On Thursday morning, we got a badly-needed dose of potentially good news in a news cycle that hasn’t seen much good news lately. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” are engaged. Scarborough proposed to Brzezinski at a scenic hotel in Antibes, while they were celebrating Brzezinski’s 50th birthday.
Brzezinski inadvertently announced the engagement to the world on Thursday’s edition of “Morning Joe.” Watch here, via “Inside Edition.”
Brzezinski held up a copy of that morning’s New York Post, which touted its exclusive story about the engagement. She was also sporting a brand new ring. When Wall Street investor Steve Rattner tried to congratulate the couple, they simply went on with the show.
Eventually, they confirmed that they were about to tie the knot, and the tributes started pouring in.
Thanks to all who have sent such kind words on Twitter. It means a lot to @morningmika and me.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 4, 2017
One person who isn’t so happy about it, however, is right-wing pastor and talk show host Rick Wiles. On Thursday’s edition of TruNews, Wiles got the bright idea to publicly slag Scarborough and Brzezinski’s upcoming wedding.
Wiles has long since established himself as one of the most loathsome characters on the religious right, a movement that has no shortage of such characters. This is a guy who believes Obama was demon-possessed and had Antonin Scalia killed in a pagan sacrifice. He started out as a chest-beating supporter of Donald Trump, even going as far as to say that those who protest against him are breaking God’s law.
But he now believes that Trump has been enslaved by the “deep state”–a supposed cabal of career civil servants and military men. Indeed, he believes that the Syrian missile strike was ordered by the deep state, working in cahoots with “banksters” at Goldman Sachs. Lately, Wiles has taken to referring to the deep state as the “dark state,” since he is convinced it is an arm of Satan himself.
As spectacularly loony as these rants have been, Wiles may have outdone himself on Thursday’s show when he saw fit launch a sickening attack the future Mr. and Ms. Joe Scarborough. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
At around the 25:30 mark of the show, Wiles harrumphed that Scarborough was a “so-called former Republican congressman from Florida”–apparently taking offense at Scarborough’s recent outbreaks of basic decency. But then Wiles crossed the line. He harrumphed that Scarborough’s relationship with Brzezinski was the product of “a little bit of dark state incest.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Wiles then had the gall to suggest that Brzezinski would simply be an incubator for the dark state.
“It’s just disgusting. It’s just disgusting. They keep breeding. They just keep breeding and producing more little dark state devils.”
For those who don’t know, Mika’s father is Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser. Wiles named him as “one of the godfathers of the New World Order,” along with Henry Kissinger. He couldn’t help but notice that First Son-in-Law Jared Kushner offered to conduct the ceremony, since he is a licensed Orthodox Jewish minister.
Wiles kept up this appalling line on Twitter.
A little #DarkState incest pic.twitter.com/orhido8c0N
— Rick Wiles (@realRickWiles) May 4, 2017
He then had TruNews retweet it on its official Twitter feed.
Let’s beat around the bush. There are certain things that should never, ever, EVER, be politicized. An engagement announcement is one of them. Can you imagine what would have happened if Stephen Miller got engaged, and Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, or Lawrence O’Donnell saw fit to trash the engagement in this way? Well, we need not wonder–they’d probably be fired before the next break. It would be the only acceptable response. It would be absolute garbage for a liberal host to do it, and it would be absolute garbage for a conservative host like Wiles to do it.
The fact that anyone would do so is outrageous. The fact that a pastor would do it is incomprehensible. Sadly, this isn’t the first time in recent weeks that we’ve seen a so-called pastor find this remotely okay. If you’ll remember, Jesse Lee Peterson claimed that the furor over Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment was a “lynching” and a frame-up by liberal “children of the lie.”
Wiles is one of the most loathsome characters on the religious right, a movement that has no shortage of disreputable people. But this is by far one of the most outrageous things I’ve ever heard a religious right leader say. It cannot be repeated enough–Wiles is trying to politicize something that should never be political. In so doing, he has disqualified himself as a pastor.
I know of a lot of conservatives who would be appalled at Wiles’ behavior here, just as I would be appalled at any liberal who did something similar. It’s time for Wiles to get a dose of bipartisan outrage. The only further thing that we need to hear from Wiles on this issue is a full apology to Scarborough and Brzezinski–and none of this “sorry if anyone was offended” baloney, either. Let Wiles have it on his personal Twitter feed, as well as TruNews’ Twitter feed. Also, give Wiles an earful on TruNews’ Facebook and the Facebook page of his church, Flowing Streams Church in Vero Beach. This cannot be allowed to stand.
(featured image courtesy Wiles’ Twitter)
