Who Cares About Joe, Mika and Donald?

The over-the-top coverage given to Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s pilgrimage to Mar-A-Lago to kiss the ring of Donald Trump is among the reasons why the reputation of the media is in the gutter. It smacks of media elitism.

Though presented as a Nixon goes to China to meet Mao moment, it was far from it.

Some pundits said the tete-a-tete with Trump by the “Morning Joe” co-hosts was a betrayal of MSNBC and its merry band of Trump-bashers.

Others said lighten-up, agreeing with Scarborough that the session was a no-brainer. It was a golden opportunity to go face-to-face with the incoming president, especially one who has threatened to wage an all-out war on the media.

But the vast majority of Americans could care less about the saga of Joe, Mika and Donald. They want the media to drop the dramatics, and end the endless navel-gazing once and for all.

The media have serious work to do.

Potential WWIII looms as Vladimir Putin warns of a nuclear holocaust in retaliation against America’s decision to allow Ukraine to launch long-range missiles into Russia’s heartland.

On the home front, a constitutional crisis awaits as Trump may attempt to circumvent the Senate to seat his roster of totally unqualified Cabinet picks. Will Majority Leader John Thune stand up to The Donald, or will he fold like a cheap suit.

It’s time for The Fourth Estate to live up to its responsibility, and stop wasting energy reporting on stuff like the Morning Joe/Trump nonsense.

You can kiss the State Dept.’s Global Engagement Center good-bye as Team Trump takes control of Washington. The mandate for the watchdog that tracks Russian and Chinese misinformation and disinformation activity expires on Dec. 23.

GEC will soon be history because Elon Musk, Trump’s shadow president and X boss, claims it interferes with social media content. Under Musk, misinformation and disinfomation runs rampant on X.

GEC has done impressive work. In September, it issued a report on RT, the former “Russia Today.”

It outed RT for moving well beyond being a media outlet, engaging in “information operations, covert influence, and military procurement” in Europe, Africa, North and South America.

GEC’s demise is good news for Vladimir Putin and bad news for those who support the free flow of ideas without interference from foreign regimes.

Sorry Sarah… Neanderthal Congressional Republicans are going to deny Democratic Representative-elect Sarah McBride the use of women’s bathrooms on Capitol Hill. She will be the first transgender lawmaker when the new Congress convenes in January.

Awful Nancy Mace (R-SC) will propose a measure to prohibit lawmakers for “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”

McBride, who represents Delaware, has accused Mace of being a stooge of right-wing extremists and a stoker of cultural wars.

Of course, Sarah.

After all, Trump rode to the White House on about $20M on advertising that highlighted Kamala Harris’ support for gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender people.

Speaker Mike Johnson won’t say whether he backs Mace’s proposals. He claims that Congress “treats everybody with dignity and respect."

We will soon see about that.