MSNBC did not air an episode of Morning Joe, one of the network’s flagship political talk show programs, on Monday morning, purportedly because of what a scheduled guest may have said about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The decision to preempt the show raised eyebrows. According to a person familiar with the matter, the network made the decision to avoid the possibility that one of the show’s guests could make an inappropriate comment about the weekend shooting on live air, which could potentially harm the network’s reputation, CNN reported.
This comes amid a seismic political news cycle with the RNC Convention happening this week in the wake of the assassination attempt.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Trump was the victim of an apparent assassination attempt in Pennsylvania during a campaign rally on Saturday.
Trump was evacuated from the rally site and given medical attention after he was shot in the ear. His campaign issued a statement shortly after the incident, noting that the former president was “fine.”
“Given the gravity and complexity of this unfolding story, NBC News, NBC News NOW, and MSNBC have remained in rolling breaking news coverage since Saturday evening,” a spokesperson for NBCUniversal News Group said about the network’s broadcasting schedule, per CNN.
Some right-leaning consultants have suggested that Morning Joe‘s preemption shows that MSNBC cannot trust its high-profile shows.
“The fact that Morning Joe’s own network can’t trust its flagship brand not to spew reckless and inflammatory crap during breaking news tells you all you need to know about the credibility of the MSNBC line-up,” a veteran Republican consultant said, according to Fox News.
Even left-leaning commentators have criticized the network.
“What the f—, MSNBC? You preempted your excellent weekend programming… and now you’ve silenced [Morning Joe] in favor of your anodyne streaming news cos-play called Now? This is when we need the analysis and conversation these shows bring us (yes, with controversy; that is how public discourse works through it: with discussion). It is shocking that NBC/Comcast do not understand their own company’s programs and raison d’etre,” Jeff Jarvis posted on X.