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By Kyle Drennen
After sarcastically remarking that it was “refreshing” to hear to President Trump defend freedom of speech in his address to the people of Poland on Thursday, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell lamented that “only a few hours earlier at a joint press conference, his first on the world stage, with Poland’s president, Mr. Trump returned to form, slamming the media.”
A clip played of Trump calling out the liberal media during the press event: “They have been fake news for a long time. They’ve been covering me in a very, very dishonest way. Do you have that also, by the way, Mr. President? What CNN and others – I mean, I know, NBC is equally as bad, despite the fact that I made them a fortune with The Apprentice.”
In response, Mitchell declared that she took the critical comment as a “badge of honor.”
Turning to The Washington Post’s Editorial Page Editor Ruth Marcus, Mitchell breathlessly fretted: “I mean, here he is standing next to the Polish president, who is trying to crack down on free press, and criticizing the press.” Marcus mocked the conversation between the world leaders: “‘Do you have that problem, too? Yes, I have that problem. Let’s all commiserate about it, the horrors of a free press.’” Mitchell chimed in: “‘Let’s lock ‘em up!’”
While Mitchell feared that Poland’s leader was “trying to crack down on free press,” Politico admitted that “there is something of a tradition of new governments putting their loyalists into top jobs” in the country’s state-run media.
Marcus praised Trump’s formal remarks in which “he reaffirmed” a “free press,” but warned that “it’s the off-the-cuff remarks that tell us what he means.”
Mitchell was aghast as she turned to left-wing Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart: “I haven’t seen you since the body slam tweet that came out on Sunday. This is just extraordinary. This is the President of the United States and this is seen around the world.” Capehart mourned: “You used the right word – extraordinary. We’re seeing things, reading things, hearing things from a president of the United States we never thought we would hear, we probably thought we should never hear from a president of the United States.”
He worried: “...in that press conference with...the Polish leader, right there you got the real Donald Trump, the off-the-cuff Donald Trump. And the off-the-cuff Donald Trump doesn’t like the free press very much.”
Mitchell made a point of hurling an accusation of sexism as well: “And especially women in the free press, interesting to note – and women leaders, Angela Merkel.”
The biased segment was brought to viewers by Ancestry, AARP, and Panera Bread.
Here is a transcript of the July 6 panel discussion:
12:50 PM ET
DONALD TRUMP: We reward brilliance, we strive for excellence, and cherish inspiring works of art that honor God. We treasure the rule of law and protect the right to free speech and free expression.
 ANDREA MITCHELL: Well, that was refreshing. President Trump in Warsaw praising free speech in his speech today. But only a few hours earlier at a joint press conference, his first on the world stage, with Poland’s president, Mr. Trump returned to form, slamming the media.
TRUMP: They have been fake news for a long time. They’ve been covering me in a very, very dishonest way. Do you have that also, by the way, Mr. President? What CNN and others – I mean, I know, NBC is equally as bad, despite the fact that I made them a fortune with The Apprentice.
MITCHELL: Badge of honor. Let’s get the inside scoop from Ruth Marcus, Washington Post Deputy Editorial Page Editor and columnist. And Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post opinion writer and MSNBC contributor. I mean, here he is standing next to the Polish president, who is trying to crack down on free press, and criticizing the press.
RUTH MARCUS: “Do you have that problem, too? Yes, I have that problem. Let’s all...
MITCHELL: “Let’s lock ‘em up!”
MARCUS: ...commiserate about it, the horrors of a free press.” There’s a really big difference between what you read in a speech – and it’s good to read things in a speech. So it was good that he reaffirmed, for example, NATO’s role in the speech, in addition to the free press. But there’s a difference between what you read and what you mean. And it’s the off-the-cuff remarks that tell us what he means.
MITCHELL: And, Jonathan, the tweets. I mean, I haven’t seen you since the body slam tweet that came out on Sunday. This is just extraordinary. This is the President of the United States and this is seen around the world.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right. You used the right word – extraordinary. We’re seeing things, reading things, hearing things from a president of the United States we never thought we would hear, we probably thought we should never hear from a president of the United States. The idea that – yeah, I have to agree with Ruth, it’s one thing for the President to say the words of support of freedom of the press, but in that press conference with the Polish prime minister – the Polish leader, right there you got the real Donald Trump, the off-the-cuff Donald Trump. And the off-the-cuff Donald Trump doesn’t like the free press very much.
MITCHELL: And especially women in the free press, interesting to note – and women leaders, Angela Merkel.
(...)
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By Scott Whitlock
Major Garrett is unhappy with Donald Trump. The CBS This Morning correspondent inserted a petulant commentary to his report on the President’s visit to Poland. Regarding an international press conference, Garrett complained, “In a nation where press freedoms are in flux, the President eagerly criticized the U.S. media and former President Obama.”
Garrett added, “American presidents traveling abroad typically uphold American values, such as press freedom and the institution of the presidency. Mr. Trump, for his own reasons, did not.” So, just to review, by critiquing the press, CBS’s official position is that the President didn’t “uphold American values?” Seems pretty obvious why Americans no longer trust the press.
Earlier, Garrett set up his critique by comparing, “Mr. Trump met with the Polish president Andrzej Duda whose government has been criticized in some quarters of Europe for limiting press freedom and judicial independence.”
 What set off Garrett? At a press conference, Trump said of CNN: “They have been fake news for a long time. They've been covering me in a very, very dishonest way.”
Surprisingly, in a follow-up segment on CBS, network analyst Ian Bremmer defended Trump’s critique in Poland of Obama. The President was discussing attempted hacks by Russia during the 2016 campaign:
IAN BREMMER: I think Trump was completely right in saying in Poland today that Obama was president when the hacks occurred. He could have taken action, he didn't, and he said, “Hey, if Trump looked like he was going to win, Obama would have done more.” I think that's actually an accurate analysis.
GAYLE KING: But if he had taken action at the time, don't you think trump would have said, "See, they're meddling with the election?"
BREMMER: Of course. But Trump wasn’t President. Obama is. In other words, I kind of expect more from a President. Trump is getting criticism now. Obama didn't get as much then and we're kind of forgetting all that.
A transcript of the segment is below:
CBS This Morning
7/6/17
8:02am ET
DONALD TRUMP: On both sides of the Atlantic, our citizens are confronted by another danger, one firmly within our control. This danger invisible to some but for millions of the Poles, the steady creep of government bureaucracy that drains the vitality and wealth of the people. The west became great not because of paperwork and regulations, but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies.
NORAH O’DONNELL: The President just wrapped up his speech and is now heading to Hamburg, Germany, to meet with world leaders at the G20 summit. Major Garrett is in Warsaw with what the President had to say. Major, good morning.
 MAJOR GARRETT: Good morning. The president said Poland is an example of courage in the face of oppression. He specifically praised Poland’s historic, but ultimately unsuccessful, resistance to Nazi occupation and its persistent efforts throughout the Cold War to undermine Soviet dominance here and throughout Europe. In a speech, Mr. Trump also hailed Poland as one of the few NATO nations that annually meet its defense spending obligations and, by the way, he praised it for buying millions of U.S. made weapons.
The President also criticized Russian's invasion of Crimea in Ukraine and backing regimes in Syria and Iran. Earlier Mr. Trump met with the Polish president Andrzej Duda whose government has been criticized in some quarters of Europe for limiting press freedom and judicial independence. On North Korea, the President said he’s considering, quote, “very severe things” in response to the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. That is, technology that could reach the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. Ahead of tomorrow's first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump said Russia and other countries meddled in the 2016 presidential election. In the end the President said, quote, “nobody really knows the source of the cyber intrusions,” even though at the highest levels of the U.S. intelligence community, they have concluded Moscow was to blame.
And in a nation where press freedoms are in flux, the President eagerly criticized the U.S. media and former President Obama. American presidents traveling abroad typically uphold American values, such as press freedom and the institution of the presidency. Mr. Trump, for his own reasons, did not.
8:09
IAN BREMMER: I think Trump was completely right in saying in Poland today that Obama was president when the hacks occurred, he could have taken action, he didn't, and he said, “Hey, if Trump looked like he was going to win, Obama would have done more.” I think that's actually an accurate analysis.
GAYLE KING: But if he had taken action at the time, don't you think trump would have said, see, they're meddling with the election?
BREMMER: Of course. But Trump wasn’t President. Obama is. In other words, I kind of expect more from a President. Trump is getting criticism now. Obama didn't get as much then and we're kind of forgetting all that.
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By Kevin Baker
A new trip oversees by President Trump brought renewed criticism from the media as he levied criticism at his predecessor, specifically the Obama administration's poor handling of Russian hacking during the 2016 election. Speaking bluntly, the President stated, “My big question is, why did Obama do nothing about it from August all the way to November?” The subsequent reaction by the cast of Morning Joe on Thursday was laughable as they decried the commander-in-chief attacking “a former president on foreign soil.” Apparently, everyone there had seemingly forgotten about Barack Obama’s infamous ‘apology tour’ at the start of his presidency.
“This is remarkable,” a bewildered and amazed Joe Scarborough exclaimed, “You have a United States president on foreign soil...attacking a former President of the United States. Repeatedly.” Staring down, frustrated, a disheartened Willied Geist declared, sadly, “That’s unseemly on it’s own.”
The full exchange went as follows:
DONALD TRUMP: Let me start off by saying, I heard it was 17 agencies. I said boy, that's a lot. Do we even have that many intelligence agencies? Right? Let's check it. And we did some very heavy research. It turned out to be three or four. It wasn't 17. And many of your compatriots had to change their reporting and they had to apologize and they had to correct. Now with that being said, mistakes have been made. I agree. I think it was Russia, but I think it was probably other people and/or countries and I see nothing wrong with that statement. Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure. I remember when I was sitting back listening about Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction.
How everybody was 100% sure that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Guess what? That led to one big mess. They were wrong and it led to a mess. So, it was Russia and I think it was probably others also and that's been going on for a long period of time. But, my big question is, why did Obama do nothing about it from August all the way to November? If he did nothing about it and it wasn't because he choked.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So, Willie, if you're keeping score at home, this is remarkable. You have a United States president on foreign soil attacking the CIA, attacking our intelligence communities, attacking America's free press on foreign soil, and attacking a foreign -- attacking a former President of the United States. Repeatedly. While seeming to try to juggle two alternate realities. Number one, maybe it was Russia, maybe it was the fat dude in Jersey, maybe it was other state players. So, he says that first. Then he goes to it was Russia. And his words here, the CIA pretty strongly warned Barack Obama that it was Russia and did nothing. So when Barack Obama comes up, Russia was the one that interfered in our elections and he had pretty strong evidence about it.
WILLIE GEIST: Well, there are two pieces of this. The first is the one you alluded to which is the President of the United States ripping another president of the United States on foreign soil.
SCARBOROUGH: And the CIA and the American press.
GEIST: That's unseemly on its own. Where he's wrong again, and how he followed up on this, is he won't just come out and say that Russia had something to do with it cleanly. He'll say, yes, they may have had something to do with it, but it also might have been China and someone else. That's what he's been saying going back to the debate with Hillary Clinton in October, October the 7th as we all know at this point. The intelligence agencies came out. Jay Johnson said on this set a couple of weeks ago and reiterated the evidence and intelligence that he had. They came out and said, yes, Russia interfered in our election. So the question again, for President Trump is why do you disagree with your Intel agencies? Do you know something or are you hiding something? What's the reason that you won't go along with this?
The audacity of it all! A president travels overseas and, instead of lauding his homeland or its values, has the gall to insult his predecessors and the rich history of his nation! Oh wait, hold on, that was actually Obama, and the media lauded him for it. Wow, its almost as if some sort of double standard exists for Republicans and Democrats! Who would’ve guessed?
This biased segment of Morning Joe was brought to you by Booking.com, Choicehotels.com, and Volvo.
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By Kyle Drennen
On Thursday’s NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie fretted over how President Trump would handle himself in his upcoming meeting with Russian president and “master manipulator” Vladimir Putin, who “certainly will know how to press the President’s buttons.” MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace had little faith in Trump’s abilities as she ranted: “I think that the White House has successfully lowered the bar so low that if it were any lower it would be underground.”
Wallace derided how the administration was framing the sit-down: “‘Oh, he’s winging it, there’s no agenda.’ I don’t buy that. Obviously they have a plan to exceed expectations, which are less than nothing.” She then proclaimed: “But the fact that he’s going into a meeting as a representative of this country and hasn’t sort of affirmed that he will....poke a finger in Vladimir Putin’s chest and say, ‘Hey, when it comes to our democracy, I've got this, Vlad,’ is disturbing.”
Referencing NBC correspondent Hallie Jackson grilling Trump during a press conference in Poland on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Wallace worried:
I think that the answer to Hallie Jackson’s question was obviously meant to manage expectations, to say that he will take it to Russia a little bit. But the fact that he insists on throwing other people into the mix [on hacking during the election] when we know that simply wasn’t the case continues to be a disturbing sign that this cloud about collusion with Russia will hang over him no matter where he stands.
Guthrie replied: “And there are so many clouds hanging over the world stage right now: North Korea, Russia, to say nothing of ISIS and terrorism.”
The biased discussion was brought to viewers by Mazda, Walmart, and Nature Valley.
Here are excerpts of the July 6 coverage:
7:04 AM ET
(...)
PETER ALEXANDER: But the trip’s main event will be President Trump’s first ever face-to-face with Vladimir Putin.
DONALD TRUMP: We’re working with Poland in response to Russia’s actions and destabilizing behavior.
ALEXANDER: NBC’s Hallie Jackson asking repeatedly about Moscow’s meddling during the election.
HALLIE JACKSON: Will you once and for all, yes or no, definitively say that Russia interfered in the 2016 election?
TRUMP: Well, I think it was Russia and I think it could have been other people in other countries. Mistakes have been made. I agree, I think it was Russia, but I think it was probably other people and/or countries, and I see nothing wrong with that statement. Nobody really knows.
JACKSON: And before I get to President Duda, you talk about being angry with President Obama, Mr. President. You talk about –
UNIDENTIFIED MAN [POLISH OFFICIAL]: Dear lady, just two questions! Dear lady, dear lady, two questions! Thank you very much.
ALEXANDER: And that’s how the news conference ended. White House officials have not said yet whether President Trump will raise the issue of Russia’s role in the 2016 election during his conversation with Vladimir Putin tomorrow.
(...)
7:06 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Let’s talk about Russia. Obviously Friday is the big meeting with Vladimir Putin, who is known as a master manipulator. I mean, this guy studies up, he knows his subject. He certainly will know how to press the President’s buttons. How should the President prepare for this?
 NICOLLE WALLACE: Well, listen, if Donald Trump’s brand is author of Art of the Deal, Vladimir Putin’s brand is former KGB spy master. So I think this is really where the rubber meets the road with everything that Donald Trump thinks he can do to an adversary. Vladimir Putin has already done it and then some.
So I think that the White House has successfully lowered the bar so low that if it were any lower it would be underground. “Oh, he’s winging it, there’s no agenda.” I don’t buy that. Obviously they have a plan to exceed expectations, which are less than nothing. But the fact that he’s going into a meeting as a representative of this country and hasn’t sort of affirmed that he will do what Jeremy Bash describes as poke a finger in Vladimir Putin’s chest and say, “Hey, when it comes to our democracy, I've got this, Vlad,” is disturbing.
And I think that the answer to Hallie Jackson’s question was obviously meant to manage expectations, to say that he will take it to Russia a little bit. But the fact that he insists on throwing other people into the mix when we know that simply wasn’t the case continues to be a disturbing sign that this cloud about collusion with Russia will hang over him no matter where he stands.
GUTHRIE: And there are so many clouds hanging over the world stage right now: North Korea, Russia, to say nothing of ISIS and terrorism.
WALLACE: Right.
(...)
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By Scott Whitlock
In the latest example of fake news, journalists on Thursday hyperventilated about a dramatic snub of Donald Trump by Poland’s first lady. Agata Kornhauser-Duda, it seemed, refused to shake the hand of the President. Except, that’s not what happened.Mere seconds after shaking Melania Trump’s hand, Kornhauser-Duda and the President shared a warm embrace.
You wouldn’t know that from the coverage. Newsweek opted for this all-caps, blaring headline: “WATCH DONALD TRUMP HANDSHAKE REJECTED BY POLISH FIRST LADY IN HILARIOUSLY AWKWARD EXCHANGE.” Like it was grainy Bigfoot footage, the website even slowed down a shortened version of the footage to showcase the fake snub. (See the full exchange below.)
The article was eventually updated three hours later with this not-quite correction. Making the whole story pointless, it read:
An extended video of the encounter during which President Donald Trump reaches out his arm to the first lady of Poland shows Agata Kornhauser-Duda eventually shaking the president’s hand, after initially passing him by in favor of greeting first lady Melania Trump. The mildly awkward and humorously relatable exchange was just that, and no apparent swipe at the U.S. president.
The original Newsweek article by Chris Riotta hyped the non-snub as a big deal: “On Thursday, the world was once again blessed with an unusual, albeit hilarious, apparent slight, this time involving Trump and the first lady of Poland."
 USA Today took a similar route. Writer Jessica Estepa freaked out with this headline: “Another awkward handshake overseas: President Trump left hanging as Polish first lady greets Melania.”
She also included the deceptive, short video, touting, “Kornhauser-Duda's enthusiastic welcome for Melania Trump meant that President Trump was left handshake-less and looking on.”
As of 3:30pm ET, USA Today has not updated the article to offer the full story.
In a tweet, The Washington Post called the incident “super awkward.” Then, Chris Cillizza of CNN actually tweeted the shortened version this way:
Seemingly trying to cover himself, the journalist later downplayed the non-event: “It was a funny video of a misunderstanding! Nothing more! The same thing has happened to me a billion times!” A simple misunderstanding? Talk about liberal spin.
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By Nicholas Fondacaro
 Red flags went up quick at the Tucson, Arizona office of Republican Senator Jeff Flake on Thursday when one angry leftist claimed that shooting all of the opposition was the way to solve “the Republican problem.” The leftist protestor also brought up the shooting of Majority Whip Steve Scalise and was arrest by police a short time later. This disturbing incident went unreported on both ABC and CBS during their evening news programs.
Correspondent Kasie Hunt became the only network news reporter to mention the threat when she brought it up during her segment on NBC Nightly News:
Outside of Republican Senator Jeff Flake's Tucson office, two people arrested. A staff member alleging one alluded to the shooting of Minority Whip [sic] Steve Scalise. Saying quote: “You know how liberals are going to solve the Republican problem? They're going to get better aim.”
Hunt’s report was mostly about the outrage Congressional Republican were facing at town halls in regards to the Senate health care bill during their July recess. CBS Evening News also covered the angry protests. But instead of reporting on the threat to Republicans, they highlighted people who staged a fake town hall for Paul Ryan where they talked to an empty chair.
What NBC reported about the incident was just a small piece of what happened Thursday morning. According to The Hill, the man told a Flake staffer that “You know how liberals are going to solve the Republican problem? They are going to get better aim. That last guy tried, but he needed better aim. We will get better aim."
The Hill also reported that the protestor was a 59-year-old man named Mark Prichard. “After telling him that he was not allowed back on the property, police said Prichard ‘made a point’ of defying the deputies' orders, leading to his arrest,” they wrote. “He was also charged with making "threats and intimidation" based on statements made by Flake's staff after his arrest.”
The second protestor, 70-year-old Patrick Diehl, was arrested after he “tried to force his way through the door while a staffer was handing out promotional materials.” “Police say no force was used in the arrests, and the protests remained largely peaceful throughout the day,” The Hill added.
With all the conversations about the need for civility politicos had in the wake of the shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise, it’s important that these kinds of actual threats are called out and condemned. It’s a shame ABC and CBS felt that the incident didn’t warrant any time during World News Tonight or CBS Evening News.
Transcript below:
NBC Nightly News
July 6, 2017
7:09:42 PM Eastern
(…)
KASIE HUNT: Dozens of protests around the country. Outside of Republican Senator Jeff Flake's Tucson office, two people arrested. A staff member alleging one alluded to the shooting of Minority Whip [sic] Steve Scalise. Saying quote: “You know how liberals are going to solve the Republican problem? They're going to get better aim.” Republicans struggling to make good on a simple campaign pledge to repeal and replace ObamaCare
(…)
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By Curtis Houck
A new MSNBC promo aired during Thursday’s Hardball flaunted the bona fides of the liberal network’s far-left primetime pundits in taking on President Donald Trump, including the hilarious insinuation that they’re attacking him out of “love for the Constitution.”
The 30-second spot featured a soundbite from each pundit hosting shows from 7:00 p.m.Eastern to 10:00 p.m. Eastern (Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell) preceded by a tough line from the announcer and corresponding chyron driving home a reason the network’s taken an anti-Trump stance.
“Tough on the administration,” read the first point before Matthews chimed in with a random soundbite knocking Trump for doing “something so catastrophic” to the country’s security.
Perhaps most pathetic was the line “love for the Constitution” prior to The Last Word’s O’Donnell telling viewers that “[w]e can thank the Founding Fathers for their wisdom.”
O’Donnell doesn’t get to lecture anyone about the Founding Fathers or the Constitution seeing as how he’s the guy who said Barack Obama’s largely-fake autobiographyDreams From My Father was the best book ever written by a President, trumpeted the idea of abolishing the Founders-conceived Electoral College, and suggested love of one’s country isn’t that important.
Following up on his Watergate promo, the term applied to All In’s Chris Hayes was “tough on secrecy” as the 8:00 p.m. Eastern host stated that “[t]here continues to be a lot of smoke” regarding Trump-Russia collusion.
Last but not least, Rachel Maddow was last, flying under the banner of “love for democracy” before a clip of her lamenting how “American citizens” and “the press”seem to be the only ones “connecting the dots” in trying to bring down the Trump administration over supposed Russia ties.
“Tough love, administered nightly, week nights 7 to 11, on MSNBC,” the announcer concluded before a show line-up faded away to the current MSNBC motto of “[t]his is who we are.”
Here’s the transcript of the MSNBC promo from July 6:
MSNBC Promo
July 6, 2017
7:32 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Tough on the Administration]
ANNOUNCER: Tough on the administration.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Why would he do something so catastrophic in terms of our security?
 [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Love for the Constitution]
ANNOUNCER: Love for the Constitution.
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: We can thank the Founding Fathers for their wisdom.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Tough on Secrecy]
ANNOUNCER: Tough on secrecy.
CHRIS HAYES: There continues to be a whole lot of smoke.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Love for Democracy]
ANNOUNCER: Love for democracy.
RACHEL MADDOW: So far, it is us, as American citizens, it is us in the press, who are connecting the dots on this story.
ANNOUNCER: Tough love, administered nightly, week nights 7 to 11, on MSNBC.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: MSNBC; This is who we are.]
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