"Morning Joe" anchor Mika Brzezinski made an untoward - and some would say homophobic - remark about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this week. Brzezinski accused Pompeo of being a "“wannabe dictator’s butt boy" for Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman because Pompeo refuses to tie him to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Both he and President Trump have insisted that none of the intelligence they've seen proves he had anything to do with it.
Both Democrats and Republicans have publicly rebuked Trump for supposedly putting his relationship with Saudi Arabia over human rights. On Thursday the Senate even voted to condemn the Saudi regime for both the murder of Khashoggi and the Yemen war.
But, Brzezinski's criticism went a bit too far and she admitted it. Her first apology, however, was a little wanting.
Totally agree with you -SUPER BAD choice of words .. I should have said “water boy”... like for football teams or something like that.. apologize to @SenatorDurbin too! SO SORRY! https://t.co/zIqsGdK3Tk
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) December 12, 2018
Critics, including the openly gay U.S. ambassador to Germany, noted how Brzezinski failed to directly apologize to the LGBT community.
accepting apologies is important. We all fail. But I don’t see that you’ve actually apologized to gays? Your words demean, mock and therefore try to control whole groups by minimizing our humanity. @morningmika https://t.co/whNqjHYjfn
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) December 12, 2018
So, she tried again on Friday. But again it seemed like she came up short.
“I wanted to address a term that I used on this show on Wednesday that was vulgar,” Brzezinski said. “I knew it right away and I tweeted that it was a terrible choice of words and that I was sorry, but please allow me to say this face-to-face: the term is crass and offensive and I apologize to everybody, especially the LGBTQ community and to my colleagues, for using it. It was a mistake.”
That wasn't all.
“I will work hard to be better, but I just wanted to say on camera, looking people straight in the eye: I am really, really sorry.”
Trump predicts what would have happened if the same slur had come out of a conservative's mouth.
If it was a Conservative that said what “crazed” Mika Brzezinski stated on her show yesterday, using a certain horrible term, that person would be banned permanently from television....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018
....She will probably be given a pass, despite their terrible ratings. Congratulations to @RichardGrenell, our great Ambassador to Germany, for having the courage to take this horrible issue on!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018