Posts misrepresent 2017 ‘Morning Joe’ clip
CLAIM: A video shows MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski saying, “Elon is trying to control how people think. That is our job.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video shows Brzezinski talking about then-President Donald Trump on a Feb. 22, 2017, episode of “Morning Joe.” She does not mention Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
THE FACTS: Following news on Thursday that Musk has offered to buy Twitter for more than $43 billion, users on the social media platform are sharing an old video from the MSNBC show, falsely claiming it shows Brzezinski talking about the Tesla CEO.
“‘Elon is trying to control how people think. That is our job,’” read one post that was retweeted more than 37,000 times over the weekend. Another with more than 22,000 retweets stated: “‘[Elon] could actually control what people think… that is our job.’” Musk himself responded to one popular post containing the claim, posting two laughing emojis.
While many sharing the clip were highlighting the “that is our job” remark, which Brzezinski did say, the quotes in the posts are inaccurate. Brzezinski never mentions Musk in the footage, referring only to a “he.” The full video of the Feb. 22, 2017, segment reveals the “he” being discussed is actually Trump. Musk, whose attempted Twitter takeover was still five years away at the time, never comes up in the conversation.
The full video shows Brzezinski and co-host Joe Scarborough discussing Trump’s administrative actions amid a poll that found a majority of voters were dissatisfied with how the federal government was working at the time.
Scarborough recounted that the then-president’s supporters had told him: “They go, ‘Yeah you guys are going crazy. He’s doing — what are you so surprised about? He’s doing exactly what he said he’s going to do.’”
Brzezinski responded: “Well and I think that the dangerous, y’know, edges here are that he’s trying to undermine the media, trying to make up his own facts. And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that is our job.”
Brzezinski’s comments attracted attention at the time, and in a tweet later that day, she claimed they were misinterpreted, saying: “Today I said it’s the media’s job to keep President Trump from making up his own facts, NOT that it’s our job to control what people think.”
Some social media users shared the old clip alongside separate comments Brzezinski did make last week about Musk’s offer. On Friday’s episode of “Morning Joe,” Business Insider columnist Linette Lopez joined to discuss a recent column that was critical of Musk’s own behavior on the platform. Brzezinski asked her: “Linette, are there any ways to stop him if he wants to buy Twitter? Are there any guardrails around something like this? Because this could be a very dangerous precedent.”
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.