious relationship since the Republican entered politics - with Scarborough leaving the Republican party as a result.

Unsurprisingly, Scarborough shared that they and Trump 'didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues and we told him so.'

Brzezinski revealed the last time the hosts spoke to Trump was in March of 2020 - other than when Scarborough called him after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the summer.

Brzezinski shared that Trump was cheerful during their meeting and seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats. 

However, Scarborough concluded by telling viewers they will not stop their criticism of the president-elect.

'Don’t be mistaken, he said. 'We are not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump.

'We are 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.'

Trump used to be routine contributor to Morning Joe, and Scarborough was an early cheerleader for the billionaire's maverick bid for the GOP nomination in 2016.

But relations soured as Trump pulled off a surprise victory in the Republican primaries and began to look like a serious challenger to the Democrats' Hillary Clinton.

The four-hour morning show became a bastion of the Democratic establishment after Trump's first term, with President Joe Biden routinely tuning in while doing his morning exercises to see his acolytes promote the party's talking points. 

With Trump in the White House and Scarborough engaged to co-host Brzezinski he began cementing his show's identity as an outpost of opposition to the new administration.

The couple even recorded a Christmas album called 'A Very Drumpf Christmas' with children's songs portraying the president as Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

It eventually attracted the attention of the president himself, who delivered a series of withering put-downs, labeling Scarborough 'Psycho Joe' and his then-fiancée as 'low IQ Crazy Mika', while mischievously claiming she had been 'bleeding badly from a face-lift' during a visit to his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Brzezinski later confirmed she'd been recovering from cosmetic surgery during the trip. 

During the 2024 election cycle, Morning Joe quickly rallied behind Harris’ candidacy after she usurped Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee, but showed early signs of nervousness as the move failed to produce a significant poll lead. 

Morning Joe became the forum for DC's new Democrat establishment and the most-watched morning cable news program by 2023, boosted in part by its extensive coverage of Donald Trump's legal battles.

Following Trump's win earlier this month Scarborough has offered up various theories as to how the Republican could defeat Harris, including blaming 'racist Hispanics' and 'sexist black men.'

Morning Joe viewers were outraged by the news, condemning the hosts for their apparent hypocrisy. 

'I don't think you need to sit down for ninety minutes at Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring to be able to speak truth and be able to cover a story, so maybe they're not journalists in the true sense, maybe they are saying they are opinion journalists.' The View cohost Sunny Hostin noted on the show Monday. 

'Normalizing Trump is a bad idea. Period,' wrote MSNBC host Katie Phang on X.com apparently reacting to the news. 

Journalism professor Jeff Jarvis said the meeting was a 'betrayal of their colleagues, democracy, and us all. It is a disgusting show of obeisance in advance.'

'Making the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago is kissing the ring #MorningJoe, normalizing Trump, surrendering in advance regardless of how you try to justify it,' wrote X user 'Wendy Spirit' on social media

'I hate to break it to you, Joe and Mika: you compromise it all when you compromise yourself like this. Shameful stuff, you two,' wrote Ben Meiselas on the viral leftist politics MeidasTouch Substack. 'As for us, MeidasTouch will never bend the knee. We will never submit. We will never obey.'

'Definitely going to stop watching Morning Joe. I'm not going along wtyh normalizing racism and misogyny from a rapist,' wrote media publicist Raquel Perazzo on X.

'More than any other media hosts these two are responsible for the Dem party's disastrous obsession with Liz Cheney NeverTrumpers over the working class and the destruction of the class first Bernie movement,' wrote former MSNBC host and Breaking Points co-host Krystal Ball. 'Now that they've helped usher the fascists in they go and kiss the ring. Disgusting.'