This was on full display Monday evening when Maddow interviewed E. Jean Carroll in her first prime time cable news appearance since she defeated former President Donald Trump in a second defamation trial. The jury, which found that Trump continued to defame Carroll after a previous jury found him liable for sexually assaulting her, awarded her a staggering $83.3 million.

In an introductory monologue, Maddow fittingly set the stage for her guest, recalling her as a pioneering voice for women's rights.

Yet what could have been a dispassionate and sober discussion of how the presumptive GOP nominee for president was adjudged to be a rapist and undisciplined defamer of his victim instead turned into a laugh-riot joke session that only lacked high-fives because the participants were not in the same studio. And the shit-eating grins on display undermined much of the news value of the interview and only supported Trump's aggrieved victimization racket, which is total bullshit, but why feed the troll?

The schadenfreudtastic interview was just what TRMS viewers tuned in for. But given the current clip and comment infotainment media landscape, the laughter and joking were viewed by many in a critical way. Critics, you will not be shocked to learn, even veered into conspiracy theories. One could feel the political ad being cut in real time as we watched Carroll jokingly suggest that she would use Trump's money to buy Maddow a penthouse.

It was the latest example of the current cable news landscape, which has become a confirmation bias theater. MSNBC viewers tune in for the celebration — the jokes, the high fives, and the schadenfreude — but everyone who isn't an MSNBC super-fan will come away with an uneasy feeling about how the story was handled.

During Trump's impeachment hearings, I suggested that a disciplined and sober tone would be appropriate when discussing such a dark and embarrassing era in American history.  In the same way that gleeful and competitive commentary on Trump's impeachments undermined their effectiveness, dancing on his courtroom loss only helps Trump. It's something Trump would do; the media should aspire to be better.