"Morning Joe" host Mika Brzezinski on Wednesday said President Donald Trump is a "stone cold racist."
The MSNBC panel was discussing recent racially-charged stories, including an incident where two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks and Tuesday's announcement that "Roseanne" was cancelled because of a racist tweet. Mika appeared to believe the stories are becoming more frequent because Trump gave people a "license" to act in a racist way.
"You can see the way people act, and maybe they feel a license to act that way because this president – I will quote Steve Schmidt – 'is a stone cold racist.' I'm sorry; I quoted someone else, but I agree with it, and I'll stand right by it," Brzezinski said.
Brzezinski was quoting MSNBC political analyst and Sen. John McCain's (R., Ariz.) 2008 campaign manager Steve Schmidt. Earlier on the show, Schmidt called Trump a "stone cold racist."
Joe Scarborough countered Brzezinski by saying Trump didn't start all of this.
"The racism that Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett and everybody in that White House endured online, on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Capitol Hill – It started there," Scarborough said. "I don't think you can say it started with Donald Trump, because Valerie Jarrett and Michelle Obama and Barack Obama were being dehumanized on social media every day."
Mika defended her statement by saying it was a "renewed license" and added how great it is to see corporate America – as reflected by Starbuck's reaction to the incident in Philadelphia – taking action.
"I'm saying it's a renewed license that is inspired by this president, and then the other point I was going to make ... is that it is great to see corporate America stepping up and doing the right thing because this president will not," Mika said.
"Morning Joe" has had a love-hate relationship with Trump. During the 2016 campaign, the show gave Trump frequent praise.