As Dana Bash and Jake Tapper prepare to host the CNN presidential debate Thursday, many have lobbied harsh criticism against them. However, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has come to their defense.
During Morning Joe Thursday, the longtime MSNBC host — alongside co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist — discussed the 90-minute debate, while claiming that critics should have no fear about the job Bash and Tapper will do.
“I don’t think that Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are planning to be hostile. I think they want a fair debate,” Brzezinski said.
“Well, they’ll be tough to both sides,” replied Joe Scarborough.
Brzezinski replied by stating that the “hostility” is most like to come from former President Donald Trump toward the moderators, and not the other way around.
“I’m sure that they will be elegant and fair and try their best to ask Donald Trump — and this is his worst nightmare — basic questions,” she added.
“I think those two tonight are going to have the ability to not only ask the tough, fair question but more importantly the follow-up that has to be asked,” Scarborough said.
Geist went as far as to argue that Dana Bash and Jake Tapper are supremely qualified for the position.
“Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are two of the best we have in our business,” he shared before opining on the debate format. “It’s the kind of debate you typically see — and I say this as a compliment, as a good thing on a local level — on your local news affiliate, where the candidates come into the studio. They sit there with no crowd. It’s not a rally, it’s not a rah-rah event, and they just have to answer the questions … It’s going to be fascinating to watch that just sort of the mechanical dynamic of how this plays out tonight.”
