MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski dismissed a Wall Street Journal editorial that criticized the vulgarity of Donald Trump in the 2016 election, saying that Bill Clinton made the 1990s very vulgar as well.
During Thursday’s “Morning Joe,” Brzezinski said, “Let’s not pretend some of this stuff is new and all of a sudden vulgar because it’s Donald Trump, because vulgar people come in different shapes and sizes.” (WATCH: Trump: Repeating Cruz Is A ‘P**sy’ Was ‘Like A Retweet’)
Brzezinski read from Joseph Epstein’s op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that claimed, “Today it is difficult to engage the interest of much of the public in anything above the level of scandal. Serious political discourse has long been one casualty of this; civility is now another. The consequences of these losses are likely to be on exhibition, in HD, in a Trump-Clinton election contest, which figures to be America’s first PG-13 race for the presidency. My advice is don’t let the kids watch it.”
Brzezinski reacted, “Um, I would just argue you probably didn’t want to watch politics back in 1992.”
Fellow co-host Joe Scarborough added, “Especially 1998, 1999, 2000. I know I had kids in middle school. That was beyond PG-13.” (WATCH: Trump Clarifies The Size Of His Junk On National TV)
BBC World News America anchor Katty Kay suggested for people who don’t remember those elections to “read the Starr Report.” One revelation of the Starr Report, was from Monica Lewinsky who testified that Bill Clinton told her that “he had hundreds of affairs” before he turned 40.
Brzezinski later said, “Let’s not pretend some of this stuff is new and all of a sudden vulgar because it’s Donald Trump, because vulgar people come in different shapes and sizes.”
Scarborough agreed that “there was vulgarity” even in relatively recent presidential elections.