MSNBC is Coming Apart at the Seams

The leftwing news outlet's struggles map to those of its political party.

There’s been a lot of strange phenomena floating around the mediaverse lately. With once-a-generation news happening almost weekly, the animal spirits in the media ecosystem are acting in unpredictable ways. But few have been more perplexing than MSNBC, where self-contradiction, conspiracy theories, and internal fighting have thrown the network into disarray.

It’ll come as no surprise that most of the chaos at the leftwing network derives from the two parallel storylines driving almost every news cycle: the resurgence of Donald Trump and the slow, agonizing downfall of Joe Biden.

On its own, each one of these narratives would have been manageable to the network, whose operating premise is a full-blown rejection of any idea that strays from Democratic party orthodoxies. Together, however, they present a picture of a fast-emerging reality that tramples MSNBC’s worldview.

One of the most high-profile—and, frankly, weird—examples of this was the network’s decision to take “Morning Joe” off the air the night after the assassination attempt. This occurred on what is arguably the most important news day we’ve seen in years, and possibly, in generations.

The stated rationale behind the decision was that the network was going to run straight news the entire day. That, as “Morning Joe” co-hosts (and spouses) Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski pointed out when they were put back on air, didn’t happen. Other non-news shows aired;" “Morning Joe” didn’t.

Reporting on this decision indicated that network executives were worried that one of the show’s many contributors could make an inflammatory remark about Trump or the assassination attempt. If true, this shows a remarkable lack of trust in MSNBC’s flagship political show, which is also Biden’s go-to for political commentary.

No matter what the cause, when Joe and Mika made their re-appearance they were forced to issue a threat to the network, saying next time it happens they’ll be gone. Despite the threat, this was a humiliating moment for the most elite Beltway show on air today.

If this weren’t enough to roil in corporate news organization, outside of the main tent was a sideshow performed by hard-left presenter Joy Reid, who began pumping out conspiracy theories in the days following the attempt on Trump’s life. Reid posted on social media and peppered viewers with innuendo-laden questions, demanding evidence that Trump had been shot.

At the same time, Biden’s former spokesperson, Jen Psaki, has been taking to the air to try thread a very difficult needle.

Despite her nominal role as an MSNBC journalist, Psaki has remained in Biden-spokesperson mode. As recently as this spring, Psaki told viewers that “Joe Biden is going to fight for you.” Psaki repeated this messaging the before Biden’s disastrous debate as she delivered advice on how Biden could win the debate.

After months of championing the president (at least when she wasn’t excoriating Trump, which amounted to about 75% of her airtime), Psaki is now in the unenviable position of joining the chorus of media and Democratic party officials calling for Biden to step aside as presidential nominee because of his cognitive decline.

This is a network that has lost its center of gravity and is starting to totter. Everything the network collectively believes—that Biden was the “obvious” choice for the Democrats’ candidate; that post-conviction Trump had no path to victory—has been upended. And so, it seems, has the network with it.