The Sad Trombone Plays for 'Morning Joe' Co-Hosts Joe and Mika As Things Go From Bad to Worse

If "Morning Joe" co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski thought their Monday revelation that they visited Mar-a-Lago a week ago for a meeting with President-Elect Donald Trump was going to win them plaudits and backpats, they were sadly mistaken.

As we reported, the couple shared that they "were given the opportunity" to meet with Trump, who they have been publicly feuding with since mid-2016, after expressing "concerns" last Thursday about some of his cabinet picks and saying they would "appreciate the opportunity" to talk to him.

Per Brzezinski, one thing they all allegedly agreed on was to "restart communications." Though all parties involved seemed okay with how the discussion went down, chronic Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers had trouble coping with the news.

The TDS contingent is so unhappy, in fact, that comments to their Twitter/X accounts reportedly had to be shut down for a time because there was so much backlash. Even worse for them, they've lost the respect and support of many MSNBC staffers. Perhaps worst of all for them was that their ratings - which already weren't good - cratered in the days following their announcement about meeting with Trump:

On Wednesday, MSNBC’s morning mainstay lured an average of 647,000 viewers overall, and just 51,000 viewers between 25 and 54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers in news programming. On Monday, the four-hour program reached 770,000 overall and 86,000 viewers in the demo, meaning Wednesday’s overall audience fell by 15% and its viewership among people between 25 and 54 tumbled nearly 41%.
The figures mark the second consecutive decline in viewership since co-anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski told viewers Monday that they had gone to visit the former and soon-to-be next U.S. President at his home in Florida in a bid to reach a sort of detente after years of criticizing him on the program. On Tuesday, the four-hour broadcast of the show captured 680,000 total viewers, and 86,000 viewers among adults between 25 and 54, both representing a decline of 12% from Monday’s program.

Both Mika and Joe have been subjected to some intense and well-deserved mockery from the right in the aftermath of the news, with CNN conservative political strategist Scott Jennings for instance rolling his eyes at media apologist Brian Stelter and nuking Stelter's claim they met with Trump over fear of "retribution."

Independent journalist/podcaster Megyn Kelly also poked fun at the duncetastic duo, with Kelly recreating a racy Vanity Fair photoshoot Brzezinski did in 2012 where she was perched back on a table with a leg in the air while looking at Scarborough.

Megyn Kelly mocking Mika is pretty humorous. pic.twitter.com/sW14xMbTIG
— Big Fish (@BigFish3000) November 22, 2024

The fallout from Joe and Mika once again bending the knee to Trump comes as MSNBC is in the midst of a ratings freefall and major upheaval after "Comcast confirmed a massive spinoff of its cable properties — with a top executive even suggesting the left-leaning network may be forced to change its name." Top MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is even having to take a pay cut, and staffers at the struggling network are worried cuts (and possibly layoffs) are coming for them, too.

In any event, beyond the sad trombone, the world's smallest violin is playing for Joe and Mika at this difficult time. No, really, it is: