President-elect Trump extends olive branch to mainstream media ahead of second term

President-elect Donald Trump extended an olive branch to the historically hostile mainstream media ahead of his second term in the White House after meeting with MSNBC hosts last week.

In a bid to reach across the aisle, Trump met with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Friday after the couple said on their TV show Thursday that they were concerned about the president-elect’s Cabinet picks and would like to discuss them with him. Trump extended an invitation to other media outlets to meet with him, including those hostile to him.

In a Monday interview with Fox News, Trump explained that the media has a vital role to play in the U.S.

"In order to Make America Great Again, it is very important, if not vital, to have a free, fair and open media or press," Trump said.

He added that he "received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting for him and Mika, and I agreed that it would be a good thing if such meeting took place. We met at Mar-a-Lago on Friday morning at 8:00." Trump called the meeting "extremely cordial," adding that "[m]any things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication. In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago."

Trump noted that they "congratulated me on running a ‘great and flawless campaign, one for the history books,’ which I really believe it was, but it was also a campaign where I worked long and hard — perhaps longer and harder than any presidential candidate in history."

"We talked about various Cabinet members — both announced and to be announced,” he said. “As expected, they like some very much, but not all. The meeting ended in a very positive manner, and we agreed to speak in the future."

Trump added, "I expect this will take place with others in the media, even those that have been extremely hostile."

Brzezinski explained on Monday that she and Scarborough met with Trump over their concerns regarding his Cabinet nominees. “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.

Scarborough said that they discussed several issues with Trump, such as “abortion, mass deportation, threats of retribution against political opponents, and media outlets.”

Restart Communications

He added that they "didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues, and we told him so." Brzezinski said that they agreed to "restart communications" after they hadn’t talked with the former president since March 2020, besides Scarborough calling Trump the day after he was shot during the Butler, Pa., rally in July.

She added that during their meeting, “Trump was cheerful, he was upbeat, he seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats on some of the most divisive issues.”

"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?’" Brzezinski said. "Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country. We have been as clear as we know how in expressing our deep concerns about President Trump’s actions and words in the coarsening of public debate.

"But for nearly 80 million Americans, election denialism, public trials, January 6th were not as important as the issues that moved them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote. Joe and I realize it’s time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him."

Media Research Center’s NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck told Just the News on Monday that the MSNBC co-hosts needed the meeting with Trump more than he needed it.

“Joe and Mika are, quite simply, like rats trying to slink back to the ship seeing as how the one they've been at the helm of -- think of it as the U.S.S. Resistance -- is sinking,” Houck said. “Perhaps the best part here is President Trump comes off as magnanimous (especially because cameras weren't there) with Joe and Mika expressing gratitude their old friend was willing to meet with them.

“They can try and pitch it as they went so they could educate or yell at him as royalty among the anti-Trump left, but anyone who's familiar with their long odyssey of a relationship knows it was because they need him more than he needs them.”

Since Trump’s victory on Election Day, MSNBC has seen a significant drop in viewership. In the three days after the election, MSNBC’s average audience was 736,000, after averaging 1.1 million viewers during the month of October.

Trump, however, said on Monday that he believes he has "an obligation to the American public, and to our country itself, to be open and available to the press."

"If not treated fairly, however, that will end," Trump said. "The media is very important to the long-term success of the United States of America." 

"We’re off to a good start, and I will be open and free as to further developments as they take place, that includes media relationships," he added. Trump noted that he "obviously" has "the upper hand at this moment." 

"And while many others are calling for meetings, I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension," he said. "I am always looking to give a second and even third chance, but never willing to give a fourth chance — that is where I hold the line."

Houck said that Trump does not need the mainstream media.

“As far as President Trump's media strategy for a second term, he doesn't owe anyone anything. The liberal media remained solvent for four years thanks to their endless and exhaustive coverage of his every move, often at the expense of countless other stories affecting the country and wider world,” Houck said.

“His campaign showed the necessity of meeting people where they are, so I don't see any reason why that wouldn't continue except to show the American people what he will have done in office as opposed to discussing his first term or making campaign promises.”