President-elect Donald J. Trump emphasized the importance of an open media to “Make America Great Again” during an interview on Monday. “In order to Make America Great Again, it is very important, if not vital, to have a free, fair and open media or press,” he said.
The America First leader revealed he met with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and his wife Mika Brzezinski—at their request—because he believes he has “an obligation to the American public, and to our country itself, to be open and available to the press,” but warned: “If not treated fairly, however, that will end.”
Scarborough and Brzezinski, for their part, said, “Trump was cheerful, he was upbeat, he seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats on some of the most divisive issues.” Brzezinski defended their decision to meet with the President-elect, whom they had not seen in seven years, on the grounds that “years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country… Joe and I realized it is time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump but also talking with him.”
Many on the left disagreed with the decision, however, stressing their past insinuations that Trump would usher in fascism. Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann went so far as to describe Scarborough as a “political whore.”
Perhaps disappointing supporters who hoped he would take a firmer line against figures in the media and elsewhere who have persecuted him and his followers, the President-elect insisted he was “not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension.”
“I am always looking to give a second and even third chance,” he said—while insisting he draws the line at a fourth chance.
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