In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, there were surely many people who would have liked to speak with President Trump. So, it's notable, for better or worse, that the president apparently accepted Joe Scarborough's call.
On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough described some of their conversation, noting that the president called Kirk "a great man," and gave him credit, with his organizing and fundraising efforts, for making the difference in some of the swing states.
Scarborough also commended MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler for having condemned the words of Matthew Dowd on Katy Tur's MSNBC show yesterday, in which Dowd grotesquely speculated, “We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration.” Oddly, Scarborough didn't mention that Dowd has also been fired by MSNBC.
He said "Matthew Dowd, yesterday, came on and made a wild speculation that was obviously wrong and extraordinarily hurtful to many people. And Rebecca Kutler said so last night, came out and condemned his words in the strongest terms. So we're glad that she did that."
The panel was dressed in somber tones, and the tone of their comments was also generally appropriate to the occasion. The only somewhat discordant note came from Willie Geist, who, while condemning political violence, went out of his way to note:
None of this is an endorsement of his views. Certainly not that. But the point is, it's a condemnation of using violence to settle your disagreements with somebody over their views. I think most of us at this table disagree with a lot of what Charlie Kirk would say.
We often describe people making statements like that as "maintaining their liberal street cred." In this instance, it seemed superfluous. Anyone with the slightest familiarity with Morning Joe is well aware that the show has anything but a conservative bent.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
9/11/25
6:02 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: You know, I said here, I spoke with, we talk to the president from time to time. I certainly spoke with the president after Butler, Pennsylvania, calling to offer my condolences, and did the same thing last night, because I knew he was close to Charlie.
And he said, Charlie was a great man. And Willie, he talked about how he was a singular talent for this time, especially for the conservative movement. And President Trump even talked about how Charlie Kirk played a huge role in helping him get elected. The voter registration drives, going to college campuses.
You know, before the election, we were talking about how Republicans were depending on young men to get out to the election. And, you know, that's that hardly ever happens. It's usually you focus on older voters to get out to the polls and vote. And high propensity voters, Younger men, college students, were always lower propensity voters. And after the election, people stood back and were shocked. So why did this happen?
Well, Donald Trump explained last night one of the reasons that happened was told me it was because of Charlie Kirk.
. . .
WILLIE GEIST: Of course, there are always people on the fringe on social media who are going to be idiots and celebrate the horrible moments like this. But there is near universal condemnation from political leadership for this act of violence and all acts of violence. And this is a really important moment for our leaders to step up and say that again and again. Speaker Johnson said it yesterday. And then Minority Leader Jeffries said almost the same thing. So we're getting it from both sides of the aisle. And let's hope that holds.
SCARBOROUGH: Let's hope that holds. And also from leadership of this network. Somebody came on, Matthew Dowd, yesterday, came on and made a wild speculation that was obviously wrong and extraordinarily hurtful to many people. And Rebecca Kutler said so last night, came out and condemned his words in the strongest terms. So we're glad that she did that.
And we're going to be getting into just what he did. So those who don't understand the extraordinary impact Charlie Kirk has had on American politics will have a better understanding that this guy that was a podcaster for two hours a day, that's a job in and of itself. He ran organizations all over college campuses, the best organized person. Democrats would have loved to have, for their version of Charlie Kirk. A fundraising operation, Jonathan, where, you know, raised well over $100 million and used so much of that to get out the vote.
He organized for the six swing states. And again, as Donald Trump told me last night and told other people, was the difference maker in some of those states.
. . .
GEIST: I was struck yesterday by how young men I know, teenagers, were hit by this.
And again, none of this is an endorsement of all of his views. Certainly not that. But the point is, it's a condemnation of using violence to settle your disagreements with somebody over their views. I think most of us at this table disagree with a lot of what Charlie Kirk would say.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: But this is not the answer.
GEIST: This, obviously, is not the answer. This cannot happen.