CNBC Anchors Andrew Ross Sorkin and Joe Kernen Went At Each Other's Necks This Morning

When you get old enough to not have dreams, you wake up in the morning and watch people dressed to the nines discussing money. How to make it, how to keep it, what do do with it etc. This explains the appeal of CNBC's Morning Squawk. The tenor of the show has understandably changed in these unprecedented times, with Aaron Ross Sorkin and Joe Kernan's disagreements taking on more weight.

Things boiled over this morning when Kernan chastised his younger colleague for overreacting to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You panicked about the market, panicked about COVID, panicked about the ventilators, panicked about the PPE, panicked about ever going out again, panicked if we’d ever get back to normal,” he said.

Sorkin obviously did not care for that.

“Joseph, you didn’t panic about anything!” he retorted. “One-hundred thousand people died, Joe, and all you did was try to help your friend the president. That’s what you did. Every single morning on this show. Every single morning on this show, you have used and abused your position, Joe. You have used and abused your position.”

The two went at it for a bit more before Kernan took Sorkin up on his pleas to just do the news.

There is made-for-television drama and then there is real, mutual disdain. This is certainly the second option. And frankly, it's great. People should care about this moment in time with intense passion. There's no reason to pretend things are great and tensions are running low right now.

Lean into it. Make it part of the show going forward. No one is going to believe everything is all rainbows and butterflies between these two, no matter how it's sold.