Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski tore into The Wall Street Journal report that President Joe Biden’s mental acuity appeared to be “slipping,” questioning how editors could have missed multiple Republicans saying otherwise.
The Journal’s article, published Tuesday, cited interviews with almost 50 Republicans and Democrats with either primary or secondary knowledge of the situation. The paper reported that multiple Democrats said Biden sometimes showed his age, but caveated that it was mostly Republicans who expressed concern with the president’s age.
Scarborough described his past interactions with Biden in recent years along with conversations he’s had with those who’ve personally dealt with the president, saying they’ve described him as resilient.
“I can tell you what the French delegation told me who were part of the negotiations, that Macron came out and said, ‘Wow, tougher than we expected. Biden was pressing so hard,’” Scarborough recalled. “I can tell you the same thing about Middle Eastern leaders that I talk to, and some are suggesting that he, you know, is a bit too tough in negotiations and United States throws their weight around a little bit too much.”
The MSNBC pair further took issue with the article’s sourcing, claiming it relied mostly on partisan Republicans like former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and associates of current House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“Why didn’t they just ask Marjorie Taylor Greene to weigh in?” Brzezinski scoffed. “And Lauren Boebert.”
Scarborough noted how a Politico report from last year noted how McCarthy privately praised Biden’s grip on complex issues even while publicly attacking him for his age. “It’s really shocking, especially when you see what Kevin McCarthy has said repeatedly, publicly and behind the scenes, about Biden on those same days when they were negotiating,” Scarborough said. The MSNBC host admonished the Journal for not including that context. (The article did note how McCarthy praised Biden and his team for their negotiating skills, and McCarthy told the paper of one moment he found Biden to be in command of an issue.)
“The fact that The Wall Street Journal knew these quotes were out there, that editors—I’m not looking at the reporter, and everybody flames the reporter, there are a line of editors behind every story,” Scarborough said. “The editors saw that Kevin McCarthy had a habit of saying one thing in public, lying in public, and then privately telling his aides just the opposite.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” he later added. “I really don’t even know what to say here.”
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