MSNBC's Morning Joe panel was "gobsmacked" Friday when Donald Trump spent his entire Scotland press conference opening talking about his new hotel, sparing no detail into his "incredible" suites, instead of the Brexit vote. The show cut away from Trump until returning for the questions he took on the decision by Britain to leave the European Union.
While he described his new hotel in Scotland, he pointed to the significance of the lighthouse on his golf course. He was so distracted by the importance of a lighthouse on his golf course, that he accidentally said it was in Florida, not Scotland.
"We've taken the lighthouse, which is a very very important building in Florida—I mean, in Scotland," Trump said. "We've taken that building and made it something really special."
He continued to describe the "incredible suites."
But, he shifted his topic of conversation to speak more about the ninth hole and the dining options inside the special lighthouse. He urged the audience to try to see the suites for themselves because "they're the most beautiful suites you'll ever see."
It got to the point where the panel on MSNBC cut away from Trump and let the audience know that they had every intention of switching back to his speech, should he decide to talk about "the news at hand."
"Ok, we're going to bring it back here to the studio," co-host Willie Geist said. "If Donald Trump gets to the news at hand, Brexit, the UK leaving—not the suites for right now."
"We would be remiss if we didn't point out right up top, right here, right now, this man is a candidate for president of the United States on the Republican ticket, and he's speaking in a moment of historical significance, the vote, and he's talking about the zoning regulations about his hotel," columnist Mike Barnicle said.
Fellow host Nicolle Wallace could not hold in her shock at the fact he barely mentioned Brexit aside from briefly calling it "historic," considering he was standing inside the United Kingdom on the day it decided to leave.
"The morning after a historic vote and he has talked more about the incredible suites in the light tower, two of the most beautiful suites, it's like watching an ad for the Marriott chain," she said. "And I am gobsmacked that he did not open with comments that suggests that he knows—maybe he's jet lagged. But, I'm gobsmacked that he did not open with some comment about world events. I need a minute."
The BBC's Katty Kay, a frequent Morning Joe guest, thanked the show for cutting away from "the Donald Trump sales pitch," calling it "mindblowing."