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And yet, Melber and his producers have managed to not completely succumb to saturation coverage of Trump.
I have to start by saying my mother is extraordinarily excited that were talking.
She is a real-lifeMSNBC mom.Well, tell her I said,Hi, mom.
Ill check with my bosses as to the ethical ramifications.Exactly.
Or I could just randomly do it when this is all behind us.
Youve already offered a quid pro quo.
Im sorry.As a lawyer, I can tell you that was only quid, for her.
Im not asking for anything.
Back in 2014, youtoldColumbia Journalism Reviewthat you wanted to bring more light than heat to cable news.
You didnt want to ask questions just because theyd score lots of pickup.
But weve [also] done a lot of deep dives.
That was welcomed as far as I could tell.
So, is there pressure?
Not against telling those bigger, reported stories.
We did a piece the other week digging into Betsy DeVoss record at the Education Department.
Are those the segments you better do so that you might do the deep dive on Facebook?
But you mentioned booking some of the folks from the Trump world.
I certainly dont view it as automatic fireworks in doing that.
But Im not sure that every newscast would go to do that.
That can be emotionally difficult to immerse in everyday.
That takes a toll and the acceleration of that is severe.
But there are plenty of reporters throughout world history that dealt with that.
There are reporters out in war zones, and Im reporting from New York.
The more editorial worst part is how often there is a gravitational pull towards nonsense and Trump trolling everyone.
Its certainly a challenge and sometimes frustrating.
We dont automatically cover Trump tweets.
We have our own ways of dealing with that.
But boy, is that trying.
Political reporters are under attack from all sides these days.
Conservatives say the media is being too alarmist in covering Trump, and liberals worry its normalizing him.
This has been happening more lately.
That will continue, as a structural matter, to create a lot of underlying tension in the country.
There are many more, I think, that reflect a trauma or challenge in how we go forward.
How harsh does the press want to be in making that part of the lead story?
I think we can lead, and I think we need some facts and morals in these moments.
He flatly called Trumps performance disgraceful.
Thats for them to define, with their own viewers and readers, what they say their lines are.
Thats not directed at any one person.
No one has pushed back on music.
Its unusual, I will admit, but it is not a reach.
Hip-hop and country have been the most popular American genres for two decades.
And nobody begrudges Chris Matthews for mentioning old movie plotlines.
Is booking pop-culture guests your way of adding a bit of light to the show?
Theres almost a late-night vibe to parts ofThe Beat.Interesting.
I hadnt heard that [comparison], but it is maybe halfway towards late-night in its breadth.
Meanwhile, a lot of late-night shows are doing more and more politics.
I think, first, it reflects our interest of having a well-rounded show.
Our show is not just about politics or D.C. or Trump.
I think, second, culture is a bigger part of politics right now.
At this moment, culture and politics are one.
The president is primarily a media entertainer who entered politics in his seventh decade.
So, the culture is everywhere.
The deeper thing that we are gesturing at is, what culture do we want to live in?
Do we want politics to be wholly divorced from it or not?
He was like, This is a great chance for you to train.
Ill be back in a bit.
He was really a great mentor through that.
you’re able to print that if you want.
Put an LOL after it.
But I thinkKanyes album, while very short, is very inventive for rap this year.
There is clearly something that interests him about Donald Trump.
I think there is huge tension in that, and I think its fascinating.
Obviously, Kanye could have done more research and done it way better.
And then he kept saying things that were not even about Trump.
But the notion that people who do art look at things differently is not surprising.
It is why art is different, and sometimes more inspiring, than all the normal day-to-day life.
Youve hadDave Chappelle,Vic Mensa, andStretch & Bobbitoon the show.
I would love to get Chief Justice John Roberts for an interview.
I think that would be fascinating, I think that Supreme Court nominees should do more interviews.
We have an old system where they can do a very tortured confirmation, but they dont do press.
By the same token, I think Judge [Brett] Kavanaugh should go do interviews.
I would love to have him on the show.
In the culture, I would love to have Jay-Z on.
I would love to have Kanye on.
We have made overtures to Diddy.
50 Cent is planning to come on the show in the future and I am excited about that.
I would argue that it is a gap we are tapping into.
A lot of this music is what powers social movements.
Everyone lived through that in the 60s and 70s.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
