A contributor for “Morning Joe” shocked panelists by asking MSNBC host Medhi Hasan if he wasted part of his life interviewing Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Hasan interviewed Ramaswamy in a tense exchange about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and his tax returns Wednesday night. The “Morning Joe” co-hosts invited Hasan onto the program Thursday morning to congratulate him on how he conducted the interview and to criticize Ramaswamy.
“So Medhi, as you sat there live interviewing him and as you’ve sat there this morning watching it again, it’s a horribly annoying person. Did it occur to you during the course of the live interview, did it occur to you that maybe you were wasting five, ten, fifteen minutes of your life that you’ll never get back interviewing this person?” MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle asked.
“Geez … okay,” co-host Mika Brzezinski replied.
“It’s a great question, but I actually have a hygiene test on my show where I don’t allow election deniers, climate deniers, anti-vaxxers on precisely because you’re right, they can be a waste of time when you interview certain bad faith actors,” Hasan said.
Hasan added he wanted to interview Ramaswamy since he is a “serious contender” in the 2024 Republican presidential primary and has “been getting away with saying so much nonsense.” He accused Ramaswamy of denying things said on tape in a “very Trumpian fashion.” (RELATED: ‘You Drew A Fringe Comment’: Vivek Ramaswamy Hits Back At CNN Host As She Lectures Him About Race)
The panel mocked Ramaswamy for allegedly not knowing his own tax returns and for receiving a scholarship they claim he did not need.
“He relies on people not holding him to account and to go back to Mike’s question, that’s why I wanted to do it because certain people, no matter how annoying it may be to do it, you have to hold them to account,” Hasan said.
Co-host Willie Geist said Ramaswamy is a “cynical actor” by pushing rhetoric that supporters of former President Donald Trump want to hear.
Ramaswamy is in third place in the race with about 9% favorability as of Wednesday, according to FiveThirtyEight. Trump continues to be the frontrunner of the race by significant margins, holding 53% of support.