Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning 20240702

Long. Morning joe starts right now. I have opposed efforts to ban Deadly Weapons of war like the Assault Rifle used to carry out this crime. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure. Which is why i now call on the United States congress to ban Assault Rifles like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown of lewiston, maine. For the good of my community, i will work with any colleague to get this done in the time that i have left in congress. Thats democratic Congressman Jared Golden of maine, changing his position on gun reform following wednesdays deadly Mass Shootings in his hometown. Well have a live report from lewiston, maine, as the manhunt for the suspect is expanding this morning. Also ahead, well go through the Major Development out of The Middle East overnight. The United States military carrying out air strikes in syria. This comes as iran is threatening the u. S. In connection with the israelhamas war. Good morning. Welcome to morning joe. It is friday, october 27th. With us, we have the host of way too early, White House Bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. Elise jordan of the former bush state department. And msnbcs reverend al sharpton. And bbcs katty kay. I love the introduction. Took so long for somebody to come up with the george w. What . It was unintentionally, but i think we found something. This is a catch phrase. If youd only done it 16 years earlier, 17 years earlier, everybody would have been saying it. First of all, that was Congressman Golden out of maine, after a terrible, horrific slaughter. Same thing happened after parkland. Hes a democrat. You had a republica in florida decide after that slaughter that he would also support Military Style, socalled Assault Weapons Ban. Guess what . A republican in a really trumpy area did it. Paid no price. Even when people are saying, oh, theyre not going to do it because the people at home wont let them do it. Thats not true. After sandy hook, there were republicans all across connecticut that did it. You know, this is just again, its just so maddening. You look at the New York Post. Definition of insanity, as the post is saying, he heard voices, yet was free to have, it looks like, an ar15 to kill 18 people. I mean, that is the definition of insanity. It keeps happening. Yeah, i mean, you could ask Congressman Golden. You know, he has a Change Of Heart yesterday, ask why it wasnt any of the previous Mass Shootings withar15s that didnt change his mind. When it comes to your doorstep, clearly its hit him in a way, and it hits anyone, whether its the Pulse Nightclub Shooting, vegas, sandy hook, it touches the people where it happens. Perhaps there will be some change. We talked about extensively yesterday that maine, as you know, joe, is a gun state. Theres a Big Culture Of Hunting and sportsmanship and all that. Well see if thats change. But i think most people agree with your point, which is, someone who was committed to a Mental Health facility for two weeks. Come on, man. Last summer probably should have a red flag next to his name. Exactly. Ive got to say, when i hear people talking about how Red Flag Laws are violations of the Second Amendment, theyre either stupid or just liars. I mean, theyre either stupid or so completely ignorant about what the Second Amendment is and what it is not. Ill say, ive got ive glad when people make the move, elise. I did after sandy hook, and i did based on the fact that just over the decade leading into sandy hook, there was one Mass Shooting after another Mass Shooting. Ive got to say, the Weapon Of Choice is an ar15 for crazy people. The Weapon Of Choice is to go in, get an ar15, shoot up schools, shoot up Bowling Alleys, shoot up churches. Thats the Weapon Of Choice. If its not going to be banned, why it cant be tightly, tightly regulated, so if youre going in to get an ar15, man yes. Youre going to have to pass. That is no violation of the Second Amendment. Whats upsetting is having an Assault Rifle is conflated with having a shotgun and being a hunter. People in maine can still hunt and have access to guns. They just dont need access to highcapacity magazines. Ban the magazines. This is done. By the way, elise, you, from mississippi, me from mississippi, alabama, georgia, florida, we grew up around guns. It was in our culture. I went to a church that didnt go everybody went hunting. Yet, when all of these killings started happening, they all said the same thing, these hunters whose dads had taken them hunting when they were 5 years old. It was a part of theyve lives. Had guns all over the house, locked, safe, you know, everywhere i went. People have shotguns on the walls locked up in a case. Id ask every one of those people, you need one of these, like, Military Style . They go, are you kidding me . So this whole great lie told by the nra and politicians to protect hedgefund Companies Profits that have all gone in to buy these companies that make ar15s, it is all a lie. And its all a lie for money. Its all about money. They are sacrificing you know, were looking at the horrors visited upon israel. Im talking about hamas has to be destroyed. Here we see this in our country day after day, week after week, and you have these republicans going, oh, you know what in Mental Health. FundaMental Health. Oh, well, no, were not going to fundaMental Health. Or, you know, oh, its not the weapon. Susan collins yesterday, its not the weapon. We need to look at the magazine. Come on. Its harder to get certain Prescription Drugs than to get a gun, and there are no what about with a card . You have to have a license and pass a test with a car. Guns are free flowing in this country, and we have to expect this is going to happen again and again and again unless somebody is done. It keeps happening, john. Authorities in maine havent been able to identifying all the victims because the damage on the bodies is so great because of the weapon used. Maine is a yellow flag state, an effort to pass red flag law were defeated in the last couple years, rev. We heard about Mental Health. We also heard the new Speaker Of The House Yesterday Say in an interview, this is not the right time to talk about Gun Legislation. This simply shouldnt be our focus right now, and he offered up prayers. He said, we should be praying. No solutions, knowledge prayers. Youre a man of the cloth. Seems to me that more than prayers is needed. Prayers without work is a dead thing. Thats in the bible. Weve been praying since the first carnage. When are we going to do the work . I didnt grow up in mississippi or alabama. My mother did. But i grew up in brooklyn, where we lived under siege. That is now the people in maines condition. When are we going to stop this, from urban to rural areas . This young man, if i can say young man, had a Mental Health problem that were not even able to get this congress to pursue Background Checks, less alone red flags. Not even Background Checks. Theres not even a deposit on getting to it in this congress. For the speaker to tell us this is not the time tells us what kind of speaker he is going to be. In this time . If you have a guy still at large after killing almost 20 people, and this is not the time, then it is time to get these people out of office. Yeah, i mean, it keeps happening over and over again. They say its never the time. I mean, how many Mass Shootings have we had . What, are we supposed to give weeks . No. Actually, the time to talk about it is after kids were getting gunned down and destroyed and people are getting gunned down in Bowling Alleys, loved ones cant even identify them because theyve been so mangled by the bullets. Its what we heard was so haunting about sandy hook. Parents going in, seeing their 6yearold children and not being able to recognize them because the guns had destroyed them so much. Here we are, katty kay, willie showed the daily news, but heres the list, vegas, people gunned down seeing a Country Music festival. Pulse, 49. Virginia tech, 32. Sandy hook, 26. The Baptist Church in texas, 26. A walmart in texas, 23. San diego, 22. Lewiston, maine, 18. The shooter still on the run. Again, the ar15. People used to say, oh, youre banning something because of the cosmetics of it. Its just, again, its a lie. The ar15 was designed to be the most effective Killing Machine in the jungles of vietnam. Congress didnt adapt it for political reasons, but it was meant, it was developed to hunt human beings. And it of course, katty, ill ask you the perennial question, or the monthly question, where else does this happen but the United States . Talk about london. Talk about, you know, other big cities across europe. It just doesnt happen. They have Mental Health problems in france. They have Mental Health problems in the uk. They have Mental Health problems as far as im aware in germany and italy and korea and china and the philippines and brazil and mexico and nigeria. What dont they have . They dont have Mass Shootings. They dont have Mass Shootings because people do not have access to the kinds of weapons that can kill people in large numbers at high speed in other countries around the world. They dont. In countries around the world where they have had Mass Shootings like in australia and the uk, theyve put in place regulation afterward that mean that since those Mass Shootings which happened decades ago, they have not had any more Mass Shootings since. The United States can do this. It can choose to do this, like it did back in 1994. In that tenyear period, from 1994 to 2004, guess what . You were 70 less likely to die from a Mass Shooting in the United States than you were before the Assault Weapons Ban or after the Assault Weapons Ban. So you had a window in this country where you tried to regulate this, successfully regulated Assault Weapons. Not perfectly, they werent all taken off the streets, but enough were taken off the streets that americans didnt have to fear being killed in the shooting weve just seen in maine. Its a choice. We talk about it is a choice. Willie, you held out the headline. Yeah. We dont have to do this. No. The suspect here, mr. Card, bought, legally, this sniper rifle. Its a sniper rifle that he purchased, despite everything we now know about the trouble he was having and having been committed to a Mental Health institution. His Family Raising Concerns, as well. Hes still on the run. The manhunt continues this morning for the suspected gunman in the lewiston, maine, Mass Shootings. Roughly 50,000 people remain under lockdown across the state after the 40yearold suspect killed at least 18 people and injured 13 at a Bowling Alley and bar Wednesday Night. Eight victims at the bar, seven at the Bowling Alley, and three at area hospitals. Hes been charged with eight counts of murder so far with the identification of the victims. Bowdoin is where the suspect lives. Four senior Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news a note was found at the suspects home during a search. Investigators are trying to determine the meaning of that note and how it might be able to guide their investigation. The u. S. Coast guard, meanwhile, also is joining the search effort. The suspect owns a boat and at least one jet ski, leading to questions as to whether he could have fled across the water. Remember, he left his car at a boat dock in lisbon. Investigators also are looking into whether a gun found in the suspects car was the same used in the shootings. The weapon is believed to be a sniper rifle purchased legally this year, according to officis. Law enforcement also looking into whether a female acquaintance of the suspect who frequented that bar may have been a reason he targeted that location. We go live to lewiston. Whats the latest there, toni . Reporter were hearing all throughout the state of maine, people have been hunkered down at home. Businesses closed. Schools out for the second day in a row. When i talk to residents, they describe a combination of extreme shock and excruciaing grief here. In part, because its hard to really pick up the pieces, to grieve together, when youre on lockdown at home. People are turning out their lights at night, fearful that he might be out there in the woods looking for another target, a home to come and visit. Theyve been locking up their barns, locking up their cars. The pain here is immense. I had a conversation with one resident yesterday who was actually here at the medical center. This is the primary center where victims have been treated. Three people are still in critical condition. Behind me here, three people passed away. This resident, Cynthia Hunter, was outside of the Emergency Room, watching minutes after 7 00 p. M. , after the shooting unfolded, people arrived. She saw young people and adults coming in in critical condition. Just to see that, you know, in a community where people dont even really lock their doors, where people have grown up here. She is 64 years old but lived here her entire life. Used to hang out at some of these spots when she was a teenager. The realization that things are forever changed, people are going to be altering their routines, buying ring cameras. We heard that from several people, as well. Theyll think about their security and community in an entirely different way. I know this is a story weve seen, you know, as you guys just talked about, transpire across this country and touch people, but it is, you know, such a small area, to have a high number of casualties, almost approaching the number of casualties you see in the state of maine in an entire year, its really hard to put into words just how shocking all of this is. You know, keep in mind, people are seeing Armored Vehicles go through their neighborhoods. They watched last night as police executed some of these search warrants. It is making it hard, again, to grieve when theres still such an active threat here. You know, were going to be talking to folks all day as they hope this doesnt turn into what we saw happen in pennsylvania, where there is a manhunt that extends and extends, and the community cant find peace. We hope it ends before that. Antonia in lewiston, maine, thanks so much. Joe, reading the early names of victims, they identify a father and son at a Bowling Night, 14yearold son. 10yearold grazed by a bullet. Her life changed forever. This was a youth Bowling Night, where parents and kids were bowling together. And it happened in maine, a state that is, i think, the safest state as far as acts of violence go. I think i read that in the times yesterday. Its also a gun owning state. People own guns. A lot of hunting in maine. Those two things can go together, but the idea that, again, Red Flag Laws are defeated, voted down in that state. The fact that 90 of americans want universal Background Checks, and republicans are blocking that. The fact that an overwhelming majority of americans want Red Flag Laws, republicans are blocking that. The fact that a majority of americans do wt to ban Military Style weapons, republicans are blocking that. They wont even talk about regulating them to make sure that people like this dont get thoseweapons. It keeps happening time and time and tim again. The ar15 is the Weapon O Choice for deranged shooters who want to go kill a lot of people because they have Mental Health problems or because theyre angry and they want to shoot up schools. Its just and katty kay, we talk so much on this show about americas reputation across the globe being shattered by whats going on inside of congress, whats happening with donald trump, but you tell me, when it comes to people asking you questions about america, like what the hell is wrong with that place, guns is at the top of that list. Every single time. Every single time, the thing that people ask me about living in the United States, is arent i afraid to live in a country where there are Mass Shootings . They say theyd never do it. The fear of living here and the chance of being killed by a mass shooter is too high. The thing that, i think, really erodes americas reputation is people are smart. They look at the polling in america. People understand whats happenin in this country, and they see that the polls show that the arin public wants action on this thing. What im asked is, hold on a second, if Time And Again we see from the polls that 70 , 80 of people want to do something abt it, why cant the country fix it . I think thats where its the real, almost thats as much the threat to americas reputation, is this idea that its not working somehow. Right. Its not working as a democracy should work, right . Governments should reflect the will of their people. Time and again, on this issue, as on abti, it doesnt reflect t will of their people. Its a real people look at Congress Andon Reall understand Debt Ceilings and dont really understand lockdowns. This issue, they understand, and it comes up so often, that it chs away at americas reputation as a desirable place to send your kids to be students or as a desirable place to live, work, and do business. Look at this Fox News Poll. 87 of americans support universal Background Checks. 81 of americans support enforcing existing gun laws. 81 support raising the age to 21 as a requirement for gun purchases. 80 , Mental Health care requirements. 80 Red Flag Laws. You get people on the far right talking about red flag la, you would think Adolph Hitler drafted the legislation. 30day waiting period, 77 support that. Again, on Military Style weapons, socalled Assault Weapons Ban, a majority of americans support that. Again, its just like abortion. Overwhelming majority of americans oppose the overturning of roe v. Wade. For decades, it was never a close ll. Yet, youve got republicans, willie, that really dont gif a damn what the majority wants. They know what theyre going to do. All of this in the face of i talked about how i changed so many of my positions on gun safety after sandy hook because of the scene from aurora, on and on, all of the shootings leading up to sandy hook. Well, the ten years since sandy hook, Mass Shootings have exploded. Gun deaths have exploded. Things have gotten precipitously worse since sandy hook. Actually, the poll were talking about, the Fox News Poll, was taken this year after the Covenant Shooting where three 9yearolds were killed in a Little School in nashville. Youre right, we all live among hunters and people with guns and all that stuff, and you ask them about the ar15 after all these, why do you need the ar15 . They go, its cool. Its badass. Vaporizes things. Its fun. We have to weigh as a society that versus what were seeing. Get a nerf dart gun. Seriously. The stupidity of that. I hear that a lot, too. I mean, seriously . You know, these stories keep happening. Its fun. Fun is worth, you know, these people continuing to get killed, shot up in school. What they wont tell you is there are a group of people who want to have them just in case they have to Kill Police Officers that come to their house, in case they have to kill, you know, American Military men or women that come to their house, because they believe the government is going to take over the country. They want to be able to shoot army people, our marines coming to their house and vaporize them. Theyre ready for them. If the war ever came, which it wont, ar15 isnt going to stop a drone that will hover over the house and, like, vaporize the house. Thats the gun side of it. Lets talk about the Mental Health piece of this story in maine. Were getting new details about the suspects Mental Health. His sisterinlaw tells nbc news the man began to hear voices that were saying, quote, horrible things when he was fitted for highpowered hearing aids a few months ago. She added is suspects Mental Health deteriorated quickly after that. The family attempted to reassure him what he was hearing was not true. Hove quote, it turned into a manic belief. The family says it alerted police and military officials the suspect was experiencing acute Mental Health episode before the wedsd night massacre. Two senior Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news, the suspects Military Unit commander sent him to inpatient Psychiatric Treatment this summerft they became concerned about threats he made to the base and his claims he was Hearing Voices. He spent about two weeks undergoing inpatient Psychiatric Treatment and was released. Its not clear what further action was taken, if any. However, as weve been saying, under maine law, the suspect still was able to buy, legally, and keep possession of the gun believed to be used in this weeks shootings. He reportedly bought that weapon earlier this year before his Military Officer sent him away for Psychiatric Treatment. Joining us now, the former fbi supervisor, former member of fbi hostage rescue team, rob demiko, founder of sierra one consulting and has over 26 years of experience in the fbi and u. S. Marine corps. Rob, let me start with the pursuit of the man, the manhunt that has been going on a couple of days. Based on what we know, based on how long its already been, where do you think this expanded search has gone now, and how long might it take to find him . I think the key is figuring out, the car that he was in is at the boat ramp. Did he switch to another vehicle . Did he actually switch to a boat, or did he go on foot . Hopefully they have some indication, if there is a vehicle missing, that they found that out. If he planted a vehicle there, it may not be as easy to understand if he got into that. That defines the area of the search. If he has a vehicle, had an hour head start, doing 70 miles an hour, and now its selfdays several days later. If he got in a boat, is there another ramp he could have gone to for another vehicle to throw us off . Or if he went to the woods on foot, those all have different issues in finding him. Its a very dangerous issue if youre looking for him on foot because of the possibility of an ambush. If he had a vehicle, how far out did he get . Those are the keys to it. They might not have the clues. Its so tough, as you saw in pennsylvania. I was looking for eric rudolf for several times down in the mountains of north carolina. Those took a long, long time. Talk to us about some of the challenges of this search here, looking for a suspect who knows the area and knows it well. This is his hometown, home turf. He also does have Military Training. We spoke to clint watts earlier this morning. He suggested the idea that sometimes shooters like this end up taking their own lives. Is there a possibility that could have happened, as well . I do. It could be i think he had this whole thing in his head, and the ending, i think he has. The ending i see in almost three ways. One, he went to a favorite spot in the woods, somewhere where he hiked and camped, and maybe his family can help us out with that, and he ended his life and itll take a long time to find him. I think he may want a confrontation with police, Suicide By Cop. He has a Standoff Pictured in his mind he wants to execute. He is going to wait for the Law Enforcement to find him, then he is going to carry that out. Or if he gets pinned, if he gets trapped down and figures theres no way out, hell kill himself. But i think it is one of those three. Theyre all dangerous for Law Enforcement. Our normal ballistic vests dont stop the 556 round he has in the ar15, so you have to wear a metal plate. They only cover very specific ares because theyre so heavy. A lot of the Police Officer except for the tactical teams, dont have the plates. If youre looking for them, theres a Long Distance out. I would hope we could somehow use technology at night, maybe a thermal imagery off a helicopter, to find him moving, so, that way, we can find him as a distance and figure out the safest way to confront him. Remember, that ultimately was how they found the guy in pennsylvania with that thermal imaging youre talking about, found him at night. Rob, im curious. You served this country for so long and with such distinction in the marine corps and the fbi. What do you think about a man like this that were talking about, this suspect, being able, given his history of Mental Health and everything else, being able to get an ar15 and cause the kind of horrific damage that he has caused . As everyone says, this is the perfect example of who shouldnt have an ar15, who shouldnt have a weapon. You really have to look at, did he buy it just before he got institutionalized, or did he buy it after . Both ways, he shouldnt have, obviously, had it. If he bought it just before, was there some system to say, hey, this guy went into a Mental Health facility, and he has firearms from the past or just bought them that we need to have that red flag law, or did he buy them after where, if you go into a Mental Health institution, would there have been some check in his background, if we had a Background Check, that would say, wait a second, he just went into a Mental Institution. He has to wait so long to actually buy a weapon, where he is denied to buy a weapon. Both of them, he doesnt deserve it, but both of them have specifics that you have to address. Did he buy it before, then youd have to take it away, or could you have prevented him from buying it after the stint in the Mental Institution . Supervisors in the military, his family, they yelled from the roof rooftops, yet here we are. Rob, we appreciate it. Ahead on morning joe, the new House Speakers comments on the tragedy in maine, what he had to say about preventing the government from shutting down. Plus, the latest developments out of The Middle East, including the air strikes in syria for attacks on u. S. Military bases. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. With fastsigns, Brew Signature Flavor into every sip and sign. Fastsigns. Make your statement. aidyl hi, im aidyl, and i lost 90 pounds on golo. I struggled with weight loss and weight gain my entire life. With all the yoyo dieting i did in the past, i would lose 20, 30, 50 pounds just to gain them over and over again. In one year, ive lost five sizes, and im on my way to lose another three. With golo, i can do it. announcer change your life at golo. Com. Thats golo. Com. The chewy app has everything for pets. Hungry pets, itchy pets, scratchy pets, and most importantly, your pet. Every day great prices and 35 off your first authorship order. Right to your door. Download the chewy app. We are receiving information about this horrific tragedy. It has moved everyone in the congress, as you might imagine. Our hearts go out to all those involved. The families, of course, of the victims. Were so grateful for Law Enforcement. We trust and hope and pray that theyre able to apprehend this individual as quickly as possible, theres no more injury or loss of life. The end of the day, the problem is the human heart. Its not guns. Its not the weapons. The end of the day, we have to protect the right of the citizens to protect themselves, and thats the Second Amendment. Thats why our party stands so strongly for that. This is not the time to be talking about legislation. Were in the middle of that crisis right now. When is the time . House Speaker Mike Johnson calling this weeks Mass Shooting in maine a tragedy, but its not the time, he says, to talk about new Gun Safety Legislation. Its never the time. Never. The problem is the human heart. Its not made of steel, and it cant repel the bullets. No, the problem is not with the human heart. Let me get confirmation from katty. Katty, do we have human hearts in germany, france, spain, the uk . Do they have video games there, Mental Health problems . Again, we can go through all of this, speaker says, and these people who want to go against 90 of americans say, its not about this, its not about the guns, its about this, that, or the other. Again, theres nothing he can say that opportunity apply to britain. Nothing. I mean, of course, we have hearts and video games and Mental Health problems. Check that off. Got it. America is, you know, exceptional in many ways, but it is not exceptional in that way. People are frail and have Mental Health problems and have frail human hearts and have video games that they play, and there are teenage boys and angry, young men, most of these mass shooters seem to be men and seem to be angry or seem to be disturbed in Someplenty Of Thos around england, as well, i can tell you. Yeah. The only difference is what we are talking about. The only difference. If youre an angry, young man in europe, you play cricket. You might box. You start neonazi parties. No, there are angry, young men, you can look at the growth of some of these parties. But they dont go out, rev, and get a gun and shoot people up. Ive got to say also, lets talk about the other side of this story. We talk about the Mass Shootings because they are just so horrific. Also, the controlling of handguns where 5 maybe, 7 of guns that are used in shootings are actually owned by the person shooting the gun. Thats another thing that i just never figured out, why republicans dont want to work more aggressively to sweep up illegal guns. That accounts for the overwhelming majority of shootings, you know, when we see all the People Killed in chicago and philadelphia and l. A. And new york on these long weekends. It is definitely trafficking illegal guns that theres been no real, aggressive way to deal with it. When you hear this incoming speaker talk about, well, weve got to deal with the fact that people have to protect themselves, well, mr. Speaker, how do you protect yourself at a Bowling Alley . Roll the ball and hold the ar15 while youre standing there to see if you knock down all the pins or not . It is absurd. When you look at what just happened, how would they defend themselves in that situation . Are we supposed to arm everybody with military weapons . When we talk about this man Hearing Voices and there was no red flags, no Background Check, theres no way you defend yourself against people that may be in a state that theyre not in their right mind, but they can get Military Style weapons that can kill multiple people. How do you defend yourself against that . Again, the extremism is unbelievable, elise. The extremism that has been revved up by, whether youre talking about the nra or other Gun Owners Of America saying, you know, Red Flag Laws are somehow against the Second Amendment. Thats a lie. You know what the Second Amendment says . It says what the court said it said in heller in 2008, which is, you have a right to have a handgun in your home. You have aight to have a shotgun in your home to protect yourself. Thats your constitutional right. Outside of that, its up to the states. Its up to the people. What i find so upsetting is just that these guns are so they can kill so many people without stopping to reload. Thats just a function of what we allow to be on the market. You end the high volume magazines, and you end at least as much of the slaughter as quickly, and you at least give the cops a chance to come in. Some of these guns that are used, you cant even buy a vest over the commercial market thats going to protect. Itll just pierce the armor. Its sick. Its disgusting. We just heard again that Police Officers are often outgunned. They cant match up when a suspect has one of these weapons. Its a moment of such limited political courage. The nra is a diminished organization from where it has been, willie. Right. Its had a funding crisis. Its become a cultural issue for some on the right. To your point, a paranoia about them coming together. The irs was being expanded, people were talking about the need to have senators were talking about it, chuck grassley. Yes, we should note, there was some bipartisan, modest legislation passed last year. That was good. It was. But even those involved with the process recognize it was a very small and inadequate first step. It was a first step. Willie, you know, we didnt even put uvalde wasnt even on the list from the daily news. I had a conversation with somebody last summer where, you know, because, again, i was conservative and i had an a rating with the nra and the groups. I believed what i believed. I knew the arguments. Now that ive, you know, post sandy hook, realized that some of these things are just extreme, and the body counts keep piling up, you know, ill often have people, you know, start to debate me on it. Why this, why that . They take Red Flag Laws or some other laws and say, add this up, and its just like hitler. Its what hitler did. Its what stalin did. They took away all the guns. Youve got the government that has all the power now. I go, you had hundreds and hundreds of Police Officers standing outside of the Uvalde Elementary School while one guy had a weapon that slaughtered those little children, and none of the Police Officers would go in. Because youre talking about the government having all the power . No. Weve had republicans now allow america to live in a place where one crazy person, one crazy person on their 18th Birthday can go buy a gun and slaughter little children in schools, and the Police Officers, the state, sits outside helplessly because theyre outgunned. If anybody thinks that that is a safe situation, where they want crazy people with Military Style weapons that were developed to hunt humans in the jungles of vietnam, being able to outgun texas law officers, well, i think you live in a different country than me. I mean, youre absolutely crazy. Let me find the camera. Youre absolutely cray s if youre letting little kids continue to be killed. This is simple. This is black and white. This is a choice. The slaughter of these little children, the slaughter of the people at Bowling Family nights, the slaughter of baptists in churches, the slaughter of people at Country Music festivals, the slaughter of people at synagogues, that is a choice that youre making. Willie, its a choice that theyre making because of money. Its all about money. Its all about political fear. Most people in this country, look at the poll again, dont want to live this way. There is a small minority, a lot happen to be the United States congress who say, this is the price of freedom. This is the price of the Second Amendment. Sometimes youre going to lose some little kids in a school in uvalde or in nashville or in connecticut. It just happens. We have to protect our right. I would just say to the new speaker, he makes the point about its the human heart and not the gun. In this case, were just talking about the human mind. Yeah. If someone is that troubled and that many people say, hey, this guy has a problem, perhaps he shouldnt have access to a highpowered semiautomatic rifle, thats what people are saying here. Coming up, in 2018, then President Trump bragged about u. S. Gdp growth at 3. 2 . Man, that would be great if he could do that. Right . Weve been stuck in the 2s forever, right . Well. The 1s and 2s. 3. 2 . I have to say, i agree with donald trump. If any president could get it to 3. 2 , would be doing a pretty good job. Well, under President Biden, that number now at nearly 5 . George w. What . [ laughter ] thats my new catch phrase. Well show you how the administration is celebrating the sharp increase. Morning joe will be right back. Limu emu doug [bell ringing] and doug says, you can customize and save hundreds on Car Insurance with liberty mutual. he hits his mark center stage and is crushed by a baby grand piano. Are you replacing me . With this guy . Customize and save with liberty bibberty. He doesnt even have a mustache oh, look a bibu. [limu emu squawks. ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. If theres pain when you try to poo and going sometimes feels like you pushed through a pineapple or two colace is the brand you need to soften stools, were all agreed 2 should be easy to do trust colace to soften stools with no stimulants for comfortable relief. I was stuck. Unresolved Depression Symptoms were in my way. I needed more from my antidepressant. Vraylar helped give it a lift. Adding vraylar to an antidepressant. Is clinically proven to help relieve overall Depression Symptoms. Better than an antidepressant alone. And in vraylar clinical studies, most saw no substantial impact on weight. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, as these may be lifethreatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. Movement dysfunction and restlessness are common side effects. Stomach and sleep issues, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are also common. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. I didnt have to change my treatment. I just gave it a lift. Ask about vraylar and learn how abbvie could help you save. upbeat music constant contacts advanced automation lets you send the right message at the right time, every time. constant contact. Helping the small stand tall. Get iphone 15 pro with titanium from Boost Infinite and transcend to a wireless utopia where youll experience unparalleled coverage on americas smart network. And save up to 40 on your monthly bill. Infinitely better. Cmon, were right there. Cmon baby. Its the only we need. Go, go, go, go ah Touchdown Baby touchdown are your neighbors watching the same game . Yeah, my 5g Home Internet delays the game a bit. But you get used to it. Try these. Theyre noise cancelling earmuffs. I stole them from an airport. Its always something with you, man. Great solid greek salad . Exactly dont delay the game with verizon or tmobile 5g Home Internet. Catch it on the xfinity 10g network. Think itll go much higher. Were doing so well. If i would have said 3. 2 to those people pack there, nobody would have believed it. Wouldnt have believed it, willie. Hes right. You cant get to 3. 2 these days. Nobody would have believed it. Then President Trump in 2018, touting a 3. 2 gross domestic product. Nobody would have believed it. Yesterday, the gdp rose at nearly 5 in the third quarter, beating expectations. Nearly half of the growth came from Consumer Spending. In a Statement Released yesterday, President Biden said in part, i never believed wed need a recessiono bring inflation down. We saw,again, the American Economy continues to grow, even as inflation has come down. Katty, i wouldnt have believed it. The number came across. I thought it was a mistake. I really did on the first Breaking News. You know, we used to see stuff like that, what, in the 60s . Couple times in the 80s. Thats extraordinarily well. Again, asking, this time, to compare america favorably to the continent and great britain, those are just numbers that you just dont see in the eu or across the world. Yeah, nowhere is booming like america. Thank god for americans love of buying stuff, because thats whats fueling this. Taylor swift, apparently, is part of the reason, too, the eras tour. Of course. Its bumped up our gdp in if of itself. Shoutout from the fed chair to tylor swift. Yeah, its driven by Consumer Spending on services and goods. That is not happening, youre right, across europe. The numbers of both growth, growth is lower, unemployment is higher, inflation is still higher in europe than it is here in the United States. It was a great summer. Lets hope we can keep it going through winter when, you know, we know that Interest Rates are still high. The question is now, how does the fed respond . Does it decide that it gets nervous about this uptick in growth and thinks, wow, we have to keep the brakes on . Because thats going to drive up inflation again. Lets see how they respond to it, but lets celebrate our love of stuff. Usa, usa. You know, what makes this so remarkable is the fed has been trying, like, with a stick to beat down the u. S. Economy now for well over a year. Trying to drive down economic growth. Trying to slow down the rate of inflation. The economy just keeps growing. Weve had al sorkin on here, other economists, people who run big banks, Attorneys Who Focus On work on this side of the ledger, and theyre all shocked. Theyre shocked this economy keeps growing. I guess the question is, and well bring it to mike allen, but, first, mike, do you have anything to say to our audience across the fruited plains . I do. Its hard in these times for the world and for the country, but for you and your family, joe, happy friday. There it is. Boom. We can all go home. Thats it. Thank you so much for being on morning joe. Hope you have a good weekend. Mike, heres the thousand dollar question. I mean, you compare the United States economy to britains economy to frances economy, to any economies across the world in the west, and were doing so much better. Theres no doubt about it. Yet, you look at the polls, and joe biden is getting no credit for this at all. The Whole Bidenomics rollout deal was a complete disaster. Its crazy, these numbers. You ask people, are you better now, better off now than a year ago . 75 will say, yeah, were doing better. The next question will be, how is the economy doing . Everybody will go, its absolutely terrible. Its the worst its ever been, and itll get worse. The negativity does not line up with what people are seeing in their own bank accounts. Why . Yeah. Joe, great point. Negativity versus reality. A couple data points for your viewers to consider. Look, the backdrop is, going into this, much of this year, an almost certainty about a recession was baked into so many projections. Now, very lowikelyhood of a recession. Why do people feel different . There is new polling out this morning in axios that shows a gap in expectations based on income. If you make more than 100,000 a year, youre feeling much better about the economy. Why is that . The stock market. The layoffs in tech have sort of backed off. If you make 50,000 to 100,000, there is a gulf between your feelings about the economy and then if you make zero to 50,000, even less. Thats one thing to watch. Second, the problem for the white house is that so many voters are not making their decision on the economy. The problem is, the ones who are most likely to make a decision on the economy, and this is true in poll after poll, theyre the ones most bearish on the presidency. What else is out there . A stunning number from gallop this month out yesterday of october polling, showing the president at 75 among democrats. Thats a low. Joe, that should be close to 100. It is 75. The reasons arent all clear. One of them is the poll was in the field when the president made his trip to israel. Right. Theres definitely a split among democrats with that. Real split among democrats regarding israel, and maybe you see that in the poll. I will say, as mike said helpfully, if youre making under 100,000 a year, which in the past was certainly more than enough to take care of your family, if youre making under 100,000 a year, Housing Prices are absolutely extraordinary. Rent prices have exploded. When Interest Rates go up and Mortgage Rates go up to 8 , youre making under 100,000, youve got a family of four, youre not buying a house. I mean, we have a story in the times yesterday, a woman making 73,000 living in her car. Again, just the Housing Prices alone are out of control for people making under 100,000. Yeah. Housing prices have certainly skyrocketed. Inflation has cooled, still higher. People are feeling that. People are still grappling with that. Poll after poll suggests that americans dont feel great about the economy, and they dont think the president has done a good job. The president and White House Point to metric after metric, including the gdp number from yesterday, saying thats simply not true. Mike, we were mentioning the bidenomics rollout. The white house acknowledged that didnt work. Theyve been shifting the conversation around the economy now. You hinted at where i wanted to go with you. There is a growing and worrisome, for those in the west wing, Enthusiasm Problem around this president , particularly among younger voters. The israel and palestinian issue is a significant one, but it predated that. Its a number thats not turning around. It is only getting worse so far for this west wing. How the democrats you speak to, what is their level of alarm, and whats the chart theyd propose, the course he should take to change it . Jonathan, as youll know from your own conversation, whats the root of it . Talk about it on the show every day. A stunning percentage of democrats dont want the president to run. We have a president ial election coming where a big chunk of both parties dont want their leading candidate to be running at all. That is tough to overcome. If they dont want you running, tough to say the right thing for them. What i hear behind the scenes from democrats, when you get democrats off the record, you ask them about the president , the most common thing i hear, and i know you hear this in your conversations, too, is what are you going to do . Thats the democratic view, and thats the opportunity for this white house. Youve got to turn that around. You have to make that you have to ignite an inspiring message. Theres a year and a week to do that. Youre right, theyre completely focused on it but have to try something new. No way to sugar coat that. They have to bring together the base. Thats the first step. Rev, we had this discussion last night. Young voters not inspired by joe biden. Black voters, the numbers just arent there for joe biden. Hispanic voters, latino voters, the numbers just arent there for joe biden. Donald trump, if things keep going, is going to be the next president of the United States, if joe biden and the White House Team doesnt figure out how to inspire young voters, black voters, and hispanic voters to go out, and not just vote but vote at record numbers. I think that it is clear that he needs to have a new strategy, if not a new team thats dealing with his messaging, that can target in these areas, that were not seeing enthusiasm, black voters, young voters, latino voters, with a direct message. Black unemployment is lower than it has ever been, but you know who doesnt really understand that . Black voters. Because no one is saying that to them. How many times would donald trump be saying that if that were the case . How many times . Probably often, it just wouldnt be true. I know. Im saying, if trump had bidens numbers. Right. Hed be talking about them all day. Thats all hed be talking about. He would be saying, greatest economy ever. Greatest economy ever. I saw trump do this when like, the seventh best gdp economy since the end of the second world war, but he kept saying it. The media kept saying, well, of course, this is the best economy ever. Biden is not hammering the message home. I mean, you can do two things at once. You can say best economy ever while youre going after donald trump for being a crook. I can say as a preacher, the worst thing in the world is to have a good message and the messenger is not getting it out. Thats whats happening. He has something to argue. Even though we have unequal parts of unemployment, black unemployment is higher than white, its lower than its ever been. Students, we were the ones that put through student loans, and the republicanstacked Supreme Court stopped us from doing it. Why arent you targeting that message . I think they have something that they can put forward. They are not doing it. And take on the opponent. Say, yes, right now, donald trump will be president , and well have to get on the federal Prison Vvisitors list to talk o him. Id take him right now. I think that people dont understand indirect message. You have to go straight at it. I think people around him needs to stop protecting him and start really throwing him throughout and throw blows. It was donald trump, elise, whose Supreme Court killed the Student Loan Relief that joe biden tried to push through. It was donald trump who bragged about killing roe v. Wade, bragged about it time and time again, ending roe v. Wade. These are about as strong of messages for young voters on College Campuses and in their 20s as there is. Well, democrats have a new republican speaker. They can trot out his past statements and say, this is who is representing the Republican Party. It feeds into bidens message that the Republican Party is so extreme in this era, a message which is unarguably true. Right. But thats just what he needs to keep hammering home. Republicans have given a gift in such an anti choice Speaker Of The House. My gosh. Mike allen, some of the other views are just so extreme. Thats right. The speaker has a number of other problems. Axios has reporting up about the grudges that are going on just within the republican conference, let alone trying to make a deal with democrats and the president to stop a government shutdown, which is coming three weeks from today, 21 days from today. Second, like, on the politics, you talk to big donors, the clips weve been seeing of this speaker on this show, we see what he said last night when he was saying that a crisis isnt the time to talk about change. Like, i can tell you, the people who wrote the big checks that Kevin Mccarthy was very strong with and built a recordsetting republican machine, like, that machine is now at risk. Thats what worries people all across the party. You have a speaker who is not going to be great with the big checks, and theyre looking at a donald trump nominee. If youre looking at the long term of the party, if youre looking at the long term of the bank account, youre worried. Cofounder of axios, mike allen. Thank you. Happy friday to you. Thank you, joe. Mike brings up a great point on the big donors. Look whats happened to ron desantis because of the sixweek abortion ban. Some of his largest donors, some of the largest donors in the Republican Party are like, thanks but no thanks. Add on top of that other extreme views. This new speaker, you know, has said that gay men, adults doing what they want to do in their bedroom should be criminalized, could be criminalized. If its not, it could lead to the downfall of the United States of america. Thats not a custombuilt message for big donors, let alone 95 of americans. Yeah, or that he said years ago, legalizing gay marriage, which america overwhelmingly supports, could lead to people marrying their pets, something, a road he believed we were heading down. Has he retracted any of that . Interesting thought process, to even think about that. Just let that you wonder where where does that come from . Interesting inspiration. Looking at fluffy, i dont think that. Really strange. How does that enter ones mind . Im sorry i brought it up. Weve crossed the top of the hour. Weve crossed a lot of things. Just after 7 00 here on the east coast. We begin this hour with the manhunt that continues this morning for the suspected gunman in the lewiston, maine, Mass Shootings. 50,000 people remain under lockdown across the state after the 40yearold suspect killed at least 18 people and injured another 13 at a Bowling Alley and a bar on Wednesday Night. Eight victims were killed at the bar, seven at the Bowling Alley, three died later at area hospitals. An Arrest Warrant has been issued for the suspect, charging him with eight counts of murder based on the identification of eight victims so far. Search warrants were executed at several locations yesterday, throughout the nearby town of bowdoin, where the suspect lives. Four senior Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news a note was found at the suspects home during the search. Investigators trying to determine the meaning of that note and how it could guide their investigation. U. S. Coast guard also has joined the search efforts. Thats because the suspect owns a boat and at least one jet ski, leading to questions about whether he could have fled by water. Remember, that he found his vehicle parked at a boat dock. Investigators also looking into whether a gun found in the suspects car was the same one used in the shootings. The weapon is believed to be a sniper rifle purchased legally this year,ding to officials. Law enforcement also looking into whether a female acquaintance of the suspect who frequented the bar may have been a reason the suspect targeted that location. As the Lewiston Community begins to grapple with what happened, a victims father is telling Nbcs Lester Holt how his son died a hero. Joey walker was shot to death. Shot to death, but then he went in to say he died as a hero. He picked up a Butcher Knife from somewhere, you know, he has all that stuff near the bar anyway, and he tried to go at the gunman to stop him from shooting anybody else. The gunman shot him twice. Does it change your pain at all, knowing that . Oh, it made it worse. Yeah, it made it worse. Made it worse, he says. His son shot through the stomach and killed. Ed davis led the response to the Boston Marathon bombing, now serves as ceo of the edward davis company. Ed, thanks for being with us this morning. Lets begin with the manhunt, and you have some experience, tragically, with all of this, of trying to find someone on the run with seemingly nothing to lose. In this case, a man with Firearms Training carrying, obvious, a highpowered weapon, and with serious Mental Health challenges. Where do you think you begin to look for this . What kind of a search are we talking about here . Well, the search is wide ranging. Its focused in maine right now, but this guy could be anywhere after the amount of time thats passed. If he had another car, if he got there a boat and went to a location to escape, we could be looking anywhere on the east coast. The evidence is that he is in the maine area. Theyll concentrate on that. Theyve got Search Capabilities there and hundreds of Law Enforcement officers from all over new england have flooded the area. Theres a Very Methodical Process Taking place. But this guy seems to be more organized than most of these Mass Shootings. If he planned this out, considering his training, then actually finding him is going to be more difficult. He may have a hideout in the woods. He may just go to ground for a while until the search calms down. This seems to be much more coordinated than youd expect in a situation like this. Ed, so is it more likely for suspects in this type of heinous shooting to stay near their home, to stay in the woods they know, to stay along the roads they know, or have you seen incidents where theres a sort of shooting and they flee to a completely different area they know nothing about . I think its more the latter, joe. Most people try to get away from where theyre at. Get on a highway and take off. Actually, that works really well for police because of the surveillance capabilities we have on the interstate highways. In this particular case, and in some instances, people will stay in the area where the incident happened and literally climb in a hole. Find a place they can get away from everything and hide out for a few days until the pressure is off, and then try to escape from the area. I i mean, its just a sense, but i suspect that this guy has probably gone to ground somewhere up there in maine, and the search there will yield some fruit if they stay on it. Ed, lets go further. If that is, indeed, what happened here, this is terrain he knows very well. He could be well fortified for an eventual confrontation with police. What are your concerns . We know he is heavily armed, has a highpowered weapon. What would be your advice or worries for Law Enforcement confronting him, knowing that he is armed like that . Well, its troubling that he has the experience that he has with firearms. I can tell you, when you Start Talking about him possessing a sniper rifle, i was at ft. Bragg not too long ago and hit a target at 750 yards with a sniper rifle. Im no sharpshooter by any stretch of the imagination. Thats the killing capability he has in the field, which is troubling. Thats why the use of drones or aircraft that have thermal imaging could make all the difference in the world there. If theyre able to identify a location from him, on him, they can move in quickly and safely and try to pin him down. Obviously, a very dangerous suspect theyre talking about here. Former Boston Police commissioner ed davis, commissioner, thanks so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it. Thank you, sir. A maine congressman who previously opposed an Assault Weapons Ban now says that position was a mistake. In an Emotional Press Conference yesterday, democrat golden, who represents the district, asked for forgiveness for a 2022 vote against stricter gun laws. Out of fear of this dangerous world we live in and my determination to protect my own daughter and wife in our home and in our community, because of a false confidence that our community was above this and that we could have in full control among many other misjudgments, i have opposed efforts to ban Deadly Weapons of war like the Assault Rifle used to carry out this crime. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure. Which is why i now call on the United States congress to ban Assault Rifles like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown of lewiston, maine. For the good of my community, i will work with any colleague to get this done in the time that i have left in congress. To the people of lewiston, my constituents throughout the second district, to the families who lost loved ones, and to those who have been harmed, i ask for forgiveness and support as i seek to put an end to these terrible shootings. Congressman jared golden, a marine corps veteran, served tours in iraq and afghanistan, he was one of five democrats to vote against an Assault Weapons Ban, bill that passed the house but never was taken up by the senate. Meanwhile, the new house Speaker Mike Johnson is calling this weeks Mass Shootings in maine a tragedy, but says this is not the time to talk about new Gun Safety Legislation. We are receiving information about this horrific tragedy. It has moved everyone in the congress, as you might imagine. Our hearts go out to all those involved. The families, of course, of the victims. Were so grateful for Law Enforcement. We trust and hope and pray that theyre able to apprehend this individual as quickly as possible, theres no more injury or loss of life. The end of the day, the problem is the human heart. Its not guns. Its not the weapons. The end of the day, we have to protect the right of the citizens to protect themselves, and thats the Second Amendment. Thats why our party stands so strongly for that. This is not the time to be talking about legislation. Were in the middle of that crisis right now. You know, he knows thats not true. Its not the human heart. He knows the United States has a problem unique to these type of shootings. Katty, we bring you again in here. Again, its not the human heart thats the problem here. As willie said, its a diseased mind. Its not video games. Its not Mental Health alone. Its the availability of guns. Also, just want you to speak on that again, but, also, i cant believe we actually have a politician that will say in 2023, after a shooting, now is not the time to talk about Mass Shootings. Look at these numbers we showed last hour. The fact is, there have already been 566 Mass Shootings so far in 2023. If now is not the time, what do we have to do, wait five, six, seven years to talk about this . There are no breaks in america anymore between Mass Shootings. The numbers have accelerated so quickly in this stat, that it is simply preposterous to say, its not the time to talk about Mass Shootings after a Mass Shooting. Again, we have more Mass Shootings in america every year than we have days in the year. Yeah. I mean, look at the numbers. There would never be a moment when you didnt have a day without a Mass Shooting. Conveniently, i guess, for the speaker, that would mean you could never talk about it. It is a choice that america makes that other countries have chosen not to make. Other countries around the world that have had Mass Shootings, like the one in australia, like the one in scotland, countries took action after those Mass Shootings and banned the kind of weapons that were causing them. Guess what . There havent been Mass Shootings in either of those countries since that action was taken. It is possible to take action. I know the arguments, there are so many guns in society now that it wouldnt make a difference. Doing, for example, what elise mentioned, you know, taking the magazines away. Looking at the Assault Weapons Ban. In the United States, you chose to implement an Assault Weapons Ban in 1994. Youve done it. You did it. The number of Mass Shootings in that period went down. You were 70 less likely to be killed by a Mass Shooting in the United States during the Assault Weapons Ban than you were before or after it. Yeah. So we know what can be done. We know it has results. There are images from other countries that have done it. Examples from other countries. The argument that it is about Mental Health, video games, or the human heart doesnt stand ground because those things are all over the world. Republicans talk like such losers when this problem comes up. Oh, theres nothing we can do. Yeah, there is. There is something you can do. Ill just say, over the past couple weeks, people said, theres nothing we can do with israel and the palestinian problem. No, you cant say that. Apparently, whether it is destroying hamas or pressuring israel and palestinian authorities to get to the table and broker a peace deal, i mean, theres nothing we can do is not an option. Its not an option. Republicans only talk that way when they dont want to do anything. I mean, think about what theyre saying. What theyre saying is, like willie said earlier today, you know, the price of freedom, our fathers and sons being gunned down and massacres at family Bowling Night. The cost of freedom are baptists going to Church On Sunday Mornings to worship the lord and getting gunned down by weapons of war. By the way, we talk about the deaths in those heinous incidents. We dont talk about the scars that remain. Not just the mental scars that remain, but the people who are hobbled, the people who are shattered, the people who have trouble walking, breathing, living, after being in a war zone. Whether its at a Country Music festival or a Baptist Church or family night at a Bowling Alley in the middle of maine. Just think about it. Just think about it. Really, it is again, the most offensive thing, there are some things that we cant handle. There are some things we cant control. This is something we can control. This is a choice. We dont have to live like this. This is a choice. Its going to be complicated. Just like peace in The Middle East is going to be complicated. You know, smart people have done it before. Weve got to move forward doing it. This whole, oh, we cant even talk about it, please, what a copout. What a cowardly copout. Lets bring in the editor of the nonpartisan group, project democracy, amanda carpenter. Amanda, tell me, you can talk about what weve been talking about, but also talk about the speaker. You said something very interesting. When Speaker Johnson got the gavel, you said, thats the ultimate excuse me thats the ultimate victory for maga republicans. They have won this battle inside the party. Yeah. I sort of think this speaks to both issues. There is this concept of Learned Helplessness that we accept on a lot of levels, both with the gun issue, but also the speakers race. Like, look at what happened here. How the trump maga wing, when you want to call it, autocrats, maga republicans, they win by grinding people down and wanting to achieve their objectives more than everybody else, right . They said, well go through one, two, three, four speakers to get what we want. In the meantime, there was this sort of momentarily momentary narative about revenge of the moderates. It was not true. Ken buck said, ill never go along with an Election Denier like jim jordan. In reality, he just wanted the pain to stop. In reality, the socalled moderate republicans just didnt like the Death Threats they were getting, that jim jordan wouldnt put a stop to. So when another offer was put on the table, Speaker Johnson, who did all the same election denialism, if not more. He led it. It was the qualificationmand boy in the house. He led it. Yes. I was going to say, his qualification for the job was whipping Congressional Republicans to support that brief to ask the Supreme Court to cancel votes, throw them out, in the states biden won. Thats why he is Speaker Of The House. But ken buck and everyone went along with us because hes nicer and the Death Threats wont come to my office anymore. Its Learned Helplessness. Republicans want the pain to stop. They have a momentary flash of conscious, maybe ken buck looked at job options, surveyed the landscape, and said, ill come back to the party because it is still good for me. Speaker johnson also defended donald trump at both his impeachment hearings, both of the trials. He was on the defense. Yes, in fact, he did lead this effort to help with that amicus brief out of texas. To amandas point, you know, we had all of this Principled Stand and, as amanda said, there were pieces written, the revenge of the moderates fight back and everything else. So put johnson and jordan next to each other. Johnson is smoother, maybe less offensive, you know, superficially. Wears a jacket. He wears a jacket. Thats a good start. Big one. But hes got all the same beliefs. I mean, its the same guy with a different look. Donald trump knows that johnson is his guy, that he can count on him, and he started pulling the strings. He killed emmers candidacy. He did everything. Donald trump is still pushing the buttons here. Johnson is just a blank slate, but not really because we have plenty of background in terms of his writings, in terms of his television comments. I guess what i want to ask amanda is, do you foresee you have a long background in republican politics on the hill. What do you see happening policy wise, if anything, Going Forward . Well, we have to remember that the republican primary is going on. I think the field is going to quickly collapse. I think close political observers see donald trump is inevitably going to be the nominee. You look at a guy like Speaker Johnson, who really has no experience governing. I didnt realize until earlier this week, he entered politics. He got his seat with an uncontested race, essentially walked into being a member of congress in 2015. He really hasnt faced any tough battles. To take this seat, where is he going to seek direction from, do you think, when donald trump becomes the nominee of the party . He essentially is going to take all his cues from trump. Thats not atypical in a president ial year, where the party falls in line from the nominee and takes leadership from the person going to be the nominee. Now that its probably going to be trump, johnson has no experience. You have to think about what that looks like when donald trump is not only controlling the narrative in the republican president ial nominee, but also the house. So we can sort of guess where Speaker Johnson might be, but i dont think we have to guess that far. You can look at the trump 47 agenda they put out. It was on the internet. Tick through the priorities and see thats where hes going to go. From the white houses perspective, they can live with Kevin Mccarthy. They didnt like him but they felt they could get deals done. Deeply opposed to jim jordan. Now, they know this victor opposes joe bidens victory. There is weariness. Will johnson listen to whatever Donald Trump Tells him . How important is Mitch Mcconnell on the huge issues for the Republican Party and the party writ large . Johnson is saying, ill support israel, but maybe we dont Go All The Way for ukraine. Talk to us about the role that mcconnell is going to play, particularly as questions persist about his health. Yeah, i think we really need to get into Scenario Planning of what could happen, not necessarily in 2025, if trump becomes president , but what happens over the next year. As you mentioned, Mitch Mcconnell is in a frail state, right . What happens to Senate Leadership if, suddenly, thats in question for any reason, Speaker Johnson is running the house, and donald trump is calling the shots . In a moment of crisis, its not even something thats going to happen in the future. We are already in a moment of International Crisis when it comes to ukraine and israel. What happens when the funding bill comes up and Mitch Mcconnell isnt there, and there is a Senate Leadership race and nobody knows who is going to take control . It is really hard to guess what can happen, but the fact is, its very uncertain. Its very chaotic. Those two elements, uncertainty and chaos, are an authoritarians best friend. Rev, it is interesting, talking about Mitch Mcconnell, that you really do have three parties in washington , d. C. Youve got the house republicans. Youve got institutionalists, whether people like their policies or not. Then you have the democrats. With Mitch Mcconnell, and john thune and the leadership there. There are two other institutionalists who, you know, john roberts is like the ultimate institutionalist. People may not like on the left how he rules, but institutions come first, for the most part. Thats the thing about the senate. Republicans, just like radicals of the late 1960s and radicals in revolutionary france, they want to tear down every institution. They want to tear down the military. They want to tear down the fbi. They want to tear down america in academia, tear down the College Campuses. Theyve done everything but go into College President s offices and take over. They are the antithesis of what burke said they should be. Were looking at the senate now as the institutionalists that have to hold this together. If they dont, god knows where well end up. I mean, were talking about a speaker that has the power to try and, i agree with amanda and want to throw it back to her, that he can disrupt just the process of necessary legislation next year just by how he conducts business as the speaker. I wonder if we are going to see bidentrump fight, too, in terms of a rematch. What happens if its a close election . Hes the speaker. Will he try to stop the certification if yes. Yes. Answer that right now, he already has. Raise that. We need to let america know january 6th wont be outside this time if this guy is speaker. Why do you think trump fought emmer so much . He didnt go along with the lie, the conspiracy. Yeah, these things are decided in the house, willie. Donald trump has his guy. He has the antidemocracy guy in the speakers chair. I saw some press conference, a clip where a reporter asked a question and everybody started screaming. Yeah. I almost said a word ive said on this air a couple of times. Ill just say, what fools. Who do they think we are . Who do they do they think americans are that stupid . Theyre all Election Deniers up there. Theyre mad at the press for bringing up the fact that donald trump now has his tool to move us towards an autocratic state where democratic elections dont matter. Hes already done it. He led the charge to overturn a president ial election. Yeah, we know whats going to happen. We know all these president ial elections end up in the house. Donald trump is thinking, i got this. Election denialism has been accepted and normalized as republican culture or trumpist culture, we can say. When a simple question is asked, based on your history, new mr. Speaker, to you believe joe biden is the president of the United States . The reporter is booed, literally booed by members of congress. One woman standing next to johnson told her to shut up. Shouting at the reporter, boo, youre living in the past. All the rest of it. Actually, were worried about the future. Yeah, and thats the we have the bite. Lets listen to it. Mr. Johnson, you helped lead the efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Can you oh boo. Shut up. Shut up. Next question. 2024. Saying shut up . Uhhuh. Put a mirror in front of your face. You shut up. I mean, these people try to overturn american democracy. We saw it. He led the effort in the house. Willie, then theyre shocked at the question. Why . Because they dont want to talk about it because theyre already planning. Right. Theyve already got this figured out. Theyve got Donald Trumps guy in there, and theyre going to steal this election in the House Of Representatives with this speaker, who led you say shut up . Were not going to shut up. You shut up. If you want to overturn american democracy, we dont want to hear what you have to say. Keep it to yourself. But well never shut up. Because these are the people that tried to end the american experiment because their guy didnt win. Because a failed Reality Tv Show host didnt win. So those are the stakes. Thats really whats happened. Donald trump has found the guy that will gladly pave the way to an autocracy where democratic elections dont matter. Its no coincidence that mike johnson is in there. Donald trump wants him in there, and Donald Trumps guys and women in the house helped put him there. They ran Kevin Mccarthy out of office and got the most maga person they could find. So i think, john, now, as we all know, this election is going to be close either way, if its trump against joe biden. Itll be slim margins again in arizona and michigan and georgia and all those places. Were going to see a replay. Matt gaetz who led the coup against Kevin Mccarthy was quoted this week. He was asked about the messiness. Im par aphrasing, he was like, this is a success because we have a better maga representative in there right now. He said it out loud. That was the plan, to get someone in there who, if this comes down to a close election, and they all seem to be, a matter of a few thousand votes here or there, the house plays a role, donald trump has his guy in place. Editor at the nonpartisan group, protect democracy, amanda carpenter, always great to have you on. Over the past ten days, there have been nearly 20 Drone Attacks on u. S. Service members in The Middle East. Now, the United States military is responding with air strikes. Well go through that new development. Plus, a live report from lebanon, where theres growing conflict between israel and another terrorist group. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Mr. Johnson, you helped lead the efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Will you oh, gosh. Boo. Shut up. Boo. Shut up. Next question. Next question ive got sym control of my crohns means everything to me. Control is everything to me. Feel significant Symptom Relief at 4 weeks with skyrizi, including less Abdominal Pain and fewer bowel movements. Skyrizi is the first il23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. And the majority of people experienced longlasting remission at one year. Serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. Liver problems may occur in Crohns Disease. Nows the time to ask your gastroenterologist how you can take control of your crohns with skyrizi. Control is everything to me. Learn how abbvie could help you save. In the u. S. We see millions of Cyber Threats each year. That rate is increasing as more and more businesses move to the cloud. So, the question is. Cyber attack as Cyber Criminals expand their toolkit, we must expand as well. We need to rethink. Next level moments, need the next level network. [speaker continues in the background] the network with 24 7 builtin security. Chip . At t business. Ive struggled with generalized Myasthenia Gravis. But the picture started changing when i started on vyvgart. Vyvgart is for adults with generalized Myasthenia Gravis who are antiachr antibody positive. In a clinical trial, vyvgart significantly improved most participants ability to do daily activities when added to their current gmg treatment. Most participants taking vyvgart also had less muscle weakness. And your Vyvgart Treatment Schedule is designed just for you. In a clinical study, the most common side effects included urinary and respiratory tract infections, and headache. Vyvgart may increase the risk of infection. Tell your doctor if you have a history of infections or symptoms of an infection. Vyvgart can cause allergic reactions. Available as vyvgart for iv infusion and now as Vyvgart Hytrulo for subcutaneous injection. Additional side effects for Vyvgart Hytrulo may include injection site reactions. Talk to your neurologist about vyvgart. Im andrea, founder of a Boutique Handbag brand andi and this is why i switched to shopify. Its the challenges that we dont expect, like a site going down or the checkout wouldnt work. Whats nice about shopify is when im with my family, when im taking time off, knowing that i have a site up and running and our business is moving forward because we have a platform that we can rely on. That is gold to us. Start your free trial at shopify today. The u. S. Military has conducted air strikes on two sites in syria. Officials tell nbc news the sites were being used to store weapons and ammunition and are associated with irans Islamic Revolutionary guard corps. Its not clear if anyone was injured or killed in the operation. The pentagon says the strikes were in retaliation for recent attacks against u. S. Forces in iraq and syria. The past week, troops have been attacked 19 times, most recently yesterday in northern iraq. 21 Service Members have been injured with politico reporting 19 suffered traumatic brain injuries. One person died later of a cardiac incident. That was a contractor working on th base. In a statement, Secretary Of Defense lloyd austin writes in part, the United States does not seek conflict and intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these iranianbacked attacks against u. S. Forces are unacceptable and must stop. Pries against u. S. Forces will continue, we will not hesitate to take further, necessary meases to protect our people, end quot austin goes on to say, last nights operation was, quote, separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between israel and hamas. Israel is warning the u. S. Will not be spared if the israelhamas war turns into a broader conflict. The countrys Foreign Minister ishe threat in a speak to e u. N. General assembly. Iran said, we dont want a further war in the region, but if the genocide in gaza, his word, continues, it wont be spared from the fires, talking about the u. S. Lets bring in matt bradley, joins us live from Southern Lebanon near the israeli border. Matt, explain, if you can, why all of this is fueling fears of a wider war in The Middle East. Reporter yeah, its not just fears of a wider war in The Middle East, willie. Were also talking about kind of an expanding of these tensions throughout the entire globe. As you mentioned, im pretty close to the border with israel, just over that ridge there. This border that im very close to is very close to war. If that happens, it will mean kind of a regionalization of this conflict. As you mentioned, were already seeing u. S. Air strikes in places like syria, then also attacks by iranbacked groups against u. S. Installations in iraq. There was another thing in the past 24 hours. We saw moscow hosting representatives from hamas and from iran. This shows that Vladimir Putin might be claiming kinship with what folks in this region call an axis of resistance. This is going to be further cleaving apart along some wellworn grooves all throughout the entire world. Divisions that weve already seen, political idealogical splits on. All of this as the entire world starts taking stock and taking sides. Reporter for than two weeks, hezbollah and the idf performed a lethal, delicate dance. One side fires artillery, the other a missile. Neither dares miss a step. The choreography is set. The tempo is speeding up to the beat of belligerent rhetoric. Reporter even as the violence intensifies, hezbollah and israel appear to be stopping short of all out war, for now. I spoke to a local imam who told me the threat from hezbollah prevented them from moving into the gaza strip. Will they prevent israel from moving into gaza . Translator today, israel is worried that hezbollah will get involved if israel was to enter gaza from the ground. Reporter he pointed to israels own reports showing hezbollahs rocket strength has grown ten times since it fought its last war with israel in 2006. If hezbollah does decide to enter the war, he said, itll drag with it an alliance of antiisraeli nations, an axis of resistance, led by iran. Reporter do you think israel is afraid of hezbollah and the power of the axis of resistance . Translator absolutely. They say if hezbollah enters, itll be armageddon for israel. It knows theentrance of hezbollah will change the rules of engagement entirely. Reporter tit for tat fighting has killed soldiers on both sides. Israel has widened the evacuation zone along the border, emptying the small city of kiryat. Zoom out, and you can see the heavily armed harassing playing out on a regional scale. The iranbacked Islamic Resistance of iraq already struck an air base and international airport. An American Ship in the red sea shot down multiple drones and missiles brought from Iranbacked Houthi rebels in yemen that may have been headed to israel. And the u. S. Navy deployed two Aircraft Carrier strike zones in the eastern mediterranean. What the u. S. Calls a deterrent to expanding the war, the axis of resistance sees as a menacing escalation. Translator there is an American Ship in the sea here. Reporter are you and the lebanese people scared . Translator 40 years ago, americans came from new jersey to lebanon. How did they leave . It carried out its soldiers bodies. This was 40 years ago. Not today. Today, were in a much stronger position from 40 years ago. Reporter its a sinister threat. This hezbollah member of parliament is referring to the last time the u. S. Deployed troops to lebanon in 1983. Hezbollahs allies attacked their barracks with truck bombs, leaving 241 americans dead. What is the red line for hezbollah entering the war . Translator this is the hidden decision that no one will announce except the leadership of the axis of resistance. Reporter that decision may be coming. Just yesterday, leaders from hezbollah, hamas, and Palestinian Islamic jihad, major groups in the axis of resistance, held a meeting to plot a, quote, real victory in gaza. With irans reach stretching from baghdad to beirut, the streets of the arab world are bracing for war. The israelis have left us as arab people no other chance or no other choice but to resist, and resistance means that you have to resist at whatever means youve got, including armed resistance. Reporter its a resistance that could carry an entire nation to war. So, joe, we have yet to hear from one other piece of the puzzle before we see a true internationalization of this war. This region has yet to hear from the revered leader of hezbollah. Now, this man rarely misses an opportunity to address his adoring public here in lebanon or throughout the region, or really throughout the entire world, but he has yet to speak over the past nearly three weeks. That is conspicuous for his absence. Now, this is something that a lot of folks here are waiting for, and its only when we hear from him that well know exactly what hezbollah is going to be doing. That will indicate what the entire region is going to be up to in the coming weeks and years, joe. My goodness. Nbcs matt bradley, thank you for that report. Live in lebanon. Please take care of yourself. Willie, im sorry, i just see people saying israel has left us no choice, but israel has left us no choice . Theyre sleeping on a holy holiday, and their babies are shot up in their cribs, burned to death. Left us no choice . Their young girls are raped. Some of them killed. Holocaust survivors living through that hell. Please. Please. If this happened to any country on the face of the earth, everybody would understand that country going back and doing what had to be done to make sure that the terror group that came in and raped their women, killed and burned their grandmothers, shot up and cut the heads off of babies, theyd never have that power to do it again. Every country on the face of the earth. For hypocrites in the United States of america questioning whats going on here, if mexico did this, we would be down in mexico city by nightfall. Say, were going to flatten your city, flatten it, unless you bring the terrorists to justice. The hypocrisy. The hypocrisy, that israel somehow has to live by a different standard than every other country on the face of the globe. People talk about proportional killing . Oh, okay, so you want okay, so israelis, what should happen . Should the israelis burn the same number of babies that hamas did, rape the same number of women that hamas did . Theres no proportionality here. The israelis were sleeping in their beds with their children, a lot of peace activists at a peace concert, kids going to a concert, and just the savagery, unspeakable. Unspeakable you know, i seriously dont give a damn what any International Organization is saying at this point. International organizations that have always taken every chance they can take to attack israel, acting as if israel has the responsibility to make peace with an organization that, in its charter says, our mission is to fight peace. There will be no peace with jews. In fact, our goal is to kill jews. Were going to take war against the jews so seriously, that when they hide behind trees, even the trees and the rocks will rise up to kill jews. Thats their goal. Thats hamas goal. Kill jews. To wipe israel from the face of the earth. What do you do with that . Theres only one thing you can do with that. Theres 15 million jews on the face of the earth. 6 million slaughtered during the holocaust. What do you do . You know what you do . You destroy that Terror Organization. In this case, that Terror Organization hides behind civilians. Israel needs to be as careful and as cautious as they can, as they conduct this war. But people talking about, oh, lets have a ceasefire. Lets just back off. How would america have acted if people had come to us on september 12th, you know what . You guys did a lot of bad things in The Middle East through the years. We need to just you guys need to back off. Lets just have a lets have a ceasefire with al qaeda. How would we have responded to that . How would we have responded to that on december the 8th, 1941 . You know, the japanese, you did a lot of really bad things to the japanese through the years. So lets just forget about pearl harbor. Lets just live together. No, it doesnt work that way. Its not how the world works. Its not how the world should work. This Terror Organization has to be destroyed. Then, as i said, its a twostep process. Then we in the World Community put pressure on israel to do the right thing in the west bank, and stop the radicals and the extremists that are going in, taking palestinian homes, bulldozing thing, and pushing illegal settlements. We can do two things at once. We can defend israel and their right to exist, and we can make them move beyond netanyahus destructive policies on the peace process. Its what we need to do. Please, israel has left us no choice . You raped their women, killed their babies, burned their grandmothers, this is on israel . No, its not on israel. This is on hamas. Seriously, i just got to ask, how much longer and President Biden was asked a question about numbers, of dead palestinians in gaza. They keep quoting hamas. News agencies keep quoting hamas and their numbers. Does nobody remember the destroyed hospital that the israelis supposedly bombed . Hamas immediately, like three minutes later, 500 killed. But now we have people, News Agencies quoting hamas statistics. I just i just i cant imagine being a jew, not only in america, but in israel and across the world because antisemitism it didnt start with this attack. Its been here for thousands of years. This especially on College Campuses. Weve talked about it a lot here. Its especially bad on College Campuses in america. I mean, they were left with a choice. They have been left with a choice time and time again. Get hamas out of power, and the people in gaza didnt do it, so the israelis are going to have to. They left them no choice. They left them no choice. And to your point, the viewers and readers guide when you Say Something that says the authorities in gaza say the authority in gaza is hamas. Take that with a grain of salt. Weve heard the rationalization weve heard in that peace. Here in america, you can go out to a rally in the street probably today and on a college campus, and hear it today. This is justified because of the colonizers, because of all the things we hear. Really . If your first reaction to senior citizens, elderly women being lit on fire and babies shot at pointblank range is, yes, but, you really need to take a long look at yourself, and also understand that the large part of the reason that people in gaza suffer so much is because it is hamas whos been in power for nearly 20 years. Yeah. Making their lives miserable as israel tries to defend itself. Ahead of the u. N. Says we need a cease fire, israelis say, the problem with that is hamas will not cease to fire if we do. Right. They just showed us what theyll do if we step back. Yeah, and the ignorance, especially the ignorance of people on College Campuses that spout out that israel was an occupier of gaza, hamas. Since 2005 they have run it and theyve run it with an iron fist, killing anybody that talked about peace. Well be right back. About peace well be right back. Iano. Youre replacing me . Customize and save with liberty bibberty. He doesnt even have a mustache. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. With cirkul, your water is deliciously flavored at the turn of a dial, with zero sugar and zero calories. And cirkul has over 40 flavors, so your water can be as unique as you are. Try cirkul. Your water, your way. Now with even more flavors. Available at walmart or drinkcirkul. Com. The American Dream lives. The American Dreams dead. Oh, what an idiot. Oh, are we on . Are we on . The American Dream is dead. A huckster, a huckster from queens can suck in business, declare bankruptcy 87 times, piss through 4 million of his fathers money and dollars today and still get elected president of the United States, and still be Walking Around free after stealing nuclear secrets. If that is not the American Dream, my friend, i dont know what is. To talk about all that and much more, lets bring in Senior Writer at the New York Times, the Pulitzer Prize winner, david leonhardt. The opinion page editor ameritus just wrote a book on this. Jerry baker. Yes. And you and jerry would agree i take great exception with both of you. Yes. What i find fascinating about your book, though, is you look at the right, you look at the left and you say, you know, the right got a lot of things right that we in the press didnt understand, and the left got a lot of things right, but they also got a lot of things wrong, and you talk about how their miscalculations on policy have led to the destruction you believe of the American Dream. Its the decline of it. I think we have to do things to really reinvigorate it. I think we can, but were not doing them right now. Lets talk first of all, what did conservatives get right and progressives get wrong . So if you look at the 1960s, and one of the things that was fascinating to me while writing this book is out mistakes of the left in the early 1960s, you really see the beginnings that the left is making today which is that it is just incredibly dismissive of a lot of views that working class people have, a lot of moderate views. Back then, it was things like crime. In the early 60s, crime was rising and you look at liberal publications and theyre putting crime in quotes. Right. By the way, theyre still doing that, but go ahead. In the 1968 campaign, mccarthy refuses to say law and order. You can say the same with Bobby Kennedy. He said, progressives need to talk about crime. Its a serious concern for all i understand of people and Bobby Kennedy was both a real progressive on economics and he was the most popular white politician in black america, and he talked really clearly about why it was so important to talk about crime. Bobby, and thats what i loved about him so much is he talked about crime quote, law and order, however you want to put it. He also talked about justice. Yes. In every speech, he did both. He did both, and he gave the same speeches whether he was talking to a white crowd in the suburb or a black crowd in an inner city. He gave the same speech. And so what the Democratic Party basically left that model behind, and it moved toward a model where it is increasingly the party, an upscale party, increasingly a party of college graduates. Its still a party of economic redistribution, but it contains a huge range of things and within the last five years, weve seen the Democratic Party not only lose ground with White Working Class voters, but latino voters and a couple of Percentage Points with black voters. What did the left get right and the right get wrong . The reagan revolution of the 1980s, the idea were going to cut taxes and were going to open up trade to the world and were going to let Companies Grow as large as they can grow, that reagan revolution, they said, this is going to make life better for everyone. This is going to bring prosperity for everyone, and it hasnt. In 1980, the United States had a normal Life Expectancy for a rich country. Today the United States has the lowest Life Expectancy of any rich country. Whats driving that . Im sorry . Whats driving that . I think equality has a huge role in it. People havent find schools in every school district. People cant get medical care. That stagnation is driven by people who dont have that. I have more questions before i turn it over. I dont mean to hog you here. Im fascinated. You also see Life Expectancy going down, Mental Health problems rising, death and despair for certain segments of the population, and we talk around a lot of stuff, and this is just i guess its just because of my background and my beliefs, but i also think the right got it right when they talked about the importance of church. Yeah. The importance of synagogues, the importance of community, the importance of faith, believing in something bigger than yourself that brought people together. Yes. And i remember Time And Again we would be in sunday school class and there would be one person that would come and Say Something crazy and we would all look, going, no. No. Lets open up to luke and lets talk, but there was this community that would if somebody was ready to stray, they would pull them back in and say, listen. Lets talk about that. We dont have that as much anymore, and the rev can tell you that, but thats something that the right has talked about for a long time. Faith, faith, faith, faith. We have lost community in both the right and left wings. I agree with you about religion. Weve also lost labor unions and companies that cared about the cities that they were in. You tend toward optimism about the american experiment and i do too. Right. I think the solution to a lot of our problems involves political organizing. It involves actually trying to have our political system improve the Living Standards for most americans rather than be distracted by all this junk that were distracted by now. Right. So david, lets talk about this idea of the American Dream and earning more than your parents. 1940, 92 of people earned more than their parents and there was this expectation that the next generation will do better than the last. Thats not necessarily true anymore. How did we get to that place . Also, it speaks to the larger malaise among young people in this country about where their lives are headed. What goes into that . This Economic Research shows that if you are born in 1940, you had a 92 chance of outearning your parents. Thats very important because a lot of those people were laid off at some point. They grew up in an economy that was horribly racist, that had all kinds of problems. Im not saying the 1950s or 60s should be something we aspire to get back to. We should never go back there, but it was Getting Better for at least the majority of people were better. People stopped caring about community, and we stopped having Corporate Executives who invested in their communities and they tried to make as much money as they can, and they both moved to this trade around the world and we said, thats going to work out great for us and it hasnt. Its interesting to see a lot of those countries didnt open up trade in the same way we did. Capitalism is the best system we ever developed for Living Standards, but not every form. Before we go to rev, on trade, because i have had the same frustration as you, i believe in free trade, but its got to be fair trade. Yeah. And i noticed it started with reagan, but i noticed that bill clinton, barack obama, every democrat that followed sort of did a tony blair move where he basically said, were all Margaret Thatcher now. They adopted reagans beliefs. Clinton adopted free trade. Almost unquestioning free trade, and that is thats continued through, and even on taxes, you know, the democrats had a chance when they ran the House Of Representatives to pass a tax bill that got rid of carried interest, that got that raised the Capital Gains rate which is just outrageously low which means secretaries are paying a higher tax rate than people who are living off of just moving paper around. Yeah. And democrats didnt do it. Im not saying the democrats are to blame. Im saying its become institutionalized now with both parties. And the same reason i think its good to go back and look at what reagan did to the economy, look at what free trade people said. It will benefit all americans and it will make china freer. 0 for 2. What do you think that a lot of it has to do with leadership . Im listening to you talk about Robert Kennedy sr. Who had the courage to stand up and say things that others werent saying. How much of this is the leadership on the left and the right, goals by what they think is popular rather than what they think is right . And i think what made dr. King different and others who would stand up i mean, dr. King in the middle of the black power era, he said, i believe in nonviolent resistance, but Bobby Kennedy would talk about justice, but also policing. Did we lose a sense of leadership in the country where they would run and try to catch up with the parade rather than try to guide the parade to go the right way . Yeah, and one of the other fascinating things about dr. King is how much he talked about labor unions. Labor unions really built the Civil Rights Movement through a. Phillip randolph. Right. I think whats so tricky about leadership is you want people who can both inspire and move the population, and also people who respect the population. Thats one of the things that really struck me when i read about Bobby Kennedy and dug into the records on his campaign. In some ways he tried to move the country, but he said, im not going to be disdainful of your views. Im not going to take all your views on these issues and say, if you have these views, its because youre ignorant, and i think too much of our Politics Today takes a whole bunch of issues and says, if you dont agree with us totally on this and that and this and that, it means youre ignorant, and i think thats one of the big mistakes that the Democratic Party has made and one of the reasons why they struggle with working class voters. Im excited to read this book because you use history to tell the economic story, and you talk about dwight d. Eisenhower who i think is the most underrated president. How was he able to do what he was able to do in terms of building up american infrastructure and that seems to have just kind of left the american political no ones done it on such a scale since. I think i agree with you that eisenhower might be the most underrated president. Actually he did these incredible investments in the country, and he was also a fiscal conservative, so he was cutting other forms of spending, but he realized that highways and research and development and education, you can actually increase that spending while cutting other forms of spending and whether youre a small Government Conservative or a Big Government progressive, one thing i would urge people to do is dont just focus on the size of government, but focus on, is it focused on the future or not . We have a government now that is much, much less generous than it is toward children than it is retirees and our age. That seems shortsighted. The new book is titled ours was the shining future. This is a mustread book. David, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. Thank you. And our third hour continues right now. I have proposed efforts to ban Deadly Weapons of war like the Assault Rifle used to carry out this crime. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure which is why i now call on you the United States congress to ban Assault Rifles like the one used by the sick perpetraor of this mass killing in my hometown of lewiston, maine. For the good of my community, i will work with any colleague to get this done in the time that i have left in congress. Thats democratic Congressman Jared Golden of maine changing his position on gun reform following wednesdays deadly Mass Shootings in his hometown. The live report from lewiston, maine as the manhunt for the suspect is expanding this morning. Also ahead, well go through the Major Development out of The Middle East overnight. The United States military carrying out air strikes in syria. This comes as iran is threatening the u. S. In connection with the israel hamas war. Good morning. Welcome to morning joe. We have White House Bureau chief of politico, jonathan lemire, elise jordan, president of the National Action network and host of msnbcs politics nation, reverend al sharpton, and katty kay. I like that introduction and im wondering why it took so long for someone to learn, you know, come up with a george w. What . It was unintentional, but i found something. This is a catch phrase. If you had only done it 16 years earlier, 17 years earlier, everybody would have been saying it. First of all, so that was Congressman Golden out of maine after a terrible horrific slaughter. The same thing happened after parkland. Hes a democrat. You had a republican, brian mast in florida decide after that slaughter that he would also support militarystyle and socalled Assault Weapons Ban, and guess what . A republican in a really trumpy area did it, paid no price. Thats why even when people are saying, oh, theyre not going to do it because people at home wont let them do it, thats not true. After sandy hook, there were republicans across connecticut that did it. This is just again, its just so maddening. You look at the New York Post, and, you know, the definition of insanity as the post is saying, he heard voices yet was free to have it looks like an ar15, to kill 18 people. Thats i mean, that is the definition of insanity, and it keeps happening. Yeah. I mean, you could ask Congressman Golden, you know, he has a Change Of Heart yesterday, why it wasnt in any of the previous Mass Shootings with ar15s that didnt change his mind, but when it comes to your doorstep, clearly it has had the him in a way and it hits anyone in a way, whether its the Pulse Nightclub Shooting or las vegas or as you said, sandy hook, it touches the people where it happens, and so perhaps there will be some change. We talked about extensively yesterday that maine as you know, joe, is a gun state. Theyre a Big Culture Of Hunting and sportsmanship and all that, so well see if theres change, but i think most people agree with your point which is someone who was committed to a Mental Health facility for two weeks come on, man. Last summer probably should have a red flag next to his name. Yeah, exactly, and ive got to say when i hear people talking about how Red Flag Laws are violations of the Second Amendment, theyre either stupid or theyre just liars. I mean, theyre either stupid or theyre so completely ignorant about what the Second Amendment is, and what it is not, and i would say, ive got im glad when people make the move, elise. I did after sandy hook, and when i did, i did based on the fact that just over the decade, leading into sandy hook, there was one Mass Shooting after another Mass Shooting, and ive got to say the Weapon Of Choice is an ar15. For crazy people, the Weapon Of Choice is to go in, get an ar15, shoot up schools, shoot up Bowling Alleys, shoot up churches. Thats the Weapon Of Choice, and if its not going to be banned, why it cant be tightly, tightly regulated so if you are going in to get an ar15, man yes. Youre going to have to pass that is no violation of the Second Amendment. Whats upsetting is that having an Assault Rifle is conflated with having a shotgun and being a hunter. People in maine can still hunt and have access to guns. They just dont need access to highcapacity magazines. Ban the magazines. This is done. By the way, elise, youre from mississippi. Me, from mississippi, alabama, georgia, florida, we grew up around guns. It was in our culture. There wasnt anybody that went to a church that everybody went hunting, and yet when all of these killings started happening, they all said the same thing. These hunters whose dads had taken them hunting when they were 5 years old and it was a part of their lives, had guns all over the house, locked, safe, you know, everywhere i went. Go in, people have shotguns on the walls locked up in a case, but i would ask every one of those people, you need one of these, like, militarystyle they would go, pfft. Are you kidding me . This whole great lie told by the nra and politicians to protect hedge fund Companies Profits that have gone in to buy these companies that make ar15s, it is all a lie, and its all a lie for money. Its all aboutsacrificing, you were looking at the horrors visited upon israel and talking im talking about hamas has to be destroyed. Here we see this in our country day after day, week after week, month after and nobody you have these survivors going, oh, you know what . Mental health. Fund Mental Health. Were not going to fund Mental Health. Or, you know, oh, its its not the weapon, and then Susan Collins yesterday, its not the weapon. We need to look at the magazine. Come on. Its harder to get certain Prescription Drugs than to get a gun, and there are no what about with a car and you have to have a license. You have to pass a test. Guns are just freeflowing in this country and we have to expect this is going to happen again and again and again unless something is done. It just keeps happening, john. And authorities in maine have not been able to identify all the victims because the damage on some of the bodies is so great because of the weapon that was used. Yeah. You know, maine is a yellow flag state, but an effort to pass Red Flag Laws were defeated in the last couple of years, rev, and we heard about Mental Health. We also heard the new Speaker Of The House Yesterday Say in an interview, this is not the right time to talk about Gun Legislation. This is simply shouldnt be our focus right now and he offered up prayers. He said, we should be prayering. No solutions, only prayers. Youre a man of the cloth. It seems more than prayer is needed. Prayer without work is a dead thing. Thats in the bible. We have been praying since the first carnage. What are we going to do the work . I didnt grow up in mississippi or alabama. My mother did, but i grew up in brooklyn where we lived under siege that is now the people in maines condition, and when are we going to stop this from urban to rural areas . This young man if i can say young man, had a Mental Health problem that we are not even able to get this congress to pursue Background Checks much less red flags. Theres not even a deposit on getting fare by this congress, and for the new speaker to say this is not the time, it tells us what kind of speaker hes going to be. In this time, if youve got a guy still at large after killing almost 20 people, and this is not the time, then it is time to get these people out of office. Yeah. I mean, it keeps happening over and over again, and they say its never the time. I mean, how many Mass Shootings have we had . What, are we supposed to give a week . No. The actual time to talk about it is after kids are getting gunned down and destroyed and people are getting gunned down in Bowling Alleys. Their loved ones cant even identify them because they have been so mangled by the bullets. Its what we heard and it was so haunting about sandy hook is the parents going in, seeing their 6yearold children and not being able to even recognize them because the guns had destroyed them so much, and here we are. Katty kay, willie, showed the daily news, but heres the list. Vegas music fest, people gunned down going to see a Country Music festival. Pulse nightclub, virginia tech, 32, sandy hook, 26, the Baptist Church i think it was in texas, 26. A walmart in texas, 23, san diego, 22. Lewiston, maine, 18 with the shooter still on the run, and the i mean, look at this. Again, the ar15. People used to say, oh. Youre just banning something because of the cosmetics of it. Its just again, its a lie. Its a lie. The ar15 was designed to be the most effective Killing Machine in the jungles of vietnam, and congress didnt adapt it for political reasons, but it was meant it was developed to hunt human beings. It was and that does, of course, katty, im just going to ask you the perennial question or actually the monthly question, where else does this happen but the United States . Talk about london. Talk about, you know, other big cities across europe. It just doesnt happen. They have Mental Health problems in france. They have Mental Health problems in the uk. They have Mental Health problems as far as im aware in germany and italy and korea and china and the philippines and brazil and mexico and nigeria. What dont they have . They dont have Mass Shootings, and they dont have Mass Shootings because people do not have access to the kinds of weapons that can kill people in large numbers at high speed in other countries around the world. They dont, and in countries around the world where they have had Mass Shootings like in australia and in the uk, theyve put in place a regulation afterward that means that since those Mass Shootings that happened decades ago, they have not had any more Mass Shootings since. The United States can do this. It can choose to do this like it did back in 1994, and in that tenyear period from 1994 to 2004, guess what . You were 70 less likely to die from a Mass Shooting in the United States than you were before the Assault Weapons Ban or after the Assault Weapons Ban. So you had a window in this country where you tried to regulate this. You successfully regulated Assault Weapons. Not perfectly. They were not all taken off the streets, but enough of them were taken off the streets that americans didnt have to fear being killed in the kind of shooting weve just seen in maine. So as we talk about its a choice. It is a choice, and willie, as you held up the headline, i mean, we dont have to do this. No, and the suspect here, mr. Card, bought legally, this sniper rifle. Its a sniper rifle that he purchased despite everything we now know about the trouble he was having and having been committed to a Mental Health institution, his Family Raising Concerns as well. Hes still on the run. The manhunt continues this morning for the suspected gunman in the lewiston, maine Mass Shootings. Roughly 50,000 people remain under lockdown across the state after the 40yearold suspect killed at least 18 people and injured 13 at a Bowling Alley and bar Wednesday Night. 8 victims were killed at the bar and 7 at the Bowling Alley, and 3 at area hospitals. Hes charged with eight counts of murder based on the identification of the victims so far. The police were at a number of locations yesterday throughout the town of bowden where the suspect lives. Four senior Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news, a note was found at his home during a search. Investigators are trying to determine the meaning of that note and how it might be able to guide their investigation. The u. S. Coast guard, meanwhile, also is joining the search effort. The suspect owns a boat and at least one jet ski leading to questions as to whether he could have fled across the water. Remember, he left his car at a boat dock in lisbon. Investigators are looking into whether the gun found in the suspects car was the same found in the shootings. The weapon is believed to be a sniper rifle purchased legally this year according to officials. Law enforcement also looking into whether a female acquaintance of the suspect who frequented the bar may have been a reason the suspect targeted that location. Lets bring in nbc news correspondent antonia hilton. She joins us live from houston. Whats the latest there . Reporter well, thousands of people here in lewiston, but people throughout the state of maine have been hunkered down at home. Businesses closed, schools out for the second day in a row, and when i talked to residents, they described a combination of extreme shock and excruciating grief here. In part, because its hard to really pick up the pieces to grieve together when youre on lockdown at home. People are turning out their lights. At night, fearful that he might be out there in the woods looking for another target, a home to come and visit. They have been locking up their barns, locking up their cars, and so the pain here is immense. I had a conversation with one resident yesterday who was actually here at the medical center. This is the primary center where victims have been treated. Three people are still in critical condition. Behind me here, three people passed away here, and this resident, a woman named Cynthia Hunter was outside the Emergency Room watching as minutes after 7 00 p. M. , after these shootings had unfolded, people started to arrive, and she saw both young people and adults coming in in critical condition, and just to see that, you know, in a community where people dont even really lock their doors, where people have grown up here. She is 64 years old, but has lived here her entire life, used to hang out at some of these spots when she was a teenager and the realization that things are now forever changed. People will be altering their routines, buying ring cameras. Weve heard that from several people as well that theyre going to think about their security and their community in an entirely different way, and i know this is a story that weve seen, you know, as you guys just talked about, you know, transpire across this country, and touch people, but it is, you know, its such a small area to have such a high number of casualties. I mean, almost approaching the number of casualties that you see in the state of maine in an entire year, its really hard to put into words just how shocking all of this is, and, you know, keep in mind, people are seeing Armored Vehicles go through their neighborhoods. They watched last night as police executed some of these search warrants. Its making it hard, again, to grieve when theres still such an active threat here, and, you know, were going to be talking to folks all day as they hope this doesnt turn into what we saw just happen in pennsylvania where there is a manhunt that extends and extends and the Community Just cant find peace. That was a twoweek manhunt. Lets hope this ends soon. Antonia, thanks so much. Joe, just reading about some of the early names of victims, they have been identified. A father and a son of the a Bowling Night, 14yearold son, 10yearold grazed by a bullet. Her life of course, changed forever. This was a youth Bowling Night where parents and kids oh my god. Were bowling together. And it happened in maine, a state that is i think its the safest state as far as acts of violence go. I think i read that in the times yesterday, and its also a gunowning state. People people own guns. A lot of hunting in maine, and those two things can go together, but the idea that, again, Red Flag Laws are defeated, voted down in that state. The fact that 90 of americans want universal Background Checks and republicans are blocking that. The fact that an overwhelming majority of americans want Red Flag Laws. Republicans are blocking that. The fact that a majority of americans do want to ban militarystyle weapons, republicans are blocking that. They wont even talk about regulating them, to make sure that people like this dont get those weapons, and it keeps happening time and time and time again. The ar15 is the Weapon Of Choice for deranged shooters who want to go kill a lot of people because they have Mental Health problems or because theyre angry and they want to shoot up schools. Its just and katty kay, we talk so much on this show about americas reputation across the globe being shattered by being shattered by whats going on inside of congress, whats happening with donald trump, but you tell me that when it comes to people asking you questions about america and, like, what the hells wrong with that place . Guns is at the top of that list. Every single time. Every single time the people ask me about living in the United States, arent they afraid to live in a country where there are Mass Shootings . They say they would never do it because the fear of living here and being killed by a mass shooter is too high, but the thing that really erodes americas reputation is people are smart. They look at the polling in america. People understand whats happening in this country and they see that the polls show that the American Public wants action on this thing. So what im asked, is well, hold on a second. If Time And Again we see from the polls that 70 , 80 of people want to do something about it, why cant the country fix it . I think thats where its the real almost thats as much the threat to americas reputation as this idea that its not working somehow. Right. Its not working as democracy should work, right . Governments should reflect the will of their people and time again on this issue as on abortion, it doesnt reflect the will of their people, and its a real people look at congress and they dont really understand Debt Ceilings and they dont really understand lockdowns. This issue, they understand, and it comes up so often that it chips away at americas reputation as a desirable place to send your students, your kids to be students or as a desirable place to go and do business. Look at this Fox News Poll. 87 of americans support universal Background Checks. 81 of americans support enforcing existing gun laws. 81 support raising the age to 21 as a requirement for gun purchases. 80 Mental Health care requirements. 80 Red Flag Laws. You get people on the far right talking about Red Flag Laws, you would think adolf hitler drafted the legislation. 30day waiting period, 77 support that, and even, again, on militarystyle weapons, socalled Assault Weapons Ban, a majority of americans support that, and again, its just like abortion. Overwhelming majority of americans opposed the overturning of roe v. Wade. Four decades, it was never a close call, and yet youve got republicans, willie, that really dont give a damn what the majority wants. They know what theyre going to do, and all of this in the face of i talked about how i changed so many of my positions on gun safety after sandy hook because of the spaight from aurora, the Movie Theater and on and on. All of the shootings leading up to sandy hook, well, the ten years since sandy hook, Mass Shootings have exploded. Gun deaths have exploded. I mean, things have gotten precipitously worse since sandy hook. Yeah, and actually that poll that were talking about, that Fox News Poll was taken after that shooting where three 9yearolds were killed at a school in nashville. We all have we live among hunters and people with guns and all that stuff and you ask them why do you need the ar15 . They say, its cool. Its badass. It blows things up and vaporizes things, and its fun, but we have to weigh as a society, that versus what were seeing. Get a nerf dart gun. What were seeing constantly. Seriously, the stupidity of that. I hear that a lot too. You know. And these stories keep happening. Its fun, and fun is worth, you know funs worth these people continuing to get killed, shot up at school. Now, what they wont tell you is there are a group of people who want to have them just in case they have to Kill Police Officers that come to their house, in case they have to kill, you know, American Military men or women that come to their house because they believe the governments going to take over the country. They want to be able to shoot army people. Thats right. And our marines coming to their house and vaporize them. Theyre ready for the war. Which again, the stupidest argument, you know, if that war ever came and it wont, but if it ever did, ar15s not going to stop a drone thats going to hover over the house and, like, vaporize the house. Coming up, more on how the suspect was able to legally possess a militarystyle weapon despite troubling signs about his Mental Health. Thats straight ahead on morning joe. Al health. Thats straight ahead on morning joe. Before golo, nothing seemed to work. I was exercising for over an hour every day. It was really discouraging. But golos so easy, the weight just falls off. In the u. S. We see millions of Cyber Threats each year. That rate is increasing as more and more businesses move to the cloud. So, the question is. Cyber attack as Cyber Criminals expand their toolkit, we must expand as well. We need to rethink. Next level moments, need the next level network. [speaker continues in the background] the network with 24 7 builtin security. Chip . At t business. I was stuck. Unresolved Depression Symptoms were in my way. I needed more from my antidepressant. Vraylar helped give it a lift. Adding vraylar to an antidepressant. Is clinically proven to help relieve overall Depression Symptoms. Better than an antidepressant alone. And in vraylar clinical studies, most saw no substantial impact on weight. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, as these may be lifethreatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. Movement dysfunction and restlessness are common side effects. Stomach and sleep issues, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are also common. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. I didnt have to change my treatment. I just gave it a lift. Ask about vraylar and learn how abbvie could help you save. Liberty mutual customized my Car Insurance and i saved hundreds. With the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. Oh. [dog barks] no its just a bunny only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. [narrator] this is my coffee shop. We just moved into a bigger space, brought on another employee, and ordered new branded gear for the team. It was so easy. I just chose my products, added our logo, and placed my order. Bring your own Team Together with custom gear. Get started today at customink. Com. Lets talk about the Mental Health piece of this story in maine. Were getting new details about the suspects Mental Health. His sisterinlaw tells nbc news the man began to hear voices that were saying, quote, horrible things, when he was fitted for highpowered hearing aids a few months ago. His Mental Health deteriorated quickly after that, and the family attempted to reassure him what he was hearing was not true. However, she says, quote, it turned into a manic belief. The family says it alerted police and military officials the suspect was experiencing acute Mental Health episode before the Wednesday Night massacre. Two senior Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news the suspects Military Unit commander sent him to inpatient Psychiatric Treatment this summer after they became concerned about threats he made to the base and his claims he was Hearing Voices. He spent about two weeks undergoing inpatient Psychiatric Treatment and was released. Its not clear what further action was taken if any. However, as we have been saying under maine law, the suspect still was able to buy legally and keep possession of the gun believed to be used in this weeks shootings. He reportedly bought that weapon earlier this year before his Military Officer sent him away for Psychiatric Treatment. Joining us now, the former member of the fbis hostage rescue team, rob damico. Hes the founder of sierra 1 consulting and he was in the u. S. Marine corps. Lets start with the pursuit of this man, the manhunt thats been going on for a couple of days. Based on what we know, based on how long it has already been, where do you think this expanded search has gone now, and how long do you think it might take to find him . I think the key is figuing out the car he was in was at the boat ramp. Did he switch to another vehicle . Did he actually switch to a boat or did he go on foot . Hopefully they have some indication if theres a vehicle missing that they found that out, and if he planted a vehicle there, it may not be as easy to understand if he got into that, but that really defines the area of the search. If he has a vehicle and he had an hour head start and hes doing 70 miles an hour, and its several days later, if he got into a boat, where did he go . Is there another ramp he could have gone to with another vehicle to throw us off, or if we went into the woods on food foot, and all of those have different issues in finding him. Its a dangerous issue if you are looking for him on foot because theres the possibility of an ambush. If he had a vehicle, how far out did he get . Those are the keys to it, but he might not have the clues. Its so challenging as you saw in pennsylvania. I was part of looking for eric rudolph several times in the mountains and those took a long, long time. Talk to us about the challenges of this search, looking for a suspect who knows the area and knows it well. This is his hometown, home turf, and he has Military Training and we spoke to clint watts earlier this morning and he suggested that sometimes shooters like this end up taking their own lives. Do you think theres a possibility that could have happened as well . I do. It could be i think he had this whole thing in his head, and the ending i think he has, and the ending i see almost three ways. One, he went to a favorite spot in the woods, somewhere where he hiked and camped and maybe his family can help us out with that and he ended his life and its going to take a long time to find him. I think the other one is he wants a confrontation, almost Suicide By Cop and he has his Standoff Pictured in his mind that he wants to execute and hes going to wait for Law Enforcement to find him, and then hes going to carry that out, or if he gets pinned. If he gets trapped down and he figures out theres no way out, hes going to kill himself. You think its one of those three, and theyre all dangerous for Law Enforcement. Our normal ballistic vests dont stop the 556 round in that ar15. The metal plates only cover specific areas because theyre so heavy. The tactical teams dont even have those plates and if you are looking for them, theres a Long Distance out. I would hope we could somehow use technology at night and maybe a thermo imagery to find him at a distance and figure out the safest way to confirm him. Ultimately, that was how they found the guy in pennsylvania with that thermo imaging. They found him at night. You served this country for so long with such distinction in the marine corps, and the fbi. What do you think about a man like this that were talking about this morning, the suspect, being able, given his Mental Health history and everything else, being able to get an ar15 and cause the kind of horrific damage that he has caused . As everyone says, this is the perfect example of who shouldnt have an ar15 who shouldnt have a weapon, and i think you really have to look at, did he buy it just before he got institutionalized or did he buy it after . Both ways he shouldnt have obviously had it. If he bought it just before, then was there some type of system to say, hey. This guy went into a Mental Health facility and he has firearms from the past or just bought them. We need to have that red flag law, or did he buy them after where if you went into a Mental Health institution, would there have been some check in his background if we had a Background Check that would say, hey. Wait a second. He just went into a Mental Institution, and he has to wait so long to actually buy a weapon or hes denied to buy a weapon. I think both of them he doesnt deserve it, but i think both of them have specifics that you have to address. Did he buy it before . You would have to take it away from him or could you prevent him from buying it after the stay at the Mental Institution. Everybody says it. His family and they all yelled from the rooftops. Here we are. Rob damico, thank you so much. What the new House Speaker had to say about the government shutting down. Plus, the military air strikes in syria in retaliation for Drone Attacks on an american base. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Base youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. My psoriatc arthritis symptoms. But just ok isnt ok. And i was done settling. If you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. Rinvoq is a oncedaily pill that can dramatically relieve ra and psa symptoms, including fatigue for some. It can stop joint damage. And in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. Serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. People 50 and older with at least one Heart Disease risk factor have higher risks. Dont take if allergic to rinvoq as serious reactions can occur. Tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. Done settling . Ask your rheumatologist for rinvoq. And take back whats yours. Learn how abbvie could help you save. You like that bone . I got a great price on it. You see my tail when that chewy box showed up . Oh, i saw it. Sorry about the vase. Can we just say vase like normal people . Fine. I always wondered what it would be like to have a tail. Maybe you did one time. Maybe a thousand years from now ill be tailless using that chewy app to get you great prices on treats. Im pretty sure it takes more than a thousand years. Vase. Pets arent just pets. Theyre more. Vase shop and get a 30 egift card through november 5th. At chewy. In the future, through november 5th. Everything will be powered by renewable energy. But its not as easy as flipping a switch. Its a long road, requiring decades of time and trillions of dollars. But what if there was a better direction on the path to zero Carbon Emissions . An Energy Source thats available right now, thats affordable, plentiful, and environmentally friendly. There is. And its propane. Get the facts at propane. Com now. Hi, im michael, ive lost 62 pounds on golo and i have kept it off. Most of the weight that i gained was strictly in my belly which is a sign of insulin resistance. But since golo, that weight has completely gone away, as you can tell. Thanks to golo and release, ive got my life and my health back. New emergenc crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. And who doesnt love a good throwback . [sfx video game] emergenc crystals. upbeat music with the push of a button, constant contacts ai tools help you know what to say, even when you dont. Hi constant contact. The power goes out and we still have wifi helping the smalan to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. car engine revs home of the xfinity 10g network. engine accelerating texting clicks tires squeal glass shattering loose gravel clanking at the end of the day, the problem is the human heart. Its not guns. Its not weapons. At the end of the day, we have to protect the right of the citizens to protect themselves and thats the Second Amendment. Thats why our party stands so strongly for that. This is not the time to be talking about legislation. Were in the middle of that crisis right now. It is the time. He said its not the time to talk about new Gun Safety Legislation. Its never the time, willie. Never is. The problem is the human heart. Its not made of steel, and it cant repel the bullets. No, the problem is not with the human heart. Let me get confirmation from katty. Katty, do they have human hearts in britain and france and germany and spain, and by the way, do they have video games . Do they have Mental Health problems . I mean, we can go through all of this, what the speaker says and these people who want to go against 90 of americans. Its not about the guns. Its about this, that or the other. Again, theres nothing he can say that doesnt apply to britain. Nothing. I mean, of course, we have hearts and video games and Mental Health problems. Check that out. Got it. Got it. America is exceptional in many ways, but it is not exceptional in that way. People are frail and have Mental Health problems and have frail human hearts and have video games that they play, and there are teenage boys and angry young men. Most of these mass shooters seem to be men or seem to be angry or seem to be disturbed in some way, and there are plenty of those i can tell you, Walking Around england as well. Yeah. The only difference is what were talking about. The only difference. What do you do if youre an angry young man in europe . You play cricket. You might box. You start neonazi parties. I mean, come on. There are angry young men in europe and you have to look at the growth of some of these parties, but they dont go out, rev, and get a gun and shoot people up, and im going to say, also, lets talk about the other side of the story. Weve talked about the Mass Shootings because they are just so horrific, but also the controlling of handguns where 5 maybe, 7 of guns that are used in shootings that are actually owned by the person shooting the gun. Thats another thing that i just never figured out why republicans dont want to work more aggressively to sweep up illegal guns because that accounts for the overwhelming majority of shootings, you know, when we see all the people in chicago and philadelphia and l. A. And new york on these long weekends. No, it is definitely trafficking illegal guns that there has been no real aggressive way to deal with, and then when you hear this incoming speaker talk about what weve got to deal with the fact that people have to protect themselves. Well, mr. Speaker, how do you protect yourself at a Bowling Alley . Youre supposed to roll the bowl and hold an ar15 while youre standing there to see if you knocked all the pins down or not . Its absurd when you look at what just happened. How would they defend themselves in that situation, and are we supposed to arm everybody with military weapons . They do not i mean, when we talk about this man Hearing Voices and there was no red flags. There was no Background Check. Theres no way you defend yourself against people that may be in a state that theyre not in their right mind, but they can get militarystyle get mili weapons that can kill multiple people. Well go live to lewiston, maine. What police are saying this morning about the search. E are morning about the search when you have chronic kidney disease. There are places youd like to be. Like here. And here. Not so much here. Farxiga reduces the risk of kidney failure which can lead to dialysis. Farxiga farxiga can cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. A rare, lifethreatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. When you have chronic kidney disease, its time to ask your doctor for farxiga. Because there are places you want to be. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Farxiga for moderate to severe Crohns Disease skyrizi is the first il23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. Serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. Liver problems may occur in Crohns Disease. Control of crohns means everything to me. Ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. Control is everything to me learn how abbvie could help you save. He hits his mark center stage and is crushed by a baby grand piano. Youre replacing me . Customize and save with liberty bibberty. He doesnt even have a mustache. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Switch to shopify so you can build it better, scale it faster and sell more. Much more. Take your business to the next stage when you switch to shopify. Coming up, how the New York Times survive scandal, scorn, we talk to the author straight ahead. And as we go to break, the 50 over 50 list celebrating those who found success later in life. Take a look. We launched the 50 over 50 as a way of highlighting women stepping into their power after the age of 50. Mika and this organization is recognizing that theres so much ahead of us after we turn 50. Im just getting started. It is not over when youre 30, when youre 40. You have time to do it all and there is longevity here. Women just doing unbelievable things, they are creators and entrepreneurs and scientists and problem solvers and pivoters. Im going to turn 60 in about a year. In this last decade, ive just been able to say what i want to say when i want to say it. I truly believe that if women over 50 ran the world, we would not be in this mess. There are so many incredible people who have had gigantic impacts in the world in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. I hope to continue to be one of those people. Society can make us feel like we have less value as we get older. The opposite is true. I love getting older. Many times age brings more, more experiences, more knowledge. My tv show didnt start until i was over 50. I wrote my first New York Times best seller when i was 45. So i never looked at my age as what would determine who i would become. The women on this list from around the world, we are the women who have paved a long, beautiful runway for the next generation and the next generation. The setbacks are obvious. No matter where you go, we are all suffering from setbacks. We in this room have the power to do big things to lift up women. The first word that comes to your mind when i say retirement. Hell no. Uhhuh. Two words. Aging. Aging fabulous. There you go. It is. Im serious. Its a graduation. Mika, let me Say Something. I like you so much. I love you. 50 over 50, what comes to mind . Just the best. When you think of the power of women, what comes to mind . Phenomenal. We can change the world and we can make things peaceful. We need peace in the world. We women have to get together and kick ass and make it a better place. Ass and make it a better place i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Thanks to skyrizi, im on my way with clearer skin. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90 clearer skin at 4 months. And skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. Serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. Nothing on my skin means everything nothing is everything ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. Learn how abbvie could help you save. In the u. S. We see millions of Cyber Threats each year. That rate is increasing as more and more businesses move to the cloud. So, the question is. Cyber attack as Cyber Criminals expand their toolkit, we must expand as well. We need to rethink. Next level moments, need the next level network. [speaker continues in the background] the network with 24 7 builtin security. Chip . At t business. They are a sporting rifle. Its something that a lot of people for purposes of going out target shooting. In my state, they use them to shoot prairie dogs and other types of varmints. Im representing my constituents. In rural colorado, an ar15 is the gun of choice for killing raccoons before they get to our chickens. Do you think there is any room to ban Assault Weapons in this country . Why does someone need an ar15 . If you talk to people that own it, killing feral pigs in the middle of louisiana, they wonder why would we take it away from them. The action of a criminal deprives me of my right. Last year we pulled together a few moments from republican lawmakers who were asked about americas easy access to the type of militarystyle weapons so often used in Mass Shootings, as it was again this week in maine. Good morning. Welcome to the fourth hour of morning joe. Elise jordan still with us as well as jonathan lemire, whos been here on air since 2 30 doing his jerry lewis marathon routine. Sinatra is coming. 2 30 in the morning. We Go All The Way through the weekend. 30 rock classic there. And tim miller, John Heilemann and Symone Sanders townsend. So the manhunt continues for the suspected gunman in the maine Mass Shootings. Local police and federal agents are scouring the area after wednesdays massacre left at least 18 dead and 13 injured. Lets bring in sam brock live from lewiston, maine. Whats the latest . Reporter good morning. The latest is we are still lacking a lot of detail here. This sprawling manhunt has exceeded 36 hours with no sign of card. Maine state police say theyre not sure what state hes in. Theyre not even sure if hes alive. The clock is ticking this morning on an allout manhunt for 40yearold robert card, who is considered armed, dangerous and likely off the grid. After the Mass Shooting in lewiston, maine, that left 18 people dead and more than a dozen injured. Out of nowhere he just came in and there was a loud pop. Reporter card is accused of shooting with an Assault Rifle at a Bowling Alley and then a sports bar. Authorities expanding a shelterinplace order as overnight they executed a search warrant at the card family property, calling for anyone inside to come out with their hands up, eventually leaving after there was no sign of the suspect. Among many developments, Law Enforcement officials saying a note was recovered at cards home. They found a gun in a white subaru linked to the suspect, though its unclear if it was the same weapon used in the shootings. The public learning more information about card and questions growing about his access to guns. Two senior Law Enforcement officials saying the weapon used by card was purchased legally in 2023 as cards family tell us they were increasingly concerned about his Mental Health after he was Hearing Voices and making threats. His sisterinlaw saying they alerted police and military officials months ago. This july, Army Battalion leaders informed staff that he was, quote, behaving erratically and contacting Law Enforcement. Card then receiving a medical evaluation. How could someone who fits that profile still be in possession of automatic weapons. Statutes around firearms and the possession of those are complex. He knew that weapon inside and out. Reporter as the community reckons with the violence, a Change Of Heart from a local democratic congressman, who had previously been opposed to banning Assault Weapons for civilians. I now call on the United States congress to ban Assault Rifles. Reporter Law Enforcement officials tell us investigators are looking into the possibility that a female acquaintance of card could have been at the bar. They stress that is merely a possibility. Weve also just Learned Police will be holding a press briefing in about an hour. So, tim, lets get the New York Post out, not exactly a left wing rag, talking about the insanity of all of this, talking about the fact that this guy was idd as someone who had sick visions of slaughtering people. They knew it. The guy still was carrying around an ar15, was still able to purchase a sniper rifle even after that. Gun laws in this country, i mean, my god, a decade or so after sandy hook and just the cascading of violence across this country over the past decade. I mean, i find it hard to believe it takes a shooting from somebodys back yard to change their mind on it, but im glad it did. Golden has been a Democratic Rep that veers away from the party on certain things. Its good to have representatives like golden, who is more of a populist democrat rather than a coastal elite like heilemann. Reality has to intervene on this stuff. I lived by columbine in 99. Maybe it in 1999 it makes sense to think, concealed carry weapons. That was 24 years ago. We have all of these shootings. We have the Speaker Of The House saying this is not about guns. Its about the hearth. Well, do japanese people not have any problem in tir heart . Hes saying american hearts are so much more corrupt than british hearts or german hearts. Its crazy. I was aplus with the nra when i served. I was glad heller came down the way it did, that the right to keep and bear arms means the right to keep and bear arms. Ive changed my position on a lot of things after sandy hook, because of aurora, because of all the Mass Shootings. As weve been saying this morning, even since then in the ten years since, the number of shootings have just exploded. By the way, ar15s are always the Weapon Of Choice for crazy people that want to go out and kill humans. The ar15 was invented to be a more effective Killing Machine of human beings in the vietnam war, because the weapons they were using often would not work effectively. They were too heavy, too hard to reload. They often jammed at critical points. A guy made an ar15, said its light and easy to slaughter humans at an extraordinarily rapid pace. I dont know how long were going to continue seeing this and seeing the number of Mass Shootings. We have a new speaker saying, oh, lets not talk about Mass Shootings right now. Really . 566 Mass Shootings and only 365 days in the year. When the ef are we going to talk about this . The one encouraging thing ive seen recently is we did have the bipartisan gun bill that was something. It was a good start. After colorado springs. Colorado springs threw out a republican mayor. Colorado springs is a very conservative community. They threw out the mayor that was opposed to Red Flag Laws, replaced him with a different person. Even in conservative communities people are sick of this. The congressman that represented parkland, very conservative republican, voted for the assault weapon ban. Absolutely no consequence to him politically in the primary or the general election. This whole idea, oh, you cant vote in conservative areas for a socalled Assault Weapons Ban without paying the price, thats just not true. This is why the legislation is important. Its not that its going to change much. Hey, you could vote for a piece of Gun Safety Legislation and not lose your job over it. You talk about the world wide statistics. I think very beginning when i first started working in journalism was in 1990 at a magazine that would do International Comparative stuff in it. Back in 1990, 35 years ago, was the first time i saw statistics that looked at the rates of gun violence across the industrialized world. That magazine was making the point that the United States even then, it was stunning to look at the difference in handguns and not as many ar15s back then, but the rates of death and violence were much higher then. It was 35 years of data that says in iceland, france, the United States, north africa, central asia and east asia, you dont have anything like americas rates of gun violence. You have to make some kind of very weird argument for a dark american exceptionalism to claim that the difference is not the obvious difference, that the gun laws here are horrible. That is the difference. Its the operative difference. It is. We stand alone. Now its Mental Health. Before it was video games, it was violent movies. None of the excuses hold any water, because we stand alone. When you look at the continued slaughter, we stand alone. You have republicans saying, you know what, were going to keep getting checks from the nra and allowing the hedge funds that own these Gun Companies to make millions in profits and were going to stand by and say theres nothing we can do while Country Music festivals in las vegas get shot up, while schools in connecticut and texas get shot up and in maine. In rural maine, you have family night at a Bowling Alley and it turns into a slaughterhouse. Republicans the next day are saying, we dont want to talk about it, theres nothing we can do. The speaker believes the american heart is the most corrupt heart in the western world, more corrupt than the british heart. The new Speaker Of The House thinks the american heart is more corrupted and more dirty and more prone to violence than any other heart in the world. How offensive. Yeah, its the headline the onion runs every time theres a Mass Shootings saying this is the only country where this has ever happened. Its so frustrating. Bipartisan legislation last year was a step in the right direction. Theres no momentum now for any change. It hasnt been since republicans took over the house back in january. The new speaker blamed the american heart, the human heart. He also said we need to do more on Mental Health funding, but he voted against that. He made a point of saying this is not the time to speak about guns. This is not the time to speak about guns. Heres the headline. No way to prevent this, says only nation where this regularly happens. I ask you, if not now, when . When do we talk about guns . Now is, in fact, the time. Members of congress, every Single Member of congress is up for reelection when it comes to the house in 2024. If you are someone out there listening in your car right now on sirius xm, you should take a look at what your member of congress has said about specifically Assault Weapons. Were talking about weapons of war. Were not talking about regular handguns. Im from nebraska. We hunt too. Were talking about weapons of war. Take a look at what your member of congress has said. If they are not on the record, you need to pick up the phone, call that Congressional Office and ask where they stand. If you do not like it, i encourage folks out there to make decisions with their vote come 2024, because that is the only way things are going to change at the federal level. I will note, though, americas policy is made in state legislatures across the country. There were bills in maine most recently as june where maines house and senate declined to institute a 72hour waiting period, declined universal Background Checks even though more than 70 of mainers have support for both of those measures. There was a state senator who was quoted in an article at the time. State senator ann carney, a democrat, urged the senate at the time to approve the bill. She said creating a buffer between someone having a suicidal crisis and access to a gun can be the difference between life and death. And months later, look what happened in maine. Yes, this is about Mental Health and its also about guns. Its crazy. So much is done on the state level. You look in florida. When i moved to florida, i applied for a permit to carry. I had to go through the training course, had to wait, fingerprints, sat there, took too long, by the way. It was like nine months. I was complaining about it. But that was okay. I figure if theyre this way with everybody, all right. But i went through the process. I did the training course. Did everything i was supposed to do. Then the Florida Legislature passes over the past year permitless carry. Any idiot can walk into the gun shop, any idiot i dont want to hear idiots watching this going, oh, thats the Second Amendment. You cant be that stupid. If youre that stupid, i feel sorry for you. Read the effing institution and read heller. Read what scalia wrote in heller, please. Your stupidity is not an excuse to lie about the Second Amendment, what it says and doesnt say. Stop lying, because people are dying right now. Your lies are causing people to die. Because it spreads through the voting population, it spreads to state legislatures. Again, i will say you grew up in mississippi, i grew up in mississippi, alabama. We grew up around hunters. This lie that somehow, oh, this is going after somebodys ability to hunt. No its not. Youre talking about shooting varmints with an ar15 . No. The ar15 was designed to blend things. Please stay away from a blender, because youre going to hurt yourself and people around you. A blender has a very specific purpose. A bowling ball has a very specific purpose. The ar15 is not to shoot varmints, its not to shoot deer, its not to shoot pheasant. Its to hunt human beings. Thats why it was created. So these lies that come up, somehow this is impacting the Second Amendment. Theyve obviously never been in the same churches talking to people who hunt. They also ignore the fact that the nra used to be about gun safety. It used to be about gun training. It used to be about making sure that everybody had a gun, knew how to use that gun and use it safely. You know, i think there are the categories of people who have and pursue buying all the rifles. You have the hard core collectors of which my late, great father would have been one. Then you have shooters like what just happened, because you simply do not need this caliber of machine for hunting. Before my dad diedied, he decid he needed an ak47 for his collection. He put an ad in a bulletin for farmers. One night around midnight, my mom answered the phone, very strange. It was a man. He said, hey, i saw your ad for the ak. She was like never call this house again. Thats how easy it is when theres persontoperson transfer. 90 of americans support universal Background Checks on every gun purchase so that doesnt happen. Whatevers going on in the next studio doesnt ppen. Theres a blender in there. Look at thesenumbers. The Assault Rifle ban was a 50 50 issue in a lot of places in the country. These guys who say we cant do anything to curtail any access to weapons, but they are doing things about Gun Legislation in florida right now. Theyre making it easier. In a lot of places theyre putting this socalled constitutional carry. Banning Assault Weapons is a 61 issue. Thats a big number in american politics right now. You know how long its been in the 60s . A very long time. Universal Background Checks close to 90 for a very long time. Theres almost nothing that gets 61 let alone the 77 on the threeday waiting period. These are overwhelming. On any issue other than guns if you had a 77 approval rating, that issue would fly through, bipartisan support. Its the tyranny of the minority. These bills are being passed because theyre trying to appeal to the republican primary electorate. Theyre trying to appeal to a plurality of the electorate. I think these will hurt desantis in his primary. The actual impact on red states and even purple states to be making it this easy to get access to guns as they are looking at these Mass Shootings. Theyre not saying we should do nothing. Theyre saying, actually, we should make it as easy as possible. I was shocked a couple of years ago. I was doing focus groups in memphis with republicans and trump voters. It was a majority room of teachers. It was after a shooting. They said we want these weapons banned, but we also dont want the responsibility of having a weapon in their classroom, which is also the answer that teachers should have yet another responsibility foisted upon them. Joe, you spent some time in maine, as do i. If you go to a drugstore in maine, try to buy a box of pseudofed. The things locked up behind the counter. You have to petition 18 people to get a hold of some cold medicine. Right. Literally what you hear about what happened with this guy, its easier to get an ar15 in maine than it is to get some serious cold medicine. That is a bonkers state of affairs. Maine is not alone. Most Gun Shop Owners ive come across have contempt for people that walk into the store, buy a gun and dont know what the hell theyre doing. Im sure a lot of times Gun Shop Owners are looking at people that come in going, i got to sell this to this guy. The state legislature has said ive got to give this guy an ar15. Its insanity. When we come back, were going to show you a moment in american politics that Symone Sanders says we all need to be talking about a lot more. How about that for a tease . More how about that for a tease m sils now clinically shown to support Cognitive Health in older adults. Its one more step towards taking charge of your health. So every day, you can say, youuu did it with centrum silver. You helped lead the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. [indiscernible] next question. And the Election Denier said, shut up. Of course. I mean, if i was going to try to destroy american democracy for the second president ial election in a row and a reporter brought it up, id want them to shut up. This is working fabulously well for donald trump. Youve got the guy that lead the efforts in the house to overturn an american election, a president ial election. So reporters ask a question, and the mob shouts shut up, the mob that voted to actually overturn that election. The implications of this, i mean, go, hes nice, maybe he said gay men should be arrested because of what they do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. No. This is a guy that led efforts to destroy american democracy with the overturning of a president ial election because they didnt like the outcome. Hes going to be running the house january 6th, 2025, when the house counts the votes to determine who the next president is. Its scary. Joe, it is so scary. I would like to note that the visceral reaction from the now new Speaker Of The House and the republican conference was to shout down a black woman reporter who was doing her job, rachel scott from abc. Not only is mike johnson leading the cause to upend our democracy. He has very arcane views as it relates to women, as it relates to abortion and reproductive rights, as it relates to gay rights, lgbtq plus rights. He is a christian nationalist. Theres a good politico story about his christian nationalist views, actually, citing what he said on the floor in his acceptance speech just a couple days ago when he became the speaker. I honestly think that mike johnson became Speaker Of The House because republicans were tired and embarrassed. They were like, lets just vote for the guy that nobody knows. They did so without taking a peek under the hood about what he believes. Now unfortunately for the Republican Party, the American People are being introduced to mike johnson from every single thing he has said. Thats what folks woke up this morning reading about, mike johnson and all the crazy things hes said. I think this is going to prove to be a big issue for republicans. He cant even fund raise. Hes raised 5 million his entire career. Speaker mccarthy transferred 18 million just this past year to the committee. The lady yelling at the reporter to shut up is virginia fox of north carolina. After the new speaker was installed, matt gaetz did a victory lap and said the chaos of the last few weeks was worth it because they were able to get a far more maga disciple in. Matt gaetz recognized this party is a maga party now. Voters wanted a maga speaker. Voters wanted the real deal. Matt gaetz thought if he created enough trouble that he could get his tv hits, he could get retweets and get a speaker more more radical and more in line with the party now. Thats what happened. Johnson is going to try to put a softer face on this and hes going to try to demonstrate that he is skilled at that. He kind of has the churchy speech team captain vibe to him. Matt gaetz was saying the truth when he was on bannons podcast. Has he answered where joe biden was elected legally . I dont think he needs to. Hes gone on record as not wanting to certify the election. I dont think hes been asked that question since hes been elected speaker in a direct way. Its kind of important. All these people should be asked this question again and again. I dont think theres any question on where he stands on that. He was one of the chief architects to change the election. He was pushing the crazy dominion conspiracy. I will say this, though. Matt gaetz is right in that regard. Theres a lot to worry about about what this guy would do when the election comes, if joe biden wins the election. If an election needs to be thrown Donald Trumps direction, hes done it once. Theres no reason he wont do it again. The other side of that is, is there a more fat, ripe, juicy target for House Democrats to run against. The Democratic Party has done pretty good running against maga extremism. The Democratic Party is going to look at that guy and say heres the most antilgbtq, crazy maga person you could possibly imagine. This guy is third in the line of succession after the vice president. Theyre going to run hundreds of millions of dollars of ads making that guy the face of the house gop. If there is a single thing thats happened that puts the house within reach for House Democrats to take back control of the House Of Representatives, that is the guy. You look at the 15 or so republicans elected. Good luck. Symone sanders, who do you have on your show this week . Were going to talk a lot about the israel hamas war. I think we confirmed the jordanian ambassador. Im going to do a big mashup of all the insane things mike johnson has ever said and were going to post it on youtube, because the people need to know. This is great. Congratulations. People ask me on a thursday night who do you have on the show tomorrow . I go, i dont know. You know. This is a great thing. Youre prepared. Cant wait to see it. Thank you. How does the today show do it . And now, heres lemire. Thats it. Second take. Well cut the first one. That wasnt smooth. Why do you think we do it for four hours . We cut it down to a 22minute episode. None of this goes on. Were going to edit it afterwards. Your 15 best seconds. No doubt about it. Thank you. [ laughter ]. We now turn to other headlines. Special counsel jack smith is requesting a gag order be reinstated in his federal election interference case. In a new filing, smith accused former President Trump of intimidating his former chief of staff mark meadows after abc news reported that meadows accepted an immunity deal in exchange for his cooperation. In trumps defense, meadows is really easy to intimidate. For sure. Its a low bar here. Trump intimidated him to reject the contents of his own book. Trump said his book was fake news, to which meadows responded, yes, it is fake news. Lets bring in state attorney for Palm Beach County dave aronberg. Lets get you on the merits of jack smiths request. Do you think thats reasonable . I do. There was a gag order imposed by judge chutkan. Then trump appealed it and judge chutkan was nice to trump and said, okay, were going to put the gag order on hold. As soon as that gag order was suspended, he went after mark meadows. Remember when Michael Cohen said trump talks like a mafia boss . Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest . Thats what shakespeare said. This is really bad for the system. I think judge chutkan will respond by reinstating the gag order and perhaps expanding it to make it part of the conditions of his pretrial release. That will be the easiest way for the judge to sanction trump, because its part of his pretrial release. Judge chutkan could actually put trump in jail pending trial, though thats way down the line. You said trump does these things in code. I know what you mean. But i will say hes called tish james, corrupt, racist and a monster. Hes called jack smith deranged and a psycho. Hes called judge chutkan a fraud and a trump hating judge. Thats not a hard code to break. The whole time youve paid attention to the Legal Proceedings in your state or anywhere else, have you ever seen a defendant of any kind demonstrate this kind of attempts at witness intimidation, to intimidate the prosecution, judges and witnesses across a variety of venues . Ive never seen anything like it on the part of mob bosses, psychopaths. Hes the former president of the United States. If that happened in northwest florida, any of the federal judges there in a second would throw you in jail. You would be in jail for contempt. If you did it again, you wouldnt be getting out. How dangerous is it . Trump supporters say theres a twotiered criminal justice system. I would agree with them but not for the reasons theyre saying. Its because trump is actually being treated better than other defendants. If anyone else did what he did, theyd be locked up a while ago. He gets a lot more deference because the last thing judges want is to be called political. Also, if you look at the gag orders in place, look at the one in new york. Judge engoron is imposing a gag order on trump, but it only applies to his clerks, his administration, not to the judges or the lawyers. Even in d. C. Where judge chutkan imposed a very tough gag order, she put it on hold while they appealed. They give trump so much deference, more than any other defendant. The double standard in favor of donald trump is outrageous. State attorney from Palm Beach County, florida, dave aronberg, thank you as always. The reverend al is going to be speaking with House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries on politics nation. Once again, though, heres jonathan lemire. In 2002 the george w. Bush administration used the New York Times article to defendant its decision to invade iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction. Heres what thenvice president dick cheney said. Theres a story this morning in the New York Times. I want to attribute the times. I dont want to talk obviously about specific intelligence sources. But its now public that, in fact, he has been seeking to acquire and we have been able to intercept and prevent him from acquiring through this particular channel the kinds of tools necessary to build a centrifuge. Its insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Our next guest writes, the times reporting on the iraq war is one of the many controversies over the last four decades that have helped shape the paper. Lets bring in the National Politics reporter for the New York Times. His new book is entitled the times, how a newspaper of record survived scandal, scorn and the transformation of journalism. This is a fascinating book, a great follow to the trust. In fact, your book started the same way the trust started, at an event celebrating the departure of that position. Talk about the times and not only how it survived some problems in the past, some scandals in the past, but how its actually done something that so few media outlets, especially newspapers, have done. It has thrived. It is stronger now than ever. How has that happened . Its a fascinating story. When i first started writing this, i did not know how the book would end. This was 2016. It ended in success. The paper has through all of these sort of problems, through losing two executive editors through the iraq coverag it has reinvented itself. There are still problems ahead but its a whole new newspaper now. Weve had such Tumultuous Times since 2016. You can look at trump, you can look at the me too era, you can look at what happened during covid, george floyd. The times made it through that. Theyve thrived in large part because of the new publisher and his transition document. I mean, he was in charge of figuring out how to transition the times from an Old Newspaper of record to a new newspaper online. Thats right. I would also include his father. He had a mixed record at first glance. The Judith Miller story that you just referred to. But he had an understanding from the beginning of his tenure where the world was going. There were two reasons for that. The first is that he began his career working as a Wire Service Reporter for the associated press. He never has the kind of fealty to morning deadlines that people in my business tended to have of this generation. The second thing, he was a star trek fan. He would say, i dont care how people get the news, i dont care if its beamed into their head as long as they get it. I think that was kind of a transformational way to think. Again, there are a lot of things he did wrong, but at the end of the day he transformed the paper. Its a remarkable change. Remarkable success story. I think Judith Miller put ag in charge of the transition and to come up with a document that says whats the future going to look like and we see the future in the times. The newspaper is absolutely thriving. You still work at the newspaper. Give us a brief sense of the challenges about reporting and writing a book about your place of employment. It was challenging, but i decided to end the book in 2016 the there are a number of reasons for that. The first is that i had access to all these documents that i dont think i would have now. Second, i was able to interview people who were gone and therefore were more candid. Third, i was not writing about people that i work with. I was writing history rather than writing about whats going on now. So it wasnt as difficult as it might have been. That said, it was challenging to sit down with some of these editors i worked with and knew for years and years. I would spend hours and hours talking to them, very much aware a book could help establish their legacy. These guys and one woman were terrific editors. At the end of these long sessions, they would often have ideas of how i could perceive and write the chapters about the papers industry. It was like getting edited in realtime. The new book is titled the times, how the newspaper of record survived scandal, scorn and the transformation of journalism. Thank you and congrats on the book. Still ahead here on morning joe tonights ceremonial first pitch, please welcome the president of the United States. That, of course, the iconic ceremonial first pitch thrown out by thenpresident george w. Bush at Yankee Stadium just a little over a month after the 9 11 terror attacks. He will have the honor again tonight. Tonight. Can we get real clear about life with psoriasis . Yeah, im ready. Is your treatment leaving you with uncontrolled symptoms . Like the coveritups and brushitoffs . Enough with good enoughs. Dont stay hiding or hurting. When your lotions and creams dont do enough to help treat the inflammation beneath the skin, causing plaques and pain, its time to get real about psoriasis, so, your dermatologist can help you get clear. Make the appointment and ask about real clear skin. If youre looking for a Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan thats smart now. Im 65. And really smart later im 70ish. Consider an aarp Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan from unitedhealthcare. With this type of plan, youll know upfront about how much your care costs. Which makes planning your financial future easier. So call unitedhealthcare today to learn more about the only plans of their kind with the aarp name. And set yourself and your future self up with an aarp Medicare Supplement plan from unitedhealthcare. Theres a long drive, way back, back, and its goodbye, whoa what a blow, what a way to cap it off. Forget about who the most valuable player is in the world series. Little roller up along first, behind the bag, it gets through buckner, and the mets win it high fly ball into right field, she is gone center field, the diamondbacks home run champions red sox fans have longed to hear it, the Boston Red Sox are world champions. This is going to be a the cubs win the world series i still get goose bumps at the 2004 clip. Thats a look at some of the iconic world series moments through the years, and the fall classic returns tonight, game one between the texas rangeers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Two wild cards that both faced 32 deficits in the lcs round and each went on to win their final two games on the road and now meet in the fall classic. Joining us now mlb network analyst, mark derosa, he played in the big league for 16 years and was most recently the manager of the team usa squad at the 2023 world baseball classic. Mark, great to see you again. This is not a world series that many fans would have predicted at years start or even the beginning of these playoffs, but both teams earned their right to get there, they won those clinches on the road. What are some of the matchups youre looking forward to tonight in diamondbacks rangers . I dont think too many people in the American League are surprised that the Texas Rangers are here based on their roster construction and some of the guys that have history of playing in the world series. I mean, up and down the line, they are littered with stars. I think this story heading into game one of the world series is nobody expected the Arizona Diamondbacks to walk into philadelphia in Citizens Bank park in that environment with a bunch of rookies and a few scattered veterans mixed in on this roster and win game six and game seven to advance to the world series. So thats a testament to them. I think theyre hungry. I think if you can play in that Citizens Bank fill the environment in the nlcs that the world series will not intimidate the Arizona Diamondbacks, and i think this has got its kind of set up to be a classic because its too different ways of playing baseball. Bruce bochy likes to go at it from an old school type of way where he wants his starting pitching to go deep. He doesnt trust his bullpen as much, and theyre going to bash some home runs, and on the flip side, arizona and tory la bellow, they are young, athletic, hungry, fast, aggressive on the bases and have a variety of weapons in the bullpen. Lets talk about some of the pitching here, the two squads. Jacob degrom is not here. Max scherzers has been pretty diminished. Give us a quick sense of each teams starters. Yeah, zack allen is one of the i think in the National Media the world doesnt truly know how good this guy is. He started the all star game, relies heavy on his fastball, top of the zone, it kind of hurt him a little bit in philly. This is a guy that has a threepitch, fourpitch mix that this stuff is nasty. Breaking balls nasty, heater at the top of the zone is nasty. Flip it over to texas. A fall classic hero, for the red sox hes been there, done that, he steps up in the biggest moments for his teams. He is the right man for the job on the mound to get this thing going in game one. Willie and Mike Barnicle picked the rangers to win in six, joe and i both have the diamondbacks winning in seven. Mika takes texas in five. Mark derosa, what is your prediction . This is the worst thing i do. I know. Id have to lean when the dust settles, id have to lean with texas. I played here two years. My loyalty is a little bit more here. Bruce bochy was my manager in san francisco. I think their offense withstands. I think its a classic. Its been a great year of baseball, it will be fun to finish it with a terrific world series. You can watch the mlb network for pre and postgame coverage of the world series which begins tonight on fox. Thank you so much for joining us. And thanks to all of you for watching morning joe today and all week long. Ana cabrera picks up the coverage, including the latest News Conference from maine just moments from now. Coverage continues in just two minutes. Ge continues in just two minutes. That first time you take a step back. I made that. With your very own online store. I sold that. And you can manage it all in one place. I built this. And it was easy, with a partner that puts you first. Godaddy. Hello, im ana cabrera, and we begin with Breaking News this hour. I want to take you right to maine where officials are set to give a News Conference any moment now as the search intensifies this morning