A media ‘nervous breakdown’? Calls for Biden’s withdrawal produce some extraordinary moments

NEW YORK (AP) — If President Joe Biden successfully resists some extraordinary calls in the media to abandon his reelection effort following last week’s debate, he may reflect on the moment that MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski looked into the camera Monday to begin a 15-minute essay of support.

The “Morning Joe” co-host denounced the “screaming, mocking, jeering” headlines and editorials suggesting Biden leave the campaign following several halting, confused passages by the president during his CNN debate with former President Donald Trump.

The New York Times editorial board urged Biden’s exit, along with some of the newspaper’s columnists. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution followed suit in a front-page editorial on Sunday. The New Yorker’s editor David Remnick wrote that “there is honor in recognizing the hard demands of the moment.” The Washington Post said it hoped Biden spent the weekend soul-searching.

“It has been a collective nervous breakdown like nothing I’ve ever seen,” said Chris Whipple, author of “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House.”

The ‘Morning Joe’ saga

Nowhere, perhaps, were raw nerves exposed quite like they’ve been on “Morning Joe,” where co-hosts Brzezinski and her husband, Joe Scarborough, have been among Biden’s most consistent supporters. With Biden reportedly a frequent viewer, there’s often a sense that the show’s guests are talking to the president, much like with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” when Trump was in office.

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