Mika explodes with disgust over Trump’s fat-shaming buddies: They are ‘just rotund as all get out'
Mika Brzezinski conducted a session of Consciousness Raising 101 on Morning Joe Thursday morning as she responded to Donald Trump's continuing remarks about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, the 1996 crown holder whom Trump claimed gained so much weight during her tenure that he was forced to put her on an exercise regime. On Wednesday night interview with Bill O'Reilly, Trump continued to talk about Machado, despite the fact that his fat-shaming of her has angered women across the political spectrum.
Brzezinski introduced the segment by showing the exchange between O'Reilly and Trump, in which O'Reilly asked the Republican nominee if he had "anything to say" about the matter. Trump responded with a series of short sentences in which he argued that he "hardly knew this person," but then went on to argue that he had "saved her job" when other pageant officials had wanted to fire her for gaining weight. Unable to let the matter lie, he said, "It is a beauty contest," before arguing that he had become the victim in all of this. "Can you imagine? I end up in a position like this?" he said to O'Reilly, arguing that he had been the good guy, trying to save Machado's job, but now he was being blamed.
Scarborough responded to Trump's "poor me" response by taking the piss, telling fellow Morning Joe panelist Willie Geist that Trump was "just trying to help."
"He's the hero of this story," Geist responded.
Joe said that Trump was learning what his mom had always taught him -- that no good deed goes unpunished. "Poor Donald. He's laboring under that right now."
Geist asked the question that has been at the top of most pundits' minds: "Why do they continue to talk about it?"
Mika took back the conversation from the joking men to point out some essential points the men were missing. "It's a beauty contest. You can't actually have any weight on your body for a beauty contest because that wouldn't be beautiful. Think about that."
Geist attempted to joke again. "In fairness. You shouldn't put on 60 pounds." Then he clarified, "Newt Gingrich said that."
Mika's head exploded: "Really? That's the pot!" She took a breath as the men continued to joke around. It appeared she was about to drop the "AF" bomb, but then pulled herself back before delivering a speech about what a beauty pageant is all about.
"People like Donald Trump and Newt Gingrich and men can walk around just rotund as all get out," she said. "And it's not an issue. But women, in order to be beautiful, you have to be 117 pounds. I'm sorry. Can someone tell me what year we're in here? Is it 2016? I think we're back in the 70s..."
At this point, Scarborough attempted to talk over her, interrupting her as she had just started talking. She continued "...with these hideous pageants -- which, by the way we need to talk about at some point. Someone who runs beauty pageants -- you have to think about how they think about women.
Look at those beauty pageants. Look at them! Young women walking around in bikinis getting graded on how they look. I can't believe we still do these things.
Do we want someone who ran beauty pageants? And still thinks it's okay to talk about gaining weight being a problem? Do we really want that person in the White House? Hiring women? I don't think he's going to hire women unless they're tens..."
Again, Joe attempted to cut Brzezinski off, but she kept talking. "In his view, which is 117 pounds and starving and covered in plastic."
Brzezinski was referring to feminist theory that posits that one reason that women are encouraged to obsess about their weight is that, in order to maintain the tiny frame, starvation diets become necessary. The brain stops functioning on such a diet, making women ineffective in decision-making and leadership.
Joe again tried to cut her off, but emboldened by the righteous feminist rant she was engaged in, Mika added: "And lip gloss. It's disgusting. It's perverted."
Joe offered his imitation of O'Reilly asking Trump the question about Machado. "Yo. You got anything to say about this beauty pageant thing?"
Mika went after O'Reilly's journalism skills, and shamed male journalists for dismissing the shaming of women as an insignificant story.
"Oh. Thanks for that. Thanks for that softball. Like really? That silly story. You got anything to say about it?"
Then she administered the coup de grace.
"It's a serious story. Stupid men."
With that, she took a sip from her smoothie.
Watch video here: