Mika Brzezinski is an unabashed liberal, someone who pushed Elizabeth Warren to run for president and subsequently became a Bernie Sanders fan. But she has also proved herself willing to criticize her own, be they politicians or, as this morning, fellow members of the MSM.

On today’s Morning Joe, Brzezinski first criticized CNN’s Jim Acosta for his pro-John Lewis speech in the guise of a question to MLK III after his meeting with Donald Trump. A bit later, she expanded on the point in a very pointed way: “we [in the MSM] decipher Democrats and make them sound great. And we make Republicans sound like complete—the word we won’t use.”

It was CNN’s fawning pro-John Lewis speech in the guise of a question to MLK III that sparked the conversation. The entire Morning Joe panel ripped Acosta, with Mika calling his stunt “troubling.”

A bit later, Brzezinski circled back to expand on her point, discussing the proclivity of the MSM to interpret and “decipher” controversial remarks made by Democrats in a way that is flattering to them. In contrast, the media will “cherry-pick” statements made by Trump and other Republicans to paint them in the worst light.

Note: Joe Scarborough ripped the MSM for burying the fact that John Lewis wasn’t telling the truth in his Meet the Press interview when he said that this will be the first inauguration he will not attend. In fact, Lewis also skipped W’s inauguration in 2001 for a very similar reason. In the wake of the Florida recount, Lewis claimed that W was not the true elected president.

JIM ACOSTA: Isn’t there something that just cuts to your core when you hear the President-elect refer to John Lewis as all talk and no action? I mean, nothing can be further from the truth, isn’t that right? John Lewis is not all talk and no action. MARTIN LUTHER KING III: Absolutely I would say John Lewis has demonstrated that he’s action. As I said, things get said on both sides in the heat of emotion. And at some point this nation, we’ve got to move forward. We can’t stay — people are literally probably dying. We need to be talking about how do we feed people, how do we clothe people, how do we create the best education system? That’s what we need to be focused on. JOE SCARBOROUGH: That was a great answer coming off of a speech. I don’t know if the reporter was actually given a platform or not, a microphone. You all were both asking the same question about that question. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I’m not, I’m just going to say it — KATTY KAY: I think you just ask the question straight, right? RICK TYLER: Leading the witness. JOE: Right. I was going to say the lawyer — excuse me, counselor, you’re leading your questions, repeatedly. MIKA: Because then you could argue — oh my God. KAY: We need a lawyer here. JOE: Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. MIKA: I think we’re just going to stay away from this. But that’s, that’s troubling. . . . MIKA: We have to wrap it up. Because I wanted to say something. JOE: Well say something, Mika. MIKA: I’ve been trying. I wanted to flush it out with Yamiche [Alcindor of the NYT.] She was explaining John Lewis, I think. I think that she was explaining that he’s so frustrated about voting rights and other issues that this was his way of expression, and she had to go. Why is it that we can explain any Democrat and explain a statement that’s maybe untrue or inappropriate and explain it away and finally understand and translate for them, and yet we cherry pick Trump’s statements? That’s what I want to know. And I’m not even — I’m not a Trump supporter, so it’s not like — I just see a real difference here. It seems to me that we are the ones who need to reset as well. And we need to look at both sides carefully. And you don’t ask leading questions about John Lewis and make a speech defending John Lewis when you’re asking a question, too. It is all over the place. Read the papers. We decipher Democrats and make them sound great and we make Republicans sound like complete — the word we won’t use. The word that Trump shouldn’t use and you brought up nobody should use. It’s unbelievable.



