Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning 20240704

From mega donors. Elena schneider, thank you for joining us this morning with your reporting. Thanks for getting up Way Too Early with us on this Monday Morning. Morning joe starts right now. We will restore peace through strength. Get that war settled. Thats a bad war. And putin, you know, has so little respect for obama that he is starting to throw around the nuclear word, too. You heard that, nuclear. Donald trump over the weekend once again thinking hes running against barack obama. When trump wasnt confusing biden with obama really sad. He apparently thought he was obama. It really is sad. Taking credit for legislation that was signed by his predecessor. So sad. For our great veterans, we passed v. A. Accountability and v. A. Choice. That was a big deal. I have no greater honor than serving as your president and commander in chief, and i have no greater privilege than the chance to help make sure our country keeps the promises weve made to everybody who signs up to serve. With that, i am going to sign this bill. Thank you very much, everybody. Now watch we sign this bill. Good morning. What a weekend. Hold on. What a weekend. And the slurring, seriously. I have to apologize to fat elvis in 77. Fat elvis never slurred his words like donald trump did this weekend. His face was contorted. Something was going on, a little tired. Again, its joe biden who falls off his bike and whatever. Its a bizarre, bizarre thing. Theyll pretend on other networks that it doesnt exist. Trump people will pretend it doesnt exist, and well have an election. By the time the election comes, everybody will know it exists. Everybody will know who actually has more of a problem. Here, you had and jonathan lemire, im not really good at politics. Thats true. Or dont keep up with the news. You dont have to in this job. Help me out. I saw that v. A. Bill was signed in 2014. I was just looking at the clip there. Was donald trump president in 2014 . Who was president in 2014 . Ive got the trusty almanac here. In 2014, no, it was not donald trump. It was barack obama who was president of the United States. Oh. Yup. So he just, again, his mind short circuited there. Yeah. Also, he, once again, says that barack obama is president of the United States right now. Ive been following liverpool. Its been exciting. I havent been watching a lot of news lately. Great nfl season wrapped up, as well. I mean, Spring Training is upon us. I dont have time for this, okay . Yeah. So who is president right now . Is barack obama president right now . So, first of all, liverpool, 90th plus minute win. That was tremendous. Come on, yeah. Checking again in the almanac. Barack obama was president in 2014, but he stopped being president in 2016. So, no, he is not currently the occupant of the oval office. And he stopped running to be president in 2016. Right. Because, as donald trump has said, Campaign Event after Campaign Event after Campaign Event, he said he beat barack obama in 2016. Is that why hes not president , because donald trump beat barack obama in 2016 . Ive got to thumb a little further into the almanac for this one, deeper research. But, no, he didnt. What barack obama was term limited out. Donald trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Oh, thats right. Is that why hes but he wants that matchup. This is, like, ali frazier 3. He wants the third matchup. He wants the thrill. Is that why hes running against him well, he said hed beat him in 20. Then said he is running against him again in 24. Right . Whats almanac say . First of all, obama constitutionally prohibited from running again. Its not obama. In fact, it was joe biden who Beat Donald Trump in 2020. Biden. That looks like well get that rematch, round two, this time around in 2024. This was a weekend of Pure Meltdowns for donald trump, including one where he loses the ability to speak the english language. Ive seen the clip a dozen times now, and i burst out laughing each and every time. Well, it is yeah, its i think its not good. Yeah. Its not good. I havent laughed because, at one point, he says, saudi arabia, russia, and looks off into the distance, and his face is contorted and twisted. Its like he is really struggling. Yeah. You know what im talking about. I do. He is really struggling up there to get his thoughts together. I thought, he does that saturday night. All week on the New York Times front page, people think joe biden is too old. Were going to talk about that story. I just have to say off the top, if you ask the question, is joe biden too old, thats like asking all the people that watch this show, there are a lot, does Joe Scarborough talk too much . Oh, yeah. 85 , 90 would say yes, he talks too much. If you ask the question, would morning joe be better without Joe Scarborough on it . Stop. Hold on. About 85 , 90 would say, yes, of course it would be, right . Yet, in the words of the great bob seger, and still, here we are. Both of us lonely. I like that song. My point, jen palmieri is jen palmieri is here today. Yes. The question is asked, is joe biden too old . The question answers itself. If you ask joe biden, am i too old . Yeah, im too old. In fact, hes said that. Man, im old. Right . Yeah, he wants to be younger. Hed love to be younger and id love to talk less, as we can tell in the first seven minutes of this show, it aint gonna happen. Neither one is going to happen. This is the choice americans have. This is the choice americans will be glad they have in the fall when democrats return to joe biden and democracy is saved for another four years. I find the bedwetting that goes along with the New York Times sienna polls every three months, every three months, i just find it ridiculous. Especially when donald trump spent the weekend Speaking Incoherently in ways that should disturb. If they can be disturbed by anything, which we know theyre not. Not disturbed by a guy who says hell be a dictator from day one. Not disturbed by a guy who says hell throw his political opponents in jail. Not disturbed by the fact he said hed get s. E. A. L. Team six to assassinate his political opponents and he cant be held liable or guilty. A guy who said a judge rapd a woman, lied about it, defamed her. Charlottesville, good people on both sides. Covid, literally killing people by not telling them about the pandemic. Go on and on and on. If these people are going to be disturbed by anything, they would have been disturbed by it a long time ago. That said, and, again, god help me, you know this. If i have a fault, its that i care too much. Is that it . I care too much. Hold on. Were on tv. For my republican brothers and sisters, i have been here the last seven years trying to save them from themselves. They insist not only putting their hand on the hot stove but laying their face down gently on the hot stove. Only to find out theyre going to get burned again. Of this i have no doubt. I think my irritation this weekend came with the news media that was talking about a guy who is very cogent. A guy who is doing a very good job managing all that he is managing across the world and passing a record amount of Bipartisan Legislation, and focusing on him, saying he is too old. While they continue to ignore donald trump completely losing his mind, blanking out on stage. Theres a lot to talk about with the poll and the freakout, but the biggest takeaway for me is how trump reacted this weekend, which i think is a reaction to biden taking him on directly at the border. If anything comes out of the New York Times poll thats productive, it is that we have a tension Deficit Disorder when it comes to paying attention to what joe biden is doing and what his positions are. Biden went to the border. Trump took the bait and went to the boborder, too. Biden finally broke through because were paying attention to both of them. By the way, it matters. One poll showed 63 of people think House Republicans are to blame for stopping the bipartisan border bill. And they did it because they wanted to help donald trump. Then trump freaks out and has, you know, three days of the kind of display we saw over the weekend. A way for biden to break through is to find the direct confrontation. Look at that guy, he is not well. Im sorry, jen. Im serious. That guy is not well. Lets bring in the president of the National Action network and host of msnbc Politics Nation, reverend al sharpton. We are so excited, rev, to talk about selma this weekend. Also have with us msnbc contributor and author of how the right lost its mind, charlie sykes. Speaking of, donald trump was on the Campaign Trail this weekend in North Carolina and virginia, and the guy just kept getting confused. Look at this series of clips. In venezuela, did you just see maduro, its an unbelievable were getting rid of the romneys of the world. We want to get romneys and those out. But they know that we are the only ones who can stop them, the only ones. This is the greatest movement in the history of the country, in any country. Even argentina went maga. You know argentina, great guy. He loves trump. I love him because he loves trump. When he called, i took the call. Anybody that loves me, i like that. I said, abdul, hes still there, the head of the taliban. I said, youre killing our soldiers, dont do it. I said our terror will rain down on you. He said, yes, your highness, which was interesting. Saudi arabia and russia will be oh. I dont even what happened . What happened there . Charlie sykes, he gets in the middle of sentences. He is readily teleprompters and the mind still blanks out. Nikki haley for nancy pelosi. Barack obama for joe biden. And it is just so pathetic and sad. Theyre going, hes doing it on purpose. No, hes not doing any of this stuff on purpose. Take the fact his mind blanks out and he looks lost. Actually, it looks like a sad scene to me, to see somebody up on stage and blanking out and getting lost. First of all, he thinks the person who runs the south American Country is argentina. Argentina, great guy. Thank you for saying get rid of the romneys in the Republican Party. Thats torn out of kari lakes book of loserdom. Thats where itll lead you. Also, again, against this madness and, unfortunately, an old man who is losing his ability to communicate, he is praising the taliban leader for calling him your highness. Wrap up that speech for us, if you would, charlie sykes. How do you . What fresh hell. Unfortunately, im not a psychiatrist here. Whats on display is, okay, joe biden is old, but the other guy is deranged, demedemented, and pathetic, not to mention dangerous. As were sitting here talking about this, were less than 48 hours away from that Guy Clinching the republican president ial nomination. The republicans have one last offramp, and theyre not going to take it. They look at this guy, and this is the extraordinary thing, is republicans look at him, and i dont have to repeat all the things. Found liable for rape, facing 91 felony charges, you know, and you have this gaseous malice you get from the gaffefilled speeches, and theyre thinking, yeah, we want four more years of that. If theres any upside here, joe biden will be able to say, yeah, im old. Im stiff when i walk, but this guy is also old and crazy. Hes dangerous. Hes incoherent. He needs to make that point. The other maybe upside is, you know, now that theres no way of denying itll be donald trump again, itll focus the mind. I agree with you, joe. I think democrats need to stop the bedwetting, but they need to get out of the bed and freak out a little bit because the reality is, maybe this is what itll take for them to realize this guy could become president of the United States. This could actually happen. Maybe we ought to treat that threat, you know, the way it ought to be treated. If it is an existential threat, lets act like it is an existential threat. Stop the bedwetting, but maybe a little freakout wouldnt be the worst thing in the world. Maybe itll wake a lot of democrats up. I will say, though, you know, all this idea, you brought up the things that a judge determines donald trump raped a woman. Yes. Evangelicals are cool with that. Used to be, like, bill clinton, wait, did he do something with his intern or not . Character matters in the white house he must be driven to the sea i mean, these same evangelicals, i was there. I was hearing it every day as a congressman. Every day, republicans, man, he doesnt have the morals. Bill clinton doesnt have the morals to be president. How dare us. Like mr. Bible in the house, what does he think of President Trump grabbing women by their genitals or having sex with a porn while he was married with his wife about to have a baby and then paying her off . Apparently, there are more Michael Cohen took care of, but sorry, go on, i digress. Those should be looked over. They ignore those things. Lets face it, theyre raging hypocrites when it comes to this. Bill clinton. Donald trump raped a woman, sayings a judge. A jury of his peers said he sexually assaulted and defamed a woman. Grand jury after grand jury after grand jury, again, of his peers. Not the deep state. People. A grand jury of voters. Citizens. Have found him found enough evidence to indict him on 91 counts. All over the country. 91 counts. Yet, yet, mika, everybody is fine with it. In the extreme maga world. I think most pathetically, evangelicals, who was just so aghast and shocked by bill clintons behavior. Yeah, end of the world. Now, many of them, theyve basically said this guy is their savior. Theyve so abandoned the faith they claimed they had when bill clinton was president , they were so shocked, that some of them im talking about some of them have so abandoned their faith, theyre now idolizing donald trump. They will tell you that. Its sad and pathetic. You know, i think these points youre talking about opposed to the way we came into the show when you were talking about some of his weaknesses on stage, people could react and say, oh, you know, thats not fair. Thats being mean. You know what . Theres legitimate records to look at here as an American Voter today. They have two candidates who have both been president. Reverend al, you can look at their presidencies. Donald trump tries to lie about his presidency, so you have to go and look at sources that you can trust. Look at these presidencies or the president s at the border at the same time. Listen to the speeches and base your decision on that. What do you really want to go back to . Rev, i had one person call me and we talked about the differences at the border. They said, yeah, but did you see how he walked at the border . I said, wait, you are giving him style points on how he walked instead of what they said . Do i need to remind you that one of the greatest president s in the history of america was in a wheelchair, and he did okay. He gave us the new deal. Yes. Saved the country from, along with our allies, saved us from hitler. But i think when you look at the real difference between donald trump and joe bidens walk is joe biden has not had to do a perk walk in courtrooms as donald trump is doing. When you look at the fact, people keep saying joe biden is too old, is he too old to get the Infrastructure Bill passed . Was he too old to get the Inflation Reduction Act passed . Was he too old to get us out of the heights of a pandemic when youre up against the guy who said the pandemic was coming and told us to take bleach, then put his name on a check that nancy pelosi got through congress, and now he is incoherent to himself . He cant finish a sentence, going off in babble land. I mean, it is absolutely telling when we see people that try to defend what is indefensible. As you say, joe, at the top of my list are evangelicals who brought down the wrath of god on bill clinton but has excused donald trump for all kinds of things they preach is sinful. It shows more of their hypocrisy than a babbling old man on his way to court. President bidens aides know age is an issue. They believe a lot of this was litigated in 2020, and they feel like theyll be able to highlight this issue again. They dont think itll be that big of a deal for voters in the stretch run. They see this thursdays State Of The Union as a chance to prove President Bidens vitality. Last years State Of The Union, he crushed it, shouting back and forth with mtg and those in the back, able to box in the republicans on a campaign promise. And white house aides has shown us polling that americans concerns about his age went down after the strong State Of The Union showing. They think itll happen again. Joe and mika, lets also remember about donald trump. Jen mentioned how it seemed like the pressure is building on him and he was melting down as the weekend was going on. Boy, he was. Two reasons for that. One, he lost. Yes, it was on the washington, d. C. Primary, but he took a defeat. We have seen him in other states not put up the numbers his team would have liked. Haley putting up a bigger share of the vote than youd expect when trump is running as an incumbent. This incumbent just lost a primary. Secondly and perhaps most importantly, three weeks from today, a donald trump criminal trial starts. That is uncharted territory for any president ial candidate that is clearly weighing on this one. We simply do not know how that will impact him going forward. Well, let me also say, and mika and i who have known him for a long time understand, of all the things that are weighing on him, its the Crushing Realization that he may have to start selling some of his real estate because he doesnt have the money to pay the bond. Thats what is crushing him the most. I want to get back to this, though. I know we live in an era of bs thrown Against The Wall by fascists and wanna be fascists. Ive been talking about gravity returning, and it has returned in the courtroom time and time again. People that are getting hammered for the lies they tell, the lives theyve ruined, whether it is Rudy Giuliani in georgia lying about two women who just wanted to volunteer for elections, whether its the guy on info wars that lied about sandy hook parents. Adding just immeasurable pain to them. He got hammered. Donald trump lying about a woman a judge says that he raped. Gravity returns. 83. 3 million. Jen, there is another place where gravity is going to return, and we started to see it. You couldnt tell because as we all lifted our soggy papers this weekend that democrats across washington, d. C. , had wet upon. Come on. You can be mistaken there is an image. Enjoy your oatmeal. You can be mistaken for not reading the line in the Wall Street Journal in their poll that said, while biden is not getting the credit he deserves for the economy, it is starting to move that direction. People are starting to say, wait a second, this is a pretty good economy. I want to read this from the Wall Street Journal yesterday. Unemployment has been below 4 for two years, the longest stretch since the 1960s. Inflation now down to 3. 1 . A new Wall Street Journal poll shows views of the economy are moving to be more in line with those measures of economic strength. Its february. Its febuary. Ruary. Its Spring Training. The election is in the fall. The election in the fall. As the economy continues to improve, jen, we are seeing americans waking up saying, hey, things are pretty good. Consumer confidence going up. Things are pretty good. It is starting to move in that direction. As mika likes to tell women about their careers, there is a long, long runway ahead before this campaign is over. The president ial Approval Ratings are usually a Lagging Indicator, people feeling better about the country. The economic numbers and confidence goes up, ive noticed even though the president s Approval Ratings are low relative to other president s. We are living in a different time period. Look at Approval Ratings across the globe, and you see joe biden is doing pretty well. I have noticed they are starting to tick up. Of course, thursday night, the State Of The Union, that is the opportunity to lay out you know, for the president to lay out what will probably be a big audience. Television doesnt get big audiences anymore except for sunday night football, super bowls, and states of the union. And Way Too Early. Well, yeah, obviously. I mean, as you know, im a big fan. But they get thats when hell be able to lay out in context what he has accomplished. Sort of the jury weve been on from, you know, taking over the time of covid to now, explain why inflation was as high as it was, what they did to bring it back down. Of course, what hell do in a second term. I feel like thats the real starting gun for him making the argument of what hes accomplished relative to the november election. By the way, as far as ratings, juggernauts, mika, out of the top 100 shows last year, half were nfl games. Half were reverend als Politics Nation. It is massive. Charlie sykes, let me end with you. I must admit, this is foreign for me. My old Republican Party, back before trumps party, when they used to own the libs and now they lose, when polls didnt go our way, we said, how would we destroy them . Lets go. No bedwetting. It was a culture thing. Wed say, these polls suck. Were not working hard enough, not getting the message out there. We have to work harder, and were going. I had somebody tell me once i wasnt going to win. They said, the funders dont want you, joe the voters dont. I said, i dont care. They have no choice. Im going to will myself to victory. Everybody slowly backed away, but i promise, that was the attitude. Republicans used to have it. They dont have it now. Democrats bed wet in washington d. C. Whats your advice to the Democratic Party with democracy, i will say it, on the line . Shine as bright a spotlight as you possibly can on this other side. Ultimately, if this is a referendum on whether we want donald trump back in the white house, i think the democrats are going to be in a stronger position. You have to highlight all of this. You cant get distracted. And this is part of the problem, i think, of the way we cover these races. I think it was jay rosin who made the point, the news media is addicted to novelty, what is new, opposed to what are the stakes here . Part of the problem is, you know, donald trump depose out and says, you know, a series of racist, demented, series of things and people say, same old, its not a new story. We have to begin focusing on the stakes, make it as dramatic as possible. Speaking of polls, it is interesting. Nikki haley is not going to win tomorrow but shes exposed the vulnerabilities of donald trump, including the number of disaffected republicans that might vote for nikki haley but wont vote for donald trump. How is donald trump reacting over the weekend . Basically saying, were 100 maga now. There is no room in this party for moderates like mitt romney. Theres no indication that republicans or donald trump is doing anything to bring back disaffected republicans or even to appeal to swing voters. You have nikki haley out there pleading with other republicans, back away from the unhinged chaos, right . Lets have a return to normalcy. I think what were going to see tomorrow is that both donald trump and the republican electorate is not interested in returning to normal. Nope. In fact, they like the kay i dont guess chaos. They had a chance to leave it but they chose to double down on the chaos. Well see how it plays out the rest of the year. Charlie sykes, thank you very much. Ahead, well have an update on two of Donald Trumps criminal cases. Former litigator lisa rubin will break down the new developments. Plus, Vice President harris calls for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. What that could mean for the administrations approach to the ongoing war. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. If you look at the early states, he may have won them, yes, but he didnt get 40 of the vote. Thats no small number. In michigan, he campaigned there for eight years. I campaigned there for two days, and we got 30 of the vote. theres two things a young man wanna be a cowboy or a gangster. And a gangsters outta style. I got back to my roots. We come from a long line of cowboys. My grandfather, my greatgrandfather, my aunt even rode horses. When i see all of us out here on this ranch, i see how far our legacy can go. i love your dress. Oh thanks i splurged a little because Liberty Mutual customized my Car Insurance and i saved hundreds. Thats great. I know, right . 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Com, youll find inspiration in real patient stories, helpful tips, reliable information, and more. Cidp can be tough. But finding hope just got a little easier. Sign up at shiningthroughcidp. Com. All be heard. Be hopeful. Be you. President biden visited the southern border and was horrified to discover it is being swarmed by criminals and rapists. [ laughter ] thats right, both biden and trump coincidentally delivered the border on the same day, which sounds like the setup for the weirdest romcom of all time. My favorite part of the visit was when trump, who looks good behind bars, by the way, finally came facetoface with his sworn enemies, the migrants, and he had a pretty harsh message for them. Take a look. They like trump, can you believe it . No, i cant believe it. The migrants dont like you. They just walked 1,000 miles to get to the edge of this river, and theyre probably thinking, is that weirdo in a trump costume waving us into the country . Can you believe that . Wow, they were on fire saturday night. Great material to work with. Great material. Lets get an update on Donald Trumps criminal cases. Joining us now, former litigator and msnbc Legal Correspondent lisa rubin. Well start with the classified documents hearing on friday. What was the bottom line out of it . Bottom line, mika, there was no bottom line. We still dont have a trial date in that case. Judge canon has acknowledged that may 20th, which was her prior trial date, is no longer feasible. But we ended that hearing without a clear understanding from judge canon what trial date shes going to set, in any. She was begged by the Trump Lawyers not to set a date until after the election due to a number of factors, including the fact hes moved to dismiss that case on president ial immunity grounds. Okay. Then well go to Fulton County where were waiting word on Whether Fani Willis can continue. The question here is twofold. Are they winning just by the delay thats created . And how do you think what do you think the outcome of the Fani Willis Issue will be . Well, first of all, are they winning just by creating a delay . Trump always wins when he creates delay. As you know, mika, throughout his criminal cases, he has succeeded in creating quite a bit of delay except here in new york where his trial will begin later this month. In terms of the ultimate outcome, i think it is a little bit hard to say. The Legal Standard that should govern whether or not there is a Conflict Of Interest that would disqualify fani willis is somewhat up in the air. Folks will say, as the state did, that theres only a Conflict Of Interest, not only if there is a financial relationship, but one that disadvantages the defendants. Here, because it wasnt the sort of financial relationship where, for example, it was contingent on winning the case, its really hard to see how the defendants themselves will be hurt by the relationship between willis and wade. But steve made a convincing case. The ethics that fani willis and nathan wade behaved with or without created an appearance of impropriety and itd be a travesty of justice not to disqualify her. I think she wont be, but the damage to her reputation and the cloud over them in terms of whether or not they were truthful with the court will linger for some time to come. Finally, were expecting possibly, it seems probably, a decision by the Supreme Court on whether donald trump can remain on the brake light. There are some other states that are looking at this, as well, but the bottom line is, it probably has to come today. What do you think . I think it absolutely should come today. After all, tomorrow is Super Tuesday, and colorado is one of the Super Tuesday states. The status quo is that donald trump remains on the ballot. If the Supreme Court were going to uphold colorado, youd think they would have done so more than one day before the primary election, mika. All right. Msnbc Legal Correspondent lisa rubin, thank you for keeping track of all of that for that. Now to the u. S. Making its first air drops of humanitarian aid into gaza. In a combined effort with the Royal Jordanian air force, the u. S. Air force dropped over 38,000 meals on saturday afternoon. The packages were stacked on palettes for central gaza where thousands of people are starving. U. S. Officials are looking into more ways to send aid into gaza, including by sea. Its such a nightmare right now. 15 aid trucks were supposed to get to Northern Gaza where the situation is right now so extraordinarily bleak, and they were stopped. They were swarmed. All the food was taken off before they were able to get to Northern Gaza. People, obviously, in Southern Gaza who are suffering and struggling, too. The air drops are helpful, but they cant move as much as the convoys can move in. Now, theyre talking about coming in from the north. Desperately needed aid but this is going to be difficult because there are so many people that are starving, so many people that want to feed their families, that these aid trucks often get stopped. Overrun, yeah. Overrun by swarming crowds. These are the people who have survived. Yeah. Well over 30,000 people have been killed. Infrastructure has been ruined. It is a disaster of Epic Proportions that, at this point, is avoidable. They absolutely could stop what they are doing. Negotiators believe, by the way, hamas and israel are making slow progress, saying a ceasefire and a Hostage Release Deal could be reached before the muslim holy month of ramadan. An israel and u. S. Official tell the Wall Street Journal israel has agreed to the outlines of a deal that includes a sixweek truce, but Officials Say hamas has yet to provide answers on two key sticking points, which palestinian prisoners the group wants freed and how many for each hostage released. Because of that, israel has not sent a senior delegation to cairo for negotiations. Members of hamas, however, are there. Vice president Kamala Harris is set to meet with a member of israels war cabinet today at the white house. This just one day after harris called for an immediate ceasefire in the war in gaza. Here she is speaking yesterday in selma, alabama. People in gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act. The Israeli Government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses. [ applause ] they must open new border crossings. They must not impose any unnecessary restrictions on the delivery of aid. They must ensure humanitarian personnel, sites, and convoys are not targeted. And they must work to Restore Basic services and promote order in gaza so more food, water, and fuel can reach those in need. I will repeat, the threat of hamas poses to the people of israel must be eliminated. And given the immense scale of suffering in gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire. [ applause ] for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table. Hamas claims it wants a ceasefire. Well, there is a deal on the table. And as we have said, hamas needs to agree to that deal. Lets get a ceasefire. Lets reunite the hostages with their families. And lets provide immediate relief to the people of gaza. Joining us now is columnist and Associate Editor for the Washington Post, david ignatius. His latest piece is entitled Food Convoy Carnage Distills whats gone terribly wrong in gaza. You know, david, thank you for being with us. You know, david, what Kamala Harris said publicly, joe biden, tony blinken, other officials inside the Biden Administration have been urging israel to do now for weeks and weeks and weeks. There has been, as you know, quite a debate inside the white house about when was he going to break publicly with netanyahu . That wasnt a break with netanyahu. The administration finally said publicly what itd been saying privately all along. The conditions in gaza are unacceptable. You have to provide relief. Talk about that. Talk about just how dire this situation is in gaza. So, joe, first to the situation in the months of terrible war. I dont know that we saw an image more poignant than the Drone Footage of hundreds and hundreds of palestinians in the predawn on thursday Morning Scrambling desperately after this convoy of aid trucks, climbing on the trucks, climbing over each other. It appears that in the panic, this predawn time, that there was a stampede of people. They were crushed under the trucks wheels. Some israeli troops opened fire. Its just a scene i likened, sadly, to a chapter in Lord Of The Flies come to life. You see when people are reduced to this raw struggle for survival, what happens. So this is indicative, the Biden Administration believes, of israels lack of a clear plan. It simply does not have a way of providing order and security in the areas that it has cleared of hamas fighters in Northern Gaza. The people who are maintaining order, and i put that in quotation marks, are criminal gangs. They are organized criminals looting the food. They intimidate convoy Truck Drivers who are poised to bring more food. That led to an, i think, unusual decision by the administration to intervene more directly. Thats what the air drops are about. You cant get convoys in safely, were going to take over. Were going to begin dropping by air. Theyre going to build a port off gaza. Theyre contracting now with people in cypress to bring in docks. The gazan waters are shallow. Theyll get long, floating docks and bring in aid that way. Theyll figure out ways to do more secure convoys. The administration is fed up with the situation. The second important thing happening is the Visit Today In Washington Of Israeli war cabinet member benny gantz, former army chief of staff. Hes going to meet with Kamala Harris, meet with jake sullivan. The importance of this visit is Bibi Netanyahu, the israeli Prime Minister, did not want him to come. Bibi netanyahu has still not been received in the white house. Here is benny gantz, his chief rival who is going to be received. Hell have discussions with the administration officials. I see this as the beginning of a process that may see a splintering of the israeli war cabinet. I think the prospect of elections in israel that would probably displace netanyahu is increasing. In the polls now, gantz, who will meet with Kamala Harris today, is far ahead of netanyahu. If the race were held tomorrow, gantz would win it. Keep your eyes on that. Then the political repercussions back in israel. Basically, were at a moment where the u. S. Is going to play a much more significant role, both on the ground with aid and in these meetings with people like gantz. David, please weigh in for us on two things. The fact the u. S. Had to resort, though, to the air lifts for supplies, doesnt that also point to a weakness and inability to push netanyahu to provide more safety to get more supplies in via the ground . Secondly, speak about the urgency the u. S. Has. It was on display from the Vice President over the weekend, to get a ceasefire before ramadan, the muslim holy month, about a week away. Jonathan, the Convoy Situation was going pretty well in january. There were more than 200 trucks a day that were coming in. And then things got tangled, in part because the convoys were being protected by police from gaza who were affiliated with hamas. Israel began targeting them. The police said, we want guarantees we wont be shot at. They didnt get the guarantees. Suddenly, you had no protection for the convoys. Some of the openings, the crossing at kerem shalom was closed. There was a scarcity sud suddenly of food, and that increased the problem. The u. S. Believes if this ceasefire can be achieved in the next week, ramadan starts about seven days from now, itll begin a process of deescalation. So the ceasefire will last for six weeks initially. 40 israeli hostahostages, wound sick, elderly, women, will be released. The hope is at the end of the six weeks, theres still a lot of male hostages being held by hamas, that there will be another pause of additional time, another six weeks maybe, and that youll begin to get conditions where you could really ratchet this conflict down. Thats the hope. First, theyve got to get this initial agreement. Thats what theyre trying so hard to get today. I wonder where the difficulty lies for the most part, david, to jonathans point, and you also mentioned israels lack of a clear plan. Whether its Hostage Negotiations or getting to the table in cairo or trying to actually get to a ceasefire, my question to you is, does israel have the will and, specifically, does Benjamin Netanyahu have the will . Does he want a ceasefire . I think israel is ready for the ceasefire. The u. S. Has put a lot of pressure. I think the holdup right now is hamas. Hamas had made demands for a corresponding release of prisoners that was outlandish, asking for thousands in exchange for 40 hostages that are being released. Im told that thats been worked out, but i have to be honest, at this point, i have to wait until the first hostage is released. On the larger issue, mika, do they have a plan to bring this to a satisfactory end . The answer is no increasingly. Officials of the administration, when you press them, say, we dont see a plan. The israelis have talked about storming rafah, this large city at the southern most edge of gaza. U. S. Officials say they simply dont have a way to get them. More than 1 million refugees who went down, get them out to safety before they conduct the military operation. Thats the kind of thing that scares u. S. Officials and makes them worry that netanyahu, for all his talk about ending the war, simply doesnt have a plan yet. Well, and the humanitarian situation is such a condition right now. The meltdown is so complete. I mean, you look at the pictures coming out, the reporting coming out. Another fullscale attack with famine on the horizon, just not acceptable. Its really not acceptable. It shouldnt be acceptable. Theyve already had children die of hunger. Israelis who obviously want to see hamas destroyed, we all most of us at least, i certainly do. I think everybody around the table wants to see hamas destroyed. We also are seeing israels reputation Around The World but also, i think israelis should be more concerned at home with younger americans who are going to be making policy for the next 20, 30, 40 years, turning let me just say, viciously against israel. It is it is going to cause so many problems, david. Talk about that. I also want you to underline what you said before, though. That we look and the world looks at gaza and says, why cant you drive trucks in there . Come on, help the people. Why cant you get them in there . We need to do that. We need to air drop. We need to do whatever it takes. There are complications to that. Criminal gangs running the place right now, intimidating fathers, mothers who want to get food and get it to their kids. Like we see in so many corrupt places, the aid often gettings to the war lords. Usually gets to the gangs. You now have hamas in the middle of this, as well. Hamas doesnt want the United States of america helping a young mother or young father with food. It is extraordinarily complicated. Yet, of course, it has to be done. Joe, ive written that israel unintentionally is creating a version of somalia on its borders. What were seeing is when you knock over existing structures of security, and, you know, i think after october 7, israel was right to go after hamas. Hamas was a terrorist adversary, and hamas had been maing life miserable for people in gaza for a decade. So i think that assault was just. The problem was they didnt have a problem for what you put in to fill the vacuum after you knock over the existing authority. Thats what were watching now. The question of how future generations, our children, young voters in upcoming Democratic Party elections are going to view israel, i think thats something that israelis do need to think about more. You know, our generation grew up with the vision of israel as this proud country fighting off aggressors. Theres a very different view now. I hope when gantz comes to washington, hell evoke the israel that we remember. Fighting for democracy and trying to move to peace. Thats his job today when he meets with Kamala Harris and jake sullivan. Mika, it is so personal to what are the defining moments of somebodys childhood, young adulthood, what they see . I can tell you, the first time i ever heard the word palestinian was when i was watching the 72 munich olympics. It was the Palestinian Terrorist organization that went in and killed olympic athletes. Mmhmm. That was defining for me as a young person watching. Oh, the palestinians, theyre the terrorists. Those defining moments for me, then learning israel had been attacked time and time and time again by its arab neighbors, right . Yeah. Today, these are the defining images Young Americans are going to see. Of course, yes, they saw the horror and hell of october 7th. I wish it had more rsonance with young people, more than it has. Im surprised. But its the images of suffering in gaza that is going to define so many peoples views, not only of gazans but also of israelis. There is a cost to continued war. There is a cost to famine. There is a cost to extreme human suffering. It is a cost that, unless things change very quickly, israel will pay the consequences for in america and across the world for a very long time to come. Im not saying what ought to be. Im saying what is. Yeah, the Washington Posts david ignatius, thank you very much for coming on this morning. We appreciate the piece you wrote. Thank you. Thank you, david. Coming up, we are looking ahead to Super Tuesday as republican president ial candidate nikki haley appears to walk back her pledge to support donald trump if he is the gop nominee. And well show you more of trumps confusion on the Campaign Trail. Boy, thats really getting bad, isnt it . Plus, new polling that bet about the economy. He keeps shortcircuiting, like he blanks out. Trump . Yeah. At one point, he blurted gibberish, and his face was twisted and contorted, Donald Trumps was. Im concerned. Im glad joe biden, obviously, much better. Much better shape than that guy. Yeah. As it comes to the positive signs of the economy, it doesnt seem that President Biden is getting a lot of credit for it. Were going to look at why that might be. Were back in two minutes. And e exactly when well be there. Woman i have a few more minutes. Lets go tech vo thats service that fits your schedule. Go to safelite. Com. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. start your day with nature made. The 1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. You can make money the hard way as a bullfighter the 1 pharmacist recommended or a human cannonball. Or save money the easy way, with xfinity mobile. Existing customers can get a free line of our most popular unlimited plan for a year not only will you save hundreds but youll also be joining millions who have connected to americas most reliable 5g network. Sure is a lot safer than becoming a stuntman for money. Get a free line of unlimited intro for a year when you buy one unlimited line. Visit xfinitymobile. Com today to learn more. Putin has so little respect for obama, hes throwing around the nuclear word. You heard that, nuclear. Did you see maduro. Ve venezuela, unbelievable oil exploexploration. The biden well, you know this. Even argentina went maga. Argentina, great ga. Guy. We will expel the warmongers. We are a nation that recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will be a aw. Oh, my god. You turn away when he starts to blank out. Does it upset you . It feels very unhealthy. Ill be very careful. It doesnt look good. It scares me. Play it one more time. I want to see mikas he doesnt look good. Will he pass out . I dont know. Putin has so little respect for obama, hes throwing around the nuclear word, too. You heard that, nuclear. Did you see maduro . Venezuela, it is an unbelievable Oil Exploration and production in the United States. The Biden Border Will, well, you know this, right . Even argentina, they went maga. Argentina, great guy. We will expel the warmongers. We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will we be aw. That right there, that upsets you. I dont like it. Something is wrong. You think so . It makes me yeah. Lets play it one more time. No, i dont want to see it. I want to see what is upsetting you. Quickly. Putin has so little respect for obama that hes starting to throw around the nuclear word, too, you heard that, nuclear. Did you see maduro . Ve venezuela, unbelievable. Oil exploration and production in the United States. The Biden Border Will, well, you know this, right . Even argentina, they went maga. Argentina, great guy. We will expel the wall mongers. We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will be a aw. Come on. Whats going on . I dont know. Jonathan lemire, youve followed him. Im dead serious. You followed this guy a very long time. There is the confusion between nikki haley and nancy pelosi. The continued confusion between barack obama and joe biden. That has a deep background, going all the way back to 2011. He really is he continues to be obsessed and haunted by barack obama mocking him. At the White House Correspondents dinner, getting the respect he always thought he needed to get. The ghost of obama haunts him every day. He says it. You see it on stage. Theres Something Else. I know. Theres something but you look at his eyes and how twisted and contorted his face was at the end of that clip. You also have, you know, talking about mr. Argentina, a great guy. Like, if i was his family yeah, youre not. I would be looking at that as, like, a well i would take him to a doctor. This is what weve been saying about Rudy Giuliani for a long time, there has to be someone around him who can protect him from himself. There is no one around trump who can protect him from himself. Jonathan lemire, you wrote about january 6th. Thats an example about how hes not the same guy he was 5, 10, even 15 years ago. Nobody is saying he was a saint then, but we knew him. He is radically different. You see him talking radically different. Look at january 6th. He has every Single Person in the white house begging him to stop the riots. His lawyers were begging him to stop the riots. Everybody, his family was begging him to stop the riots. Fox news hosts were begging him to stop the riots. Everybody. Hes alone. As we go through this sad scene, there is nobody that can take him off the stage. Say, youre not well. You need to go to a doctor. Yeah, you need to get checked and taken care of. Hes surrounded entirely by enablers during this campaign and would be again if hed be in the white house a second time. There would be no guardrails or adults in the room. Itd be people doing what he wants. To your point, he is not the same guy. You can watch Video Footage of the 2016 campaign. Some of his time in the white house. We played last week a clip from the debate between trump and biden back in 2020. It was striking even then how much trump has changed, how hes aged. He is in his late 70s. He is only a couple years younger than President Biden. Were seeing with more and more frequency, even as the media and we talked about it earlier, how the weekend was pull of polls and obsession about President Bidens age it is this, trump, who day after day is showing the signs of age but also pressure. Yeah. Indeed, pressure because he is not getting as much of the share of the republican vote as hed like. Nikki haley posting a win over the weekend. Pressure because of the money he now owes, nearly half A Billion Dollars in a couple cases in new york city. And pressure that his first criminal case, a case that could theoretically put him in prison, starts in just three weeks. We are seeing it night after night on the rally stage, where he seems to even just lose control of the english language. Mika cringes. I cant help it either at the end of that clip. The team forges forward. Theyre trying to keep him off the stage as much as possible. Obviously, they dont want that out there. They dont want him on truth social. Again, he only hurts himself politically. But youve said, and i think youre so right, mika, youve talked about how you had everything. The pressures of a president ial campaign and everything Spir Swirling around in his life, and then add 91 counts. The pressure for anyone would be unbearable. Yeah. That may be paralyzing. Some of what were seeing on stage. The pressure is probably even when we knew him before, he didnt sleep much. No. You look at this, and itd only be natural. Nikki haley said this, somebody that is worried about 91 counts, worried about figuring out how to come up with close to, what, 1 billion, 500 million, however much it is. His property is possibly going to be seized if he doesnt come up with putting down i guess you have to put it all down when you appeal. 83. 3 million. Plus the 300 whatever. 300 million whatever. Thats there. The pressure is amazing. Then, you know what . Trump did have some gains in court. He was able to buy time in Fulton County. Hes got a trump judge in the documents case who is delaying. Whatever, he is finding some little bits of good news along the way. It does not take away the fact that this guy is facing hard time. Yeah. Behind bars. Every hour of every day, he knows hes face going to prison for crimes he is accused of and could be convicted of and going to prison for the rest of his life. Sitting in a cell. As we said in 2019, thatll never happen. Its just never happen. Well, they put him in a they put a thing on his ankle and have him sit in a room . No, no. If any of these trials ever go, and the judges in the Supreme Court seem to be ruling in ways that may stop them if donald trump wins of ever going to court. But i say home confinement. House arrest . Itd be country club come confinement. What he has a house he has to give up . Donald trump remains above the law, sadly. I believe in our judicial system, but i will say, really, i am surprised it is being challenged. By what the Supreme Court has done on a number of counts. Im actually careful not to Second Guess Courts and judges. Ill just say, im very surprised by that decision. But, jen palmieri, ill ask different questions about selma. Rev, ill start with you. Talk about the weekend. Talk about how moving it was. Talk about your impressions. Well, this was the 59th Anniversary of the selma march in 1965 when john lewis and boykin and reverend Jose Williams led a march across that bridge after a young man, jimmy d. Jackson, had been killed in neighboring marion, alabama. About the right to vote. Dr. King was in atlanta preaching at his home church with his father. The State Troopers teargassed and literally beat people on that bridge. It was the drama. It was the films that came out, the videos of that beating that ignited the world to say, wait a minute. Why in a democracy are you beating people for the right to vote . It led to the 65 Voting Rights act. It is almost a rite to passage. People go back. We go back every year. Yesterday, it took on new meaning because that vote is under threat, unlike ever before in the 69 years. With section 5 out of the Voting Rights act by this rightwing Supreme Court, with many states changing voter laws that no longer have to go through preclearance, yesterdays march was very much as contemporary as it was commemorative. I think the good news, though, is walking across that bridge. I was wielding one of the original, as you see in the film, this was one of the original foot soldiers who was tear gassed that day, was in a wheelchair. Next to me was the Vice President who, because of her, a woman and a black woman could be Vice President. Of course, we went over that bridge with barack obama. So they were the ones who ushered in a new generation, but theyre being challenged in this generation. Reverend al, nobody 59 years ago on either side of that terrible, terrible divide, in that racist age, no one would have believed 59 years ago, that a black Vice President who is a woman would be walking across that bridge and later delivering a message to the world about a par and the suffering going on halfway across the world. Rev, as you said, also, that a black man would have been president of the United States and elected by a majority of the vote twice. Who was the last president elected by the majority of the vote twice . Reagan, of course. It hasnt happened much. Again, in this country 59 years ago, who would have ever believed we would have seen this moment yesterday . I think that that is why we should not despair. As bad as things may appear to us and as contorted in this age of trump as it is, i look at them and say, if they wouldnt have gotten teargassed on the bridge and given up, we wouldnt see what weve seen. It is energizing us for the battles now but also remembering, you can win if youre determined. Those people had no idea what was going to happen. Look at what they made happen. Its unbelievable. Jen palmieri, we talk about a black woman, Vice President of the United States, marching across the Edmund Pettus bridge. What an extraordinary moment when viewed in contrast to what happened there 59 years ago. Lets also talk about something thats happening right now, historic. Joe biden and the Biden Administration, theyve been very carefully measuring what they said publicly about israel. They want the israeli people to know that they are Standing Shoulder to shoulder with them, even if they are not with Benjamin Netanyahu, who they believe is setting back the cause of israel. Yesterday, the Biden Administration chose Vice President Kamala Harris to deliver some powerful words. Talk about that. And why, perhaps, they chose the Vice President and this setting to deliver the message. I was in michigan on friday and talked to people there about how theyre feeling about the uncommitted vote and concerns around gaza. A lot of what i heard was people need to know that the president , that the administration gets it, that they care. That they understand how much pain people in michigan, palestinianamericans, arabamericans are feeling. I feel like the Vice President really captured that. You can just hear real sorrow in her voice, anger in her voice. A very powerful statement, a very powerful setting. In terms of both how it looked and also the historical representation of being at selma as the First Black Woman Vice President. It wasnt necessarily a new policy she was announcing, but we heard it differently this time. I think it is partly because of the powerful words she used to speak to it. I should note, i pay close attention to women leaders, so i loved seeing her. The setting, the images of her walking across the bridge, so much production. So much strength. Yes. In terms of for the administration, to have her, which people know shes been behind the scenes, shes been pushing to be more aggressive and to see her, you know, deliver it this way, i think its, you know, well see what happens, if they actually get the ceasefire, but that was a good move. Yeah. It was a great move. Going back to what i was saying, though, about 59 years ago. In the 59 years since the vicious, racist attacks on the Edmund Pettis bridge, only two president s have been elected twice with Majority Vote in america. Only two in the past 60 years. Reagan and barack obama. Extraordinary. It was a pretty incredible moment for the Vice President , and she took what they were commemorating yesterday and the Edmund Pettus bridge, and she spoke about what was happening on The World Stage and what needed to be done. I think it was a very powerful moment on many levels for this administration. Now to the economy. New polling is showing that voters are starting to feel better about the state of the economy. So far, it is having little effect on president joe bidens general election numbers. The latest Wall Street Journal poll, 31 of americans think the economy is better. Despite the change, biden climbed just two points in a likely matchup between donald trump. Down two points nationally within the polls margin of error. As for why the improved Economic Outlook likely hasnt translated into more support for biden, the poll shows since december, immigration has eclipsed the economy as the most important issue. By the way for voters, but wait do you know other issues eclipse the economy, you know what that means . Yeah. The economy is doing really well. The economy is always at the top. He is winning on immigration, too. He will. He put he will. Look at the border. He put out a bipartisan solution, and republicans rejected it. Whether the administration and ultimately the Biden Campaign can make sure their megaphone is as loud or louder than the maga rights lies about immigration. Lets bring in mike barnicle. Msnbc news and political analyst, former u. S. Senator claire mccaskill. She and jen palmieri are cohosts of the msnbc podcast how to win 2024. Former senior aide to both the biden and clinton campaigns, Adrienne Elrod is with us. Reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal, aaron zitner joins us. Glad to have you all on this morning. Senator mccaskill, we were thinking about you earlier, glad youre here, when we were talking about democrats in washington, d. C. , and the bedwetting over a New York Times poll when you look at the situation. All this about joe bidens age. I dont know if youve seen the clip, but weve run a clip no, please. Once or twice of donald trump. We find it so fascinating, sort of this you know, newspapers will go, you know, donald trump is old, too, but they focus on joe biden more. Well, yeah they dont talk about all the crazy things donald trump says because theyve gotten so used to it. Someone said earlier, theyre interested in the new. Donald trump has been saying strange, bizarre things for such a long time. When he stammers and staggers across the stage like he did this weekend talking about his good friend mr. Argentina, when he is still confusing barack obama for joe biden, you know, when he confused nikki haley for you know, you go on and on and on, nothing from the media. Its just very minimal. Thats obviously shaping the polls. Yeah, it really has been way out of proportion. Im speaking as somebody who affectionately has known for a long time that joe biden does stuff sometimes that is confusing. Hes been this way always. Part of it is his stutter. Part of it is the way he speaks. But look at trump. You know, one thing that stuck out to me lately with donald trump, there is not a vainer man on the planet than donald trump. His deterioration, i think, is in his appearance. What stuck out to me, somebody on his last hair dye job gave him bright orange. I mean, its not the normal color he usually dyes his hair. He looked in the mirror and didnt notice the difference. I mean, if you look at the clips youve run, if you look at what youre showing now, its older and his hair color is not as dramatic, but it is literally carrot orange right now. Does he not see that . Is everybody around him, is it the emperor wears no clothes . Is everybody around him saying, hey, listen, guy, your hair is on fire in terms of this Fluorescent Orange Color . To me, that reflects his mental decline as much as anything. Clearly, hes looking in the mirror and doesnt realize that something is amiss. One way to look at it. [ laughter ] it is one way to look at it. Im struck by another thing thats happening this morning that weve been talking about, history. There are people who learn from history, and there are people who ignore past history. And several elements of this public and the political constituenies learn from history. One, whole Political Party seems to ignore history. They ignore the fact that voting, i mean, 59 years ago, the selma bridge and all the legislation that occurred after the bridge was walked across by people, 59 years ago, voting was in peril for a lot of people and impossible for some other people. Its still a tough task to vote for a lot of people in america today. Thats a huge issue. Well talk about it a little later, but i want to ask aaron zitner right now about the Wall Street Journal poll, the president , and his relation to the economy, and peoples perception of him in terms of handling the economy. How much of that do you suspect is rooted in interest on Credit Card Rates . Thats something that every american pays every month for fear of losing their card. Thats the impact of the economy that i think they see most often, other than grocery prices. Yeah, and mortgage rates, too, have been a problem. Inflation has been so corrosive on interest rates, and it is pervasive and affected everybody. But weve had this mystery about the economy, which is, through traditional measures, unemployment, inflation, the stock market, Consumer Spending is high, the economy is pretty good but people arent feeling it. The question for the president ial campaign has been, will people start to feel the economy is strong and move more in like with the economic fundamentals, and will biden get any credit . What were seeing in our poll is, yeah, biden is getting a little more credit. People are viewing his handling of the economy a little better, but, boy, hes got age, immigration, and other issues weighing him down. Its not enough. This improvement in economic sentiment, consumer sentiment, just isnt enough to give him much lift so far. Adrienne, there is no question that President Biden faces a number of challenges for his reelection bid, including two hot wars overseas. At least one in which, in particular, the one in gaza, is dragging down his support at least among pieces of his base. You know this as well as i do, the biden team frames it differently. They dont think the poll numbers will be reflective of how people vote in november. Weve seen that overseas with other leaders of democracies. They think itll happen again here, too. Though the polls are worrisome, since the Dobbs Decision, democrats win elections. They keep winning elections. Yup. This will be the First Time Since the Dobbs Decision that President Bidens name will be on the ballot. Talk to us about how that framing needs to occur in the next few months. Couple things, jonathan. I think, number one, we have to keep in mind that every time Donald Trumps name has been on the ballot or every time he has been part of an election, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, he has lost. 2022 even, the repercussions of Donald Trumps presidency were looming around. The threat of him running again was looming around, and democrats consistently won in very tough elections. Thats one thing to keep in mind. New york also gave democrats a major boost. We saw how the democrats in the race was able to run offensively on immigration, was able to really tout the strong economy. Yes, perhaps not everyone is feeling it. The Consumer Confidence is going up. So youre able to sort of take the economy, you know, take it head on, talk about it, and also run offensively on immigration. Look, im going to tell you this. My money is on the guy thats created 15 million jobs and counting as president , who passed four Major Economic bills, two bipartisan, who has overseen record wage growth, who capped insulin at 35. The list of bidens accomplishments goes far and wide. Compare that to donald trump, the madman who, frankly, we have not been hearing a lot from over the past few years. As this election heats up, it does become a Binary Choice as we move into the general election between joe biden and donald trump. You start Hearing Trump on the stump making all these crazy comments and gaffes, such as the ones you played this past weekend. Then you also see for the Biden Campaign, which, by the way, is raising more money than Donald Trumps campaign, as donald trump is spending a lot of money on legal bills. The Biden Campaign will have a cash advantage going into the real time it makes a difference to be spending money on your persuasive ads and making sure youre getting the message out in terms of what youve done and what youll continue to do for the American People. Once the summer hits, people are tuning in more. Were spending more money on the Biden Campaign. Biden campaign is spending more money. Itll be a far closer race, and the polls will start to reflect that. Aaron, when you look at the question about the president s Approval Rating on the economy, people saying that things are Getting Better, do you have a sense of what is in peoples minds when they judge the president on policy . What i hear anecdotally, if you work in the political ecosystem, you think the Inflation Reduction Act and american recovery act. But if youre a normal person, you look at interest rates, which people dont understand that thats made by the fed reserve and he doesnt have a role in that. You look at credit card interest rates. You look at inflation, which people assume is a byproduct of a biden policy. Do you have any sense of what people are actually thinking of when theyre judging him on the Economic Performance . Well, look, this is the strongest job market by many measures since the 1960s. Gas is about 3 bucks a gallon. Before, it was 4 bucks a gallon. Weve seen some improvement in how they view the president s handling of the economy. About 40 approve of how he is handling the economy. The share of them think he is doing good on inflation. These arent numbers that say, this is a great economy. Thank you, mr. President. We have to reelect you right away. Joe and mika, let me give you one other number from the poll. 52 . Thats the share of americans who think donald trump is too old to be running for president. This speaks to some of the clips you were showing. The 52 is well below the number who think joe biden is too old to run for president. He is at 73 of people saying, what is this guy doing at age 81 running . But the 52 is up five points from december. What were going to watch in the future is, as you show more of these clips and theyre out in the media, will more and more people come to think that age is as Big A Mill Stone in reelecting donald trump as it is for joe biden . Reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal, aaron zitner, thank you for coming on the show this morning. We appreciate it. Still ahead on morning joe, well go live to teaviv on the heels of Vice President Kamala Harris new call for a ceasefire in gaza. Plus, one of our guests this morning says biden is still the democrats best bet for november. No amount of Wishful Thinking is going to magically produce a winning candidate b. Well read from that new piece. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. With so many choices on booking. Com there are so many tina feys i could be. So i hired body doubles to help me out. Splurgy tina loves a hotel near rodeo drive. Oh tina wild tina booked a farm stay to ride this horse. Glenn close . with millions of possibilities you can book whoever you want to be. Thats my line booking. Com booking. Yeah i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms. With my Psoriatic 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 rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling in ra and psa. Relieve fatigue for some. And 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; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. People 50 and older with a Heart Disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. 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Joining us from telaviv is nbc news Foreign Correspondent raf san sanchez. Raf . Reporter mika, good morning. We are now 150 days into this war. The humanitarian crisis in gaza is deepening by the hour. Time is running out to get a ceasefire deal in place by the start of ramadan this weekend. Now, the u. S. Has some tough, new words for israel delivered by Vice President Kamala Harris. The u. S. Now stepping up demands that israel and hamas finally agree a ceasefire deal in gaza. There must be an immediate ceasefire. [ applause ] for at least the next six weeks which is what is currently on the table. Reporter Vice President harris delivering some of the administrations sharpest criticism of israel yet, calling the situation in gaza a humanitarian catastrophe. People in gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And the Israeli Government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses. Reporter the Vice President will today meet with benny gantz, a Senior Member of israels war cabinet, as the u. S. Pushes to get a ceasefire deal in place before ramadan begins this week end. Under the proposed deal, 40 hostages would be reached for about 400 palestinian prisoners. It is not clear how many hostages are still alive, a key point in the talks. America planning to drop more aid into gaza by 38,000 meals were delivered by parachute over the weekend. Half a Million People are dangerously short of food, a result of israeli restrictions and the total collapse of Law And Order in Northern Gaza. But for families like the abu anzas, whose home was hit by an israeli strike, they say they dont want aid from the u. S. Because of its support of the israeli war. We want the United States to get away from us, she says. We dont want anything from them. Ceasefire talks continued in cairo over the weekend, but israel didnt send senior negotiators to that meeting. An israeli official tells me they dont plan to send a delegation until hamas provides the list of surviving hostages. Mika. Nbc news Foreign Correspondent raf sanchez live in telaviv, thank you very much. In a recent oped in foreign affairs, israel must decide where its going and who should lead it there. In part, the war has revealed the staggering strategic incompetence of the Israeli Government and an astonishing Leadership Vacuum at the top. Since 1996, netanyahu has accepted the goal of a twostate solution in principle on four occasions but has always torpedos it when the time came to act. Biden has now presented netanyahu with a stark choice. He can get on board with the u. S. Backed plan for the day after in gaza while still expressing israeli reservations. Or he can capitulate to his racist, messianic, farright partners in his governing coalition, who seek to annex the Palestinian Territories and thus reject any proposal, however conditional and long term, that involves the creation of a palestinian state. There is only one way to prevent netanyahu from leading israel into a long regional war and probably deceiving both the administration and the israeli public, general elections. Claire mccaskill, to joes point earlier, young people Around The World are watching. They are developing a world view that is very different about israel as this continues. As Famine Encroaches across gaza. As people die by the day of starvation. As theyre getting obliterated by bombing. It appears israel just has no will to do anything that seems to want to preserve civilian life. Well, i dont think it is israel. I think its, as the farright Prime Minister laid out in the oped, its the political situation in israel that bibi in the country relies on for power. The most important thing in israel and gaza right now is israel being able to protect itself from a Terrorist Slaughter of innocent citizens and, and i say and in capital letters, a humanitarian crisis that is unacceptable to innocent gazan civilians and palestinians. So lets look at the politics of it, understanding that thats the backdrop. If Benny Gantz Is meeting with Kamala Harris today, with the Vice President , that is a huge political signal to Bibi Netanyahu. Benny gantz is, in fact, and has been for some time, Bibi Netanyahus number one political rival. Benny gantz right now would beat Bibi Netanyahu in a general election if it was called. And the israeli people need to understand why they are so focused on their National Security, as they should be. In the long run, they are really damaging their National Security on The World Stage. Because the narrative of this has gotten away from them. Its totally gotten away from them. So i think what youre going to see is joe biden ramping up the pressure on Bibi Netanyahu. Yeah. Like with this meeting today. Eventually, i think youll see joe biden call for his resignation. Wow. Claire mccaskill, thank you very much. Coming up on morning joe, the private chats and chance encounters that shape joe bidens thinking. The Washington Post tyler page joins us with a look at his new series, digging into how President Biden learns and leads. Plus, a 50yearold record falls in College Basketball as Caitlin Clark becomes the alltime Ncaa Division i scoring leader. Morning joe is coming right back. I have active Psoriatic Arthritis. But with skyrizi to treat my skin and joints, im feeling this moment. Along with clearer skin skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. And 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. Theres nothing like clearer skin and better movementand that means everything ask your doctor about skyrizi today. Learn how abbvie could help you save. This looks like an actual farm. It looks cute on the app. [farm animal sounds] meanwhile, at a vrbo. When other Vacation Rentals arent what theyre cracked up to be, try one where you know what youll get. Welcome back. College basketball phenom Caitlin Clark is now the most prolific scorer in ncaa history. Over the weekend, the Iowa Hawkeye Superstar broke a record that has stood for more than 50 years. Joining us now from iowa city, nbc news correspondent jesse kirsch. You were in the arena for the game. Tell us all about it. Reporter yeah, mika, good morning. We were here with thousands of people witnessing history. This place was electric throughout the game. In the first half, Caitlin Clark was starting to find a rhythm from beyond the arc, in threepoint range like she often does, but it was over here with a free throw that she reached the pinnacle of College Basketball. This for College Basketball history. Reporter with that swish heard Around The World, Caitlin Clark made College Basketball history again. Clark, stepback straightaway. Reporter sunday at the University Of Iowa Hawkeyes Phenom becoming the alltime leader with this foul shock. A record is a record. I hope people remember me for the way i played with a smile on my face, my competitive fire. Reporter it pushed her past pete maravichs record, 3,667 points. We spoke with pistol petes son, jason, after clark moved to 3,685 points and counting. What would your t me of this moment . Hed be extremely happy. Hed love the way she plays. Reporter clark was on a recordbreaking run. A great job here. Reporter last week, the 22yearold iowa guard became the leading scorer for Womens Basketball. The previous record holder, lynette woodard, was in the crowd. Records are made to be broken. Im so happy for her. Reporter clark hasmore points, woman or man. Hopefully someone else breaks my record and i can support them. That makes the game so fun. Reporter it was the most expensive ticket on record for a Womens Basketball game. Another reminder that clark is helping to transform womens sports while inspiring legions of fans. She has given us so much fun this year. Its just unbelievable. Reporter Caitlin Clark needed 18 points to break the record, but she finished the game with 35. Her College Career is not done yet. Praise pouring in from lebron james, billie jean king, and her coach tells me shes glad this didnt help with a threepointer. Its all about fundamentals. You have to make your free throws, mika. And i am among those now inspired to work on my game. We made it earlier. Hang on, lets see if we can take another one. One more, please. Reporter give me a chance for redemption here. You got it. Reporter close, well keep working. Do it again . Im not leaving we made something. Thank god. Jesse kirsch, thank you very, very much. Wow. Jonathan lemire, jesse actually kind of encapsulated my thinking here, about this incredible woman. Like, how do you make a free throw under that much pressure . She is so zen. Mika, you said you had to look away when donald trump was slurring his words. I had to do the same when jesse missed the free throws. That was truly terrible. Glad he redeemed himself with the bank at the end. Caitlin clark is spectacular, transcending sports. Seems every day, there is a new record she sets. She led her team to an upset victory over ohio state, the number two team in the country. She was eligible for a fifth year in college, but shell go to the wnba. The team from indiana likely to take her. Shell move on to another stage and continue to inspire a lot of people. It is so important. You know i spent a lot of time looking at womens leaders, sports and politics. To have this, for her to draw the attention she has, to be as inspiring as she is, its important not just, oh, little girls are inspired, little boys are inspired by her, but also the people who make decisions about money in the sports. Yeah. And who gets covered and what gets television coverage. They see she has a huge fan base, and Womens Basketball is exciting. Couple years ago, womens sweet 16 had a higher viewership than the male sweet 16. Shell make millions of dollars and already has. Good for her. Really from endorsements. Good for her. And women athletes. I was pleased to hear the voice of pete maravichs son talking about him. Nice. His records. The greatest college scorer of all time died tragically young, i think young, i think in his early 40s. It was nice to hear his name to remember what he did and to see it topped by this wonderful basketball player. Shes incredible. Absolutely incredible. Great story. Despite jesse, a great story. Back to politics now, were being joined right now by White House Reporter of the Washington Post, tyler pager. Theres a new series in the paper on how the president s thinking is not formed just by advisers but chance interactions with everyday americans. Tyler writes in part, as president of the United States, biden has access to practically unlimited information. But to a remarkable degree, biden relies on direct personal interaction for information, catchup chats with his children and grandchildren, talks with fellow parishioners after mass, exchanges with workers on his property in wilmington, delaware, spontaneous calls to former colleagues from Consumer Prices to masking guidelines to loneliness. The president brings their worries to the oval office. The chance encounters and informal chats also give the information a random limited quality, seeming to depend on whom biden runs into and their concerns of the moment, leaving some aides to marvel at the influence these casual interactions have on setting the governing agenda. Tyler, what were you looking for when you set out to embark on this series . And tell us more about what you found. Mika, thank for having me. Its great to be with you this morning. The goal i set out a few months ago, to try and better understand how the president does his job. He can prioritize any issue. He can meet with whoever he wants. And the process by which he does his job is mostly not available to the American People. We see him give speeches, but most his day is spent in the oval office, in meetings, having conversations with aides and other world leaders, and that is not something we can see day to day. I set out to try to better understand, as he runs for reelection, what does the president look like behind the scenes. This threepart series tries to answer some of those questions. The first you were reading from looks at how ge tets information. Obviously theres a briefing book, the daily president ial briefing where he meets with the murt team, then he has briefings all day with aides. What i found remarkable is how much he craves those pulse checks from americans outside the president ial bubble. He spent most of his career every day in the senate commuting to washington on amtrak where he chatted with passengers and conductors, getting feedback in real time. Obviously, thats changed as he lives in the white house. Hes compared it to living in, like, a gilded jail. As he leaves for the weekend, he craves those opportunities, even if theyre very informal and casual and infrequent, whether its going to church on saturday evenings for mass as he often does, or being in wilmington and having gardeners and others come to his property and bring up issues. He comes back on Monday Morning in the oval office and barrages his aides with questions about what are we doing about this, how do we think about this . And its a remarkable thing that thats how the president craves getting these real pulse checks from everyday americans. Tyler, first of all, i love the idea for this piece. I think it really gets into the fundamental understanding that the president has in terms of, you know, how his poliies are affecting the average american. As you noted, he used to take amtrak every day and had a lot of spraxs. But when youre the president of the United States, you oftentimes become more insulated from interacting with average americans. One thing you noted in your piece which i really loved is he asks for letters from his team every week that sort of talk about how the policies that hes implemented, which are quite a few, by the way, are actually impacting those people, how the Inflation Reduction Act is impacting someone directly, how the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill is having an effect on someones family or their community. Can you sort of talk about how the team puts together those letters and how those letters inform his decisionmaking process . Yeah, absolutely. And Many Americans might be familiar with these letters that president s get from barack obama, who very systematically received ten letters every night in his briefing book to take into the residence to read. And barack obama asked for a representative of letters. It sort of became famous in the white house about which letters obama was going to read that night. This dates back to the William Mckinley administration where the letters processing was formalized in this office of president ial correspondence. Each president has done it differently. Clinton got them every few weeks. George w. Bush got them a little less frequently. Obama got them systematically. For biden, its five letters every week. He often sets them aside for weekend reading. As you said, the letters that biden particularly gets are ones that talk about the policies and how they have impacted americans lives directly. Those are often skewed positively where he wants to or aides want him to see directly how the policies hes signed into law, as you mentioned, a slew of legislation, how that has impacted americans and improved their lives. Not as systematically as obama did with ten every night, but another way to find out what americans are thinking. White house reporter at the Washington Post, tyler pager, thank you very much. Adrienne, thank you for coming on. Still ahead on morning joe, well have the latest from the Campaign Trail ahead of Super Tuesday as nikki haley picks up her first primary win. If you try vaping to quit smoking, it might feel like progress, but with 3x more nicotine than a pack of cigarettes vapes increase cravings trapping you in an endless craving loop. Nicorette reduces cravings until theyre gone for good. The future is not just going to happen. You have to make it. And if you want a successful business, all it takes is an idea, and now becomes the future. A future where you grew a dream into a reality. Its waiting for you. Mere minutes away. The future is nothing but power and its all yours. The all new godaddy airo. Get your Business Online in minutes with the power of ai. You were always so dedicated. We worked hard to build up the shop, save for college and our retirement. But we got there, thanks to our advisor and vanguard. Now i see who all that hard work was for. It was always for you. Seeing you carry on our legacy im so proud. At vanguard, youre more than just an investor, youre an owner. Setting up the future for the ones you love. Thats the value of ownership. Voices of people with cidp cidp disrupts. Cidp derails. Lets be honest. All cidp sucks voices of people with cidp but living with cidp doesnt have to. When you sign up at shiningthroughcidp. Com, youll find inspiration in real patient stories, helpful tips, reliable information, and more. Cidp can be tough. But finding hope just got a little easier. Sign up at shiningthroughcidp. Com. All be heard. Be hopeful. Be you. We will restore peace through strength. Its a bd war. And putin, you know, has so little respect for obama that he started to throw around the nuclear word today. You heard that. Nuclear. Donald trump over the weekend once again thinking hes running against barack obama. And when trump wasnt confusing bide within obama its sad. He thought he was obama, taking credit for legislation that was signed by his predecessor. Sad. For our great veterans, we pass va accountability and va choice. That was a big deal. I have no greater honor than serving as your president and commander in chief, and i have no greater privilege than the chance to help make sure that our country keeps the promises that weve made to everybody who signs up to serve. With that, i am going to sign this bill. Thank you very much, everybody. Now watch me sign this bill. Good morning. So, hold on, hold on. What a weekend. And the swearing, seriously. I had to apologize to fat elvis when he slurred his words. Donald trumps face was contorted. Very weird. Again, though, its joe biden who you know, folds up his bike and whatever. Its bizarre, bizarre. But dont pretend, dont pretend among the networks that it doesnt exist. Trump people pretend it doesnt exist and that well have an election, and by the time the election comes, everybody will know it exists and everybody will know who actually has more of a problem. But here you had jonathan lemire, im not really good at politics. Thats true. You know, or dont keep up with the news. You dont have to in this job. So, help me out. I saw that that va bill was signed in 2014. I was just looking at the clip there. Was, donald trump in 2014 . Who was president in 2014 . I have my trusty almanac here, and it says that in 2014, no, it was not donald trump. It was barack obama who was president of the United States. Okay. So, again, his mind shortcircuited there. Also, once again, he said barack obama is president of the United States right now. Ive been following living pool. Its been exciting. I havent been watching a lot of news lately. A great nfl season wrapped up as well. Spring training. I dont have time for this. No. So, whos president right now . Is barack obama president right now . First of all, liverpool, that win was tremendous. Im checking again here. Checking again here in the almanac. No. Barack obama was president in 2014, but he stopped being president in 2016. So, no, he is not currently the president and in the oval office. He stopped being president in 2016 because, as donald trump has said at Campaign Event after Campaign Event, that he beat barack obama in 2016. Right . So, is that why barack obama is no longer president , because, as Donald Trump Tells his crowds all the time, he beat barack obama in 2016 . Ive got to thumb a little further into the almanac for this one, a little deeper research, but, no, he didnt. Barack obama was term limited out. Donald trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, not barack obama. Oh, thats right. So, is that why hes but he wants that matchup. This is like ali frazier iii. He wants that third matchup. He wants the thrill. So, is that why hes running against him well, he said he beat him in 2020. And then he said hes running against him again in 2024. Right . What does the almanac say . Barack obama constitutionally prohibited from running again, so not, in fact, barack obama. It was joe biden who Beat Donald Trump in 2020, and it looks like well get that rematch, round two, this time around in 2024. And this was a weekend of Pure Meltdowns for donald trump, including one where he loses the ability to speak the english language. Ive seen the clip about a dozen times, and i burst out laughing each and every time. Yeah. Its not good. Yeah. Not good. And i havent laughed because theres one point he says saudi arabia, russia, and he looks off into the distance, and his face is, like, contorted and twisted, and its like hes really struggling. You know what im talking about. I do. Really struggling out there to get his thoughts together. So i thought he does that on saturday night. All week in the New York Times front page, joe biden too old. People think joe biden is too old. Well talk about that story. I just have to say off the top, if you ask the question is joe biden too old, thats like asking all the people that watch this show, and there are a lot, does Joe Scarborough talk too much . 85 , 90 will say, yes, he talks too much and if you ask the question, would morning joe be better without Joe Scarborough on it . Hold on. Hold on. About 85 . 90 would say, yes, of course it would be. Right . And yet in the words of the great bob seger, and still, here we are. Both of us lonely. The point is this. The question is asked the question answers itself. If you ask joe biden, am i too old . Hell go, yeah, im too old in fact, hes said that. Man, im old, right . Yeah. He wants to be younger. Hed love to be younger, and ive love to talk less. As we can tell in the first seven minutes of this show, it aint going to happen. Neither one is going to happen. This is the choice americans have, and this will be the choice americans will be glad they have in the fall when democrats return to joe biden and democracy is saved for another four years. I find the bedwetting that goes along with these New York Times polls every three months, every three months, i find it ridiculous. Especially when donald trump spent the weekend Speaking Incoherently in ways that should disturb if they could be disturbed by anything, which they know they cant because theyre not disturbed by a say hes going to be a dictator from day one, by a guy who says hes going to destroy his political opponents and throw them in jail, not concerned about the fact he says hes going to get s. E. A. L. Team 6 to assassinate his political opponents and cant be held liable or guilty for that, a guy who a judge says, wait a minute, lied about her, defamed her, charlottesville, good people on both sides. Covid. Covid. Literally killing people. On and on and on. If these people are going to be disturbed by anything, theyll go, that said and, god help me, you know this, if i have a fault, its that i care too much. Is that it . I care too much. If i have a fault, i care too much. For my republican brothers and sisters, i have been here for the past seven years trying to save them from themselves, but they insist not only putting their hand on the hot stove but laying their face down gently on the hot stove, only to find out theyre going to get burned again. Of this i have no doubt. I think my irritation this weekend came with the news media that was talking about a guy whos very cogent, a guy whos doing a very good job managing all that he is managing across the word and passing a record amount of Bipartisan Legislation and focusing on him, saying, oh, hes too old. Well, they continue to ignore donald trump completely losing his mind, blanking out on stage. Lets talk about the poll and the freakout. The biggest takeaway for me is how trump reacted this weekend, which i think is a reaction to biden taking him on directly at the border. You know, if theres one thing that comes out of that New York Times article thats productive, it is that we have attention Deficit Disorder when it comes to paying attention to what joe biden is doing and what his positions are. Trump took the bait with the border. That means joe biden finally broke through on the border and what hes trying to do because he paid attention to both of them. Yes. By the way, it matters, because one poll showed 63 of people think House Republicans are to blame for stopping the bipartisan border bill, and they did it because they wanted to help donald trump. And then trump freaks out, and, you know, he has three days of the kind of sound we saw over the weekend. A way for bide on the break through is to find that direct confrontation. Look at that guy. Hes not well. Im sorry. That guy is not well. Lets bring in the president of the National Action network and host of Politics Nation on msnbc, reverend al sharpton. We are so excited, rev, to talk about selma this weekend. Also with us author of how the white lost its mind, charlie sykes. Speaking of the trump right losing their mind, donald trump was on the Campaign Trail this week in North Carolina and virginia, and the guy just kept getting confused. Look at this series of clips. In venezuela, maduro, venezuela its unbelievable were getting rid of the romneys of the world. We want to get romneys and those out. But they know that we are the only ones who can stop them. Were the only ones. This is the greatest movement this the history of our country, maybe in the history of any country. Even argentina, they went tina. Hes a big trump guy. Anybody that loves me, i like them. I said abdul, you still there . Hes the held of the taliban. I said youre killing our soldiers. Dont do it anymore, because terror will rain, down an you. He said yes, yes, your honor. He called me your highness. We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will be i dont even what happened . What happened there . Charlie sykes, we see it more and more. He gets in the middle of sentences. Hes reading teleprompters, and his mind still blanks out. Nikki haley for nancy pelosi, barack obama for joe biden. And its just so pathetic and sad. They go, no, hes doing it on purpose. Hes not doing any of this stuff on purpose. So, you take the fact that his mind blanks out and he looks lost. He actually looks like its sad to me to see somebody up on stage and blanking out and getting lost. But then you have a guy who, first of all, he thinks the person who runs the south American Countrys name is argentina. Argentina, great guy. Thank you for saying get rid of the romneys and the Republican Party. That is torn out of kari blakes book of loserdom. But also, again, against all this madness, and unfortunately an old man who is losing his ability to communicate, hes praising the taliban leader for calling him your highness. Tell us, wrap up that speech for us if you would, charlie sykes. How do you . Well, what fresh hell. Unfortunately, im not a psychiatrist here. You know, whats on display is that, okay, joe biden is old, but the other guy is deranged, demented, and pathetic, as you point out, not to mention dangerous. This is on display. As were sitting here talking about this, were less than 48 hours away from that Guy Clinching the president ial nomination. The republicans have one last offering, and theyre not going to take it. They look at this guy, and this is the extraordinary thing, is that republicans look at him, and i dont have to repeat all the things hes been found viable for, rape, 91 felony charges, you know, you have these kinds of, you know theres this malice you get from these gaffefilled speeches. Then im looking at him thinking, yeah, wed like four more years of that. So, if theres any upside here, its that joe biden will be able to say, yeah, im old, im very stiff when i walk, but this guy is also old and hes crazy and hes dangerous and he is incoherent. He needs to make that point. The other kind of upside, no denying the fact it will be donald trump again, it will focus the mind. I agree, joe, democrats need to stop the bedwetting, but they need to get out of the bed and freak out a little bit because the reality is maybe this is what it will take for them to realize this guy could become president of the United States. This is actually happen. And, you know, maybe we ought to treat that threat, you know, the way it ought to be treated. If its an existential threat, lets start acting like its an existential threat. Stop the bedwetting, but maybe a little bit of freakout wouldnt be the worst thing in the world. Maybe it will wake a lot of democrats up. I will say, though, this idea, you brought up the things that a judge determines that donald trump raped a woman. Evangelicals are cool with that. It used to be, like, bill clinton, did he do something with his intern or not . Character matters at the white house he must be driven to the sea and these same evangelicals, i was there. I was hearing it every day as a congressman. Every day. Republicans every day, man, the guy doesnt have the morals to be president. How dare like mr. Bible in the house. What does he think about President Trump grabbing women by their genitals or having sex with a porn star while he was married to his wife who was about to have a baby and then writing her off . And apparently there are more that Michael Cohen took care of. But i digress. They ignore those things because, lets just face it, theyre raging hypocrites when it comes to this. Donald trump raped a woman, says a judge. A jury of his peers said he sexually assaulted and defamed a woman. A grand jury, after grand jury, again, of his peers, not the deep state, a grand jury of voters citizens. Have found him found enough evidence to indict him on 91 counts. All over the country. 91 counts. And yet and yet, mika, everybody is fine with it. And the extreme maga world again, i think most pathetically, and pete wehner has been writing about this, evangelicals that were so aghast, just shocked by bill clintons behavior. Yeah. Another world. Now, now many of them, theyve basically said this guy is their savior. They have so abandoned the faith that they claim they had when bill clinton was president and they were so shocked, that some of them, some of them, have so abandoned their faith that they are now idolizing donald trump. And they will tell you that. Its sad and pathetic. Yeah. Well, you know, to these points that youre talking about as opposed to the way we came into the show talking about some of his weaknesses on stage, people could kre v react and say thats not fair, thats being mean, but there are legitimate records to look at here as an American Voter today. They have two candidates who have both been president. Reverend al, you can look at their presidencies. Now, donald trump tries to lie about his presidency, so you really have to go and look at sources that you can trust, and you have to look at these two presidencies or look at the two president s at the border at the same time and listen to the speeches and base your decision on that. What do you really want to go back to . And, you know, rev, its so funny, one person called me and we talked about the differences at the border, and they say, yeah, but did you see how he walked at the border . Wait. Youre giving him style points on how he walked instead of what they said . Do i need to remind you that one of the greatest president s in the history of america was in a wheelchair, and he did okay. He gave us the new deal and saved the country from, along with our allies, saved us from hitler. But i think when you look at the real difference between donald trump and joe bidens walk is that joe biden has not had to do a perp walk in courtrooms as donald trump is doing. But when you look at the fact people keep saying joe biden is too old, was he too old to get the Infrastructure Bill passed . Was he too old to get the Inflation Reduction Act bill passed . Was he too old to bring us out of the heights of the pandemic when we were up against a guy that denied the pandemic was coming and then told us to take bleach and then put his name on a check that nancy pelosi got through congress and now hes incoherent even to himself . He cant even finish a sentence, going off in babble land. I mean, it is absolutely telling when we see people that try to defend what is indefensible. And as you say, joe, at the top of my list are the evangelicals who brought down the wrath of god on bill clinton but have excused donald trump for all kinds of things that they preach as sinful. It shows more their hypocrisy than a babbling old man on his way to court. On President Biden, his vilds know that age is an issue. They see these polls. They push back against them. They believe a lot of this was litigated in 2020, and they feel like they will be able to highlight this issue again, and they dont think it will be that big of a deal for voters once its a Binary Choice. They also see this thursdays State Of The Union as a real opportunity to prove President Bidens vitality. Remember, last year, he crushed it. He had that spontaneous moment shouting back at mgt and others. And white house aides showed us polling that suggests that americans concerns about President Bidens age went down after that strong State Of The Union showing. They think that will happen again. And, joe and mika, lets remember also about donald trump. Jen mentioned how it seemed like the pressure is building on him, he was melting down as the weekend was going on. Boy, he was. Two other things, one is he lost. It was only the washington, d. C. , primary, but he took a defeat. We have seen him in other states not put up the numbers his team would have liked, haley putting up a bigger share of the vote you would expect when trump was running as an incumbent. This incumbent just lost a primary. Secondly and perhaps most importantly, three weeks from today, three weeks, a donald trump criminal trial starts. That is uncharted territory for any president ial candidate that is clearly weighing on this one. We simply do not know how that will impact him going forward. Let me also say and mika and i have known him for a long time understand of all the things that are weighing on him is the question realization that he may have to start selling some of his real estate because he doesnt have the money to pay the bond. And that is whats crushing him the most. I want to get back to this, though. I know we live in an era of b. S. Thrown Against The Wall by fascists and wannabe fascists. Ive been talking, though, about gravity, gravity returning. And it has returned in the courtroom time and time again. People that are getting hammered for the lies that they tell, the lives theyve ruined, whether its Rudy Giuliani in georgia lying about two women who just wanted to volunteer for elections, whether its the guy on info wars that lied about sandy hook parents, adding just immeasurable pain to them. He got hammered. Donald trump lying about a woman that a judge says he raped. 83 million. Another place it will return and you start to see it, you couldnt tell, because as we all lifted our soggy papers this weekend, the democrats across washington, d. C. , had wet upon come on. You could feel mistaken for not seeing theres an image you could be mistaken for not reading the line in the Wall Street Journal in their poll that said getting the credit he deserves for the economy, joe biden, its starting to move that direction. People are starting to say, oh, wait a second, this is a pretty good economy. I want to read this for you from the Wall Street Journal yesterday. Unemployments been below 4 for two years, the longest stretch since the 1960s. Inflation now down to 3. 1 . A new Wall Street Journal poll shows views of the economy are moving to be more in line with those measures of economic strength. Its february. Its february. Spring training. The world series is in the fall. The election in the fall. And as the economy continues to improve, jen, we are seeing americans waking up saying, hey, things are pretty good. Consumer confidence going up. Hey, things are pretty good. Its starting to move in that direction. As mika likes to tell women about their careers, there is a long, long runway ahead before this campaign is over. The president ial Approval Rating is usually a Lagging Indicator of people feeling better about the country. I have noticed the president s Approval Ratings are low relative to other president s, living in a different time period. Look at ratings across the globe and you see joe biden is doing pretty well. But i have noticed they are starting to tick up. Then of course thursday night, the State Of The Union, that is the opportunity to lay out you know, for the president to lay out what will probably be a big audience. Linear television doesnt get big audiences anymore except for sunday night football, super bowls, and states of the union. And Way Too Early. Well, yeah. Obviously. I mean, as you know, im a big fan. But they get thats when hell be able to lay out in context what he has accomplished, sort of the journey that weve been on, taking over in the time of covid to now, explain why inflation was as high as it was, what they did to bring it back down, and of course what hell do in a second term. Thats the real starting gun for him making the arguments of what hes accomplished relative to the november election. Coming up, donald trump all but admits he hoarded classified documents at his beach club. Where does that go from here . Lisa rubin has new analysis. Numbers move you. But some can stop you in your tracks. Like the tens of thousands of people who were diagnosed with certain hpvrelated cancers. For most people, hpv clears on its own. But for those who dont clear the virus, it can cause certain cancers. Gardasil 9 is a vaccine given to adults through age 45 that can help protect against certain diseases caused by hpv. 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Shop now at sleepnumber. Com President Biden visited the southern border on thursday and was horrified to discover it is being swarmed by criminals and rapists. Thats right. Both biden and trump coincidentally visited the border on the same day, which sounds like a setup for the weirdest romcom of all time. My favorite part of the visit was when trump, who looks good behind bars, by the way, finally came facetoface with his sworn enemy, the migrants, and had a pretty harsh message for them. Take a look. They like trump. Can you believe it . No, i cant believe it. The migrants dont like you. They just walked a thousand miles to get to the edge of this river and theyre probably thinking, is that weirdo in a trump costume waving us into the country . Can you believe that . Wow. They were on fire saturday night. Great material to work with. Great material. Lets get an update on Donald Trumps criminal cases. Joining us now, former litigator and msnbc Legal Correspondent lisa rubin. Well start with the classified documents hearing on friday. What was the bottom line out of it . Well, mika, there was no bottom line, which is we still dont have a trial date in that case. Just cannon has acknowledged that may 20th, which was her prior trial date, is no longer feasible. But we ended that hearing without a clear understanding from judge cannon what trial date shes going to set, if any. She was begged by the Trump Lawyers really not to set a trial date until after the election due to a number of different factors, including the fact that he has also moved to dismiss that case on president ial immunity grounds. Okay. Then to Fulton County, where were waiting word on Whether Fani Willis can continue. And the question here is twofold. Are they winning just by the delay thats created . And how do you think what do you think the outcome of the Fani Willis Issue will be . Well, first of all, are they winning just by creating a delay . Trump always wins when he creates delay. As you know, mika, throughout his criminal cases, he has succeeded in creating quite a bit of delay except here in new york, where his trial will begin later this month. In terms of the ultimate outcome, i think its a little bit hard to say because the Legal Standard that should govern whether or not theres a Conflict Of Interest that would disqualify fani willis is what up in the air. There are folks that will say, as the state did, that theres only a Conflict Of Interest not only if theres a financial relationship but one that disadvantaged the defendants, and here, because it wasnt the sort of financial relationship where, for example, it was contingent on winning the case, its really hard to see how the defendants themselves will be hurt by the relationship between willis and wade. But on the other hand, there was a fairly convincing case that the efforts that fani willis and wade, they created such an appearance of impropriety that it would be a travesty of justice not to disqualify her. I tend to think she will not be disqualified in the end, but the damage to her reputation and the cloud over them in terms of whether or not they were truthful with the court will linger for some time to come. Coming up, our next guest calls the situation in gaza hell on earth. David ignatius is standing by with his new column in the Washington Post. Thats straight ahead on morning joe. some people just know that the best rate for you is a rate based on you. Not one based on whatever this persons doing. Get a rate based on you with drivewise in the allstate app. why did i keep missing out on this . Before you were preventing migraine with qulipta . Do you remember the pain, the worry, the canceled plans . And look at me now. 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Making its first airdrops of humanitarian aid into gaza in a combined effort with the Royal Jordanian air force, the u. S. Air force dropping over 38,000 meals on saturday afternoon. The packages were stacked on pallets for central gaza where thousands of people are starving. U. S. Officials say they are looking into new ways to send more aid into gaza, including by sea. Its really its such a nightmare right now. 15 aid trucks were supposed to get to Northern Gaza where the situation is right now so extraordinarily bleak, and they were stopped, they were swarmed, all the food was taken off before they were able to get to Northern Gaza by people obviously in Southern Gaza who are suffering and struggling too. The airdrops are helpful, but they cant move as much as the convoys can move in. Now theyre talking about coming in from the north. Desperately needed aid. But this is going to be difficult because there are so many people that are starving, so many people that want to feed their families that these aid trucks often get stopped and overrun by swarming crowds. These are the people who have survived. Well over 30,000 people have been killed. Infrastructure has been ruined. It is a disaster of Epic Proportions that at this point is avoidable, they absolutely could stop what theyre doing. Negotiators believe, by the way, hamas and israel are making slow progress towards a ceasefire and a Hostage Release Deal could be reached before the muslim holy month of ramadan. An israeli and u. S. Official tell the Wall Street Journal israel has agreed to the outlines of a deal that includes a sixweek truce, but Officials Say hamas has yet to provide answers on two key sticking points, which palestinian prisoners the group wants freed and how many for each hostage released. Because of that, israel has not sent a senior delegation to cairo for negotiations. Members of hamas, however, are there. Vice president Kamala Harris is set to meet with a member of israels war cabinet today at the white house, this just one day after harris called for an immediate ceasefire in the war on gaza. Here she is speaking yesterday in selma, alabama. People in gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act. The Israeli Government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses. They must open new border crossings. They must not impose any unnecessary restrictions on the delivery of aid. They must ensure humanitarian personnel sites and convoys are not targeted. And they must work to Restore Basic services and promote order in gaza so more food, water, and fuel can reach those in need. I will repeat, the threat of hamas poses to the people of israel must be eliminated, and given the immense scale of suffering in gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire. [ cheers and applause ] for at least is next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table. Hamas claims it wants a ceasefire. Well, there is a deal on the table. And as we have said, hamas needs to agree to that deal. Lets get a ceasefire. Lets reunite the hostages with their families. And lets provide immediate relief to the people of gaza. Joining us now is columnist and Associate Editor for the Washington Post, david ignatius. His latest piece is entitled food convoy carnage distill what iss gone terribly wrong in gaza. David thanks for being with us. What Kamala Harris said publicly, joe biden, tony blinken, other officials inside the Biden Administration have been urging israel to do now for weeks and weeks and weeks. And as you know, theres quite a debate inside the white house about when was he going to break publicly with netanyahu. That wasnt a break with netanyahu, but the administration finally said publicly what it had been saying privately all along the conditions in gaza are unacceptable, you have to provide relief. Talk about that and talk about just how dire this situation is in gaza. Joe, first to the situation in the months of terrible war, i dont know if we saw an image more poignant than the Drone Footage of hundreds and hundreds of palestinians in the predawn on thursday Morning Scrambling desperately after this convoy of aid trucks, climbing on the trucks, climbing over each other. It appears that in the panic, this predawn time, that there was a stampede of people, they were crushed under the trucks wheels, that some israeli troops opened fire. Its a scene i liken sadly to a chapter in Lord Of The Flies come to life, where you see when people are reduced to this raw struggle for survival, what happens. So, this is indicative, the Biden Administration believes, of israels lack of a clear plan. It simply does not have a way of providing order and security in the areas that it has cleared of hamas fighters in Northern Gaza. The people who are maintaining order, and i put that in quotation marks, are criminal gangs. Theyre organized criminals looting the food. They intimidate convoy Truck Drivers who are poised to bring more food. So, that led to i think an unusual decision by the administration to intervene more directly. Thats what the airdrops are about. You cant get convoys in safely, were going to take over, were going to begin dropping by air. Theyre going to build a port off gaza. Theyre contracting now with seem to bring it in. Theyll figure out a way to have long, flowing docks and bring aid in that way. Theyll figure out ways to do convoys that are more secure. The administration is fed up with the situation. The second really important thing thats happening is the visit of israeli war cabinet member benny gantz, former army chief of staff. Hell meet with Kamala Harris. Hell meet with jake sullivan. But the importance of this visit is meeting netanyahu, the israeli Prime Minister, he did not want him to come. Netanyahu has still not been received in the white house. Here comes gantz, his chief rival, who will be received and have discussion with administration officials. I see this as the beginning of a process that may see a splintering of the israeli war cabinet. I think the prospect of elections in israel that would probably displace netanyahu is increasing. In the polls now, gantz will meet with Kamala Harris today, is far ahead of netanyahu. If the race were held tomorrow, gantz would win it. So, keep your eyes on that, and then the political repercussions back in israel. But basically, were at a moment where the u. S. Is going to play a much more significant role both on the ground with aid and in these meetings with people like gantz. David, please weigh in for us on two things. The fact that the u. S. Has had to resort to these airdrops for aid, doesnt that also point to a it was going pretty well in january. There were more than 200 trucks a day that were coming in. And then things got tangled in part because the convoys were being protected by police from gaza, who were affiliated with hamas, and israel began targeting them and the police said we want guarantees we wont be shot at. And they didnt get those guarantees, so suddenly you had no protection for the convoys. Some of the openings, the crossing at kerem shalom into gaza was closed. So, suddenly there was a scarcity of food, and that, i think, has exacerbated the problem. In terms of whats coming up, the u. S. Believes that if this ceasefire can be achieved in the next week, ramadan starts in about seven days from now, that it will begin a process of deescalation, so the ceasefire will last for six weeks initially, 40 israeli hostages, wounded, sick, elderly, women will be released. The hope is at the end of that six weeks there are still a lot of male hostages being held by hamas, that there will be another pause of another six weeks maybe and well begin to get conditions where we can wrap this up. Thats the hope. First theyre trying to get this initial agreement. I wonder where the difficulty lies for the most part. You mentioned israels lack of a clear plan, whether its Hostage Negotiations or getting to the table in cairo or trying to actually get to a ceasefire. My question to you is does israel have the will and specifically does Benjamin Netanyahu have the will . Does he want a ceasefire . I think israel is ready for a ceasefire. Hamas has made demands asking for thousands in exchange for 40 hostages being released. Im told thats being worked out. On the larger issue, mika, do they have a plan to bring this to a satisfactory end . The answer is no increasingly. Officials of the administration when you press them say we dont see a plan. The israelis have talked about storming rafah, this large city at the southernmost edge of gauze. U. S. Officials say they simply dont have a way to get the more than 1 million refugees who went there out to safety before they conduct this military operation. Thats the kind of thing that scares u. S. Officials and makes them worry that netanyahu for all his talk about ending the war, simply doesnt have a plan yet. Coming up, nikki haley is campaigning in texas today ahead of Super Tuesday. Ali vitali is there when morning joe comes right back. N morning joe comes right back g these two every thursday. Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. 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Dont wait, call and switch today coming up, our next guest says no amount of Wishful Thinking is going to produce a better candidate for democrats than President Biden. The latest piece in the atlantic when morning joe comes right back. In the atlantic when morning joe comes right back oh what a good time we will have you. Can make it happen. Try Dietary Supplements from voltaren for healthy joints. So this is pickleball . Its basically tennis for babies, but for adults. It should be called wiffle tennis. Pickle yeah, aw whoo these guys are intense. We got nothing to worry about. With e trade from morgan stanley, were ready for whatever gets served up. Dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. Id rather work on saving for retirement. Or college, since you like to get schooled. Thats a pretty good burn, right . Got him. Good game. Thanks for coming to our clinic, first ones free. The future is not just going to happen. You have to make it. 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Putin has so little respect for President Biden that hes starting to throw around the nuclear word. [indiscernible] the Biden Border Will well, you know this, right . Even argentina, they went maga. You know argentina. Great guy. We will expel the warmongers. We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will be [indiscernible] what did he just hear from saudi arabia and russia . Uh, i dont know. Weekend updates joke about the real world impact on the Campaign Trail. The huge difference between is just a completely different situation. Big time. Jonathan lemire and general palmieri are still with us. Donny deutsch joins the conversation. Looking particularly sharp today. Is he . Not wearing baby gap. Joe, you know, a lot of people dont know what goes on behind the scenes here, but you once called me up and said, i love you, weve got to do a styling thing. I took it to heart. It changed everything for me. Are you wearing joes glasses . No. Hes not wearing the fuchsia glasses. I like it. Youre looking sharp. Dark suits work. You told me dress like macron, you said. Thats how much i remember that conversation. Wow. Thats good advice. Look at it. Its working. And its macron. Okay. I want to ask donny. Please dont. We look at these clips that keep coming in, trump confusing nikki haley with nancy pelosi, continuing to confuse barack obama with joe biden, confusing world war ii. Its interesting. I understand what the polls say right now. They will not say that, i dont think, by the time the election comes. But talk about, again, lets be polite, because i think theres a serious situation here. Im going to play this trump tape. Play it, joe. You need to play it. Especially at the end. I want you to contrast this with the person youve known for 30 years. Putin has so little respect for obama hes starting to throw around the nuclear word. Did you hear that . Nuclear. Venezuela its unbelievable. Oil exploration and production in the United States. The Biden Border Will, well, you know this, right . Argentina went maga. Argentina, great guy. We will expel the warmongers. We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will [indiscernible] its hard for mika to watch it. I think its hard for a lot of people to watch it, because it reminds us of people in our own lives as they were getting older and just short circuited mentally. It happens as we get older. Its going to happen to all of us. Those are some disturbing clips. I shouldnt be laughing. As im watching it again, its sad. People should be worried. Lets go on record that joe biden competent and hes all there. Theres something wrong here. Like slurring of the words and literally getting lost mid sentence, theres something really wrong there. I think people need to start to Pay Attention to that. Its worrisome. This is a man who needs help. He used to have this kind of robust angry thing. Shes like a dottering, weird, all over the place, lost. As the election gets closer and we have six or seven or eight months now, i think were going to see moments that will stay in history as far as him literally lost, very lost. Look at it this way. If that were your dad or my dad or your brother or whatever, i would immediately right after seeing that be like we all have to have a family talk and we have to talk with him and figure out whats going on and go to some specialist. Wed be worries about him. You can talk to biden for hours on foreign affairs. Hes cogent. Hes there. Hes lived it over the past 50 years. Jonathan lemire, you look at donald trump. Youve been covering him for eight years now off and on, but mainly on. Mika is talking about an intervention by people close to him, Family Members. But thats not going to happen. It didnt happen on january 6th. You had his daughter. You had don junior, sean hannity, laura ingram. You had every staff member in the white house, every lawyer in the white house, they were all begging him to stop the riots on january 6th. Probably would have five years earlier. I think thats the danger to talk at the decline youve seen from where he started to where he is right now just this weekend. I was there covering his Campaign Kickoff announcement when he came down the escalator at trump tower in june of 2015. I even covered him when i was a metro reporter at the new york daily news. That is a long time ago now. He is in his late 70s. Hes always been prone to lies. What were seeing here is his lack of coherence, frankly. Thats becoming more and more frequently. He as someone running as an incumbent has not swept the field. Nikki haley putting up decent showings and even winning washington, d. C. Over the weekend. Trumps first criminal trial starts in three weeks. There might be more coming depending on various courts rules. Weve had polls all weekend talk about voters concerns about joe bidens age. I suspect were going to see that number tick up dramatically for donald trump. I want to say it has to be irritating to nikki haley. He only got 50 in iowa. Only 14 of Iowa Republicans went out to the caucuses. They had so little interest in supporting any candidate. Thats a very small number. Nikki haley is at 40 in New Hampshire. Most who voted for nikki haley said they werent going to vote for donald trump. In South Carolina shes getting 35, 40 . Now as nikki haley said, you look at michigan. What did she win, a third of the vote . As she said, donald trump campaigned in michigan, has been campaigning in michigan for nine years. Nikki Haley Campaigned there for two days. Let me say that again. Donald trump basically the acting incumbent, campaigned in the state of michigan for eight years, nine years. Nikki Haley Campaigned there for two days. She got a third of the vote. As an incumbent that would weigh on me. Barack obama was getting in the 90s in primary contests. Look what joe bidens doing. Joe biden is doing exceptionally well in primary contests. All of this has to be weighing on him. Plus, eight, nine years of age, all this weighing on him. Hes not healthy. You look at joe biden. He exercises every day. You look how fit and trim he is. People are obsessed with how he walks. His doctor told us why that happens. Thats a condition hes had for a while, tingling in his feet. Also he has a stutter, and hes had it for decades. Everything he is doing, he has done. Thats been baked into the biden situation that we have known for years. While he is older and he should own that and he should joke about it and he should address it, i think were at a point now where for trumpers on fox news, for the maga right, for donald trump himself, theyre at an Inflection Point for making fun of joe bidens age, but its actually coming back to haunt them in a really big way as donald trump gets on stage time and time again and has these weird moments that are scary. Its so strange. What were the two issues that were going to be joe bidens Biggest Challenges going into the election . I would say age and the southern border. You look at donald trump. Thats going to be erased as we move through because of Donald Trumps problems. And the southern border, i know republicans still may not believe it. Its an issue. Them standing in the way of the toughest Border Security bill in history is going to haunt them through this entire campaign. Lets bring in National Correspondent for the New York Times lisa lair. Lisa, this has been like romper room. Ive been looking in my magic ball telling people whats going to be happening over the horizon. Lets talk about the New York Times poll, because right now there are a lot of people concerned about joe bidens age. All of this stuff were talking about, i believe thats going in the wash. Were going to see that and this issue is going to be swept to the side. In this map shot into february 2024, talk about what you found, what the New York Times sienna polls found. Youre right. Polls are a snapshot in time. We saw that voters are very concerned about bidens age and not as concerned about Donald Trumps age. We looked at people who voted for biden last time around in 2020, and 61 of those voters said they were worried his age would make him less effective. More concerning for the Biden Campaign, about 20 were worried he couldnt handle the job with his age. I think what were seeing here is that age is an issue for the campaign. Its a concern for them. Republicans have been very effective about making this concern over several years and bidens team, while theyre responding now, theyre putting him out more. He did the late night show last week where he joked about it. Hes taking more questions from reporters. They perhaps didnt address this right away and early enough and aggressive enough, and it has been allowed to fester and expand. They werent helped by the special counsel report last month. This is an issue for voters and theres just no getting around that. I noticed some interesting numbers in terms of young voters and how thats changed. Talk about what you found with young voters and women. Young voters are the holdouts here. Theyre more concerned about bidens age. Theyre less likely to think he should be the nominee. Weve seen some growing trend that democrats are beginning to accept that bidens going to be the nominee. Last year there was tons of chatter about could there be someone else. Democrats were throwing out all sorts of names as a potential replacement. Theres a growing Awareness Among the parties thats not going to happen. Voters didnt seem to make peace with that. Now we saw in the poll theyre starting to come to the recognition biden will be the nominee. You write in part, quote, as the political strategist mike murphy said many moons ago, bidens age is like a gigantic pair of antlers he wears on his head all day every day, even when he does something exceptional like visit a war zone in ukraine or whip inflation. People cant stop staring at the antlers. But you argue joe biden is the strongest candidate democrats can field against donald trump. Unemployment is low, real wage gains have been led by the bottom quartile. And the postcovid soft landing makes us the envy of the world. He has no major scandals. His handling of American Foreign policy has been stronger and defter than any recent president s. Moreover, he is a known quantity. Voters are not being asked to take a chance on him. Ill add to that. He, unlike any other democrat we know, has beaten trump before. He has. Jonathan, the handwringing, it continues, but its been going on for a couple of years. In fact, its been going on since joe biden has been in politics. We hear it, oh, bidens too old after iowa 2024, after New Hampshire, open mocking and ridicule, nevada, its over. He goes to South Carolina, jim clyburn endorses him, boom, he sweeps through it and he wins. Then hes president. We heard the same thing, hes too old. We heard this from progressives, oh he thinks he can still get bipartisan deals, what an idiot. He got more bipartisan deals since maybe lbj. Then 2022, oh biden, too old, too tired. I mean this keeps going. Hes too old. Does the State Of The Union. Oh my god, hes great. Three days later, hes too old. You would think people would get embarrassed to be humiliated by all the times they were wrong about joe biden over the past three years. Instead, they just keep on keeping on. They keep underestimating him. I get why people are nervous, though. Dont tell me the odds. Tell me the stakes. The stakes are at a vaguely existential Inflection Point for american democracy. Everybody wants a sure thing. Weve got a guy running who is so good hes a 955. Dont worry, everythings going to be great. Instead because of everything america is today, because of po polarization, we live in a world where whoever the republican candidate is, theyre going to have at worst a 40 chance to win. So biden is like a 5050 shot. Maybe things will be better than that. Maybe hell get to 5545 by november. People think there has to be something better. Well, there isnt. This is it. Joe biden is the nominee, and youre going to learn to love it, america. I couldnt agree with you more. The question is the sticky factor. Maybe its as simple as that age issue. The accomplishments speak for themselves. Why more than any other politician or any other president does it not stick . I wish i knew, man. So the age stuff has been showing up in the polls for the better part of three years now. The thing which gets me crazy is when you delve into the polls that have the age question and you look head to head biden versus trump on the straight question of who is mentally fit and mentally together enough to be president , trump is like plus 20 over biden. I look at that and i think, what in the world are you people seeing . Even if you go back four years and listen to trump. Hes like were going to do the winning on the economics and the winning on the military. Hes never been all there mentally. Some of this is a voter problem. The American People have got to get serious. One stat that stood out to me is trump is over 90 with voters who voted for him in 2020 and biden was at like 83 with voter who is supported him in 20. Theres your road map. Is there Something Else we havent talked about that was noteworthy in the poll . The voter problem is, in fact, the problem. If you want to win elections, you need to have voters. What you point out is true. They have an enthusiasm issue among democrats. Maybe that changes. I think the campaign is well aware theyre going to have to get these low propensity voters, who came out for joe biden in 20 and who even though the economy is better, dont necessarily feel better than they did in 2019. They need to find a way to get these people out to vote for joe biden again even if his accomplishments arent breaking through to them. Its a thorny problem. When you add the age issue on top of that, they certainly have their work cut out for them. Thank you very much. Great piece. We appreciate your coming on this morning. For the First Time Since her run for president over a year ago nikki haley has won a republican primary. Nbc news projects haley won yesterdays washington, d. C. Republican primary with more than 60 of the vote. She is now the first woman to ever win a republican primary. Donald trump did tally three more victories over the weekend. In michigan, the former president won 51 out of the states 55 delegates that were awarded at the Gop Convention caucuses. In idaho and missouri, trump secured every delegate, which brings us to Super Tuesday. Republican contests take place tomorrow in 15 states with 865 delegates up for grabs. On meet the press yesterday, nikki haley didnt rule out continuing past tomorrows contest and is no longer promising to endorse former President Trump if he becomes the republican nominee for president. Ive always said this needs to be competitive. As long as we are competitive, as long as we are showing that there is a place for us, im going to continue to fight. Thats always been the case. Would you see yourself as competitive if you didnt win on Super Tuesday any state . Yall decided whether i was competitive in iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina, so were going to keep pushing through. You did sign a pledge, an rnc pledge to support the eventual nominee. Do you still feel bound by that . I always said i have serious concerns about donald trump. I have even more concerns about joe biden. The rnc pledge, at the time of the debate, we had to take it to would you support the nominee and in order to get on that debate stage the answer had to be yes. Youre no longer bound by that pledge . Ill make whatever decision i want to make, but thats not something im thinking about. Joining us now from ft. Worth, texas, where nikki haley will hold her final rally before Super Tuesday is nbc news correspondent ali vitali. What more are we hearing from the Haley Campaign . Will she ditch the pledge . Reporter it sounds like its on the table. Being in rooms with haley over the last weeks, she wants to keep two questions as live wires. First, how long are you going to stay in this race . In donor meetings, in private conversations, it can sound different than her public conversations. This is one of those rare moments where the conversations actually match. Haley is saying behind closed doors she wants to remain competitive for Super Tuesday. The message from one person who heard it is very moderate. Its not pie in the sky, in the words of this person. Thats notable as she continues to say shell stay in this race for as long as shes competitive. That matches with what her senior staff have told me too. They dont want to close the door to ending her bid depending on the results tomorrow night. Its also clear the other question she wants to keep alive is what happens with donald trump and whether or not shell endorse him . Take the point that haley is making there, that the rnc that issued that pledge that she signed is a very different rnc than the one trump is attempting to remake in his own image. Haley is saying the rnc that trump wants is a, quote, slush fund for his legal fees. She has made a lot of hay over the fact that they are using his funds to pay for court cases. Thats something shes pressuring rnc delegates to push pressure around if not put a stop to. Well see if that is able to manifest given the way hes put allies or even Family Members in charge of the rnc operation. The fact that haley is toying with this idea of not endorsing trump really does make sense. I asked her pointblank as she was talking about his legal woes and the idea he could be convicted on criminal charges, i asked her could you vote for a convicted felon. She didnt answer that question directly and also questioning whether or not he would even be the nominee if he were ultimately convicted. I think running for president is part and parcel to trying to beat these legal issues hes currently facing. If haley were to not endorse, that would be the bow on top of her candidacy. Its a longhaul gamble. The fact that shes staying in this case something were to happen to trump. Im not sure i buy into that. If he loses the election, she can say, hey, i told you so, lets move the party in a different direction. Thank you very much for your reporting this morning, ali vitali. Donny, lets follow up on that. If i were in nikki haleys position, i would stay in the race all the way through the end. You have no idea whats going to happen with donald trump. We talked about our serious concerns, knowing him for as long as weve known him, serious concerns about his current state. Its actually gotten word. Hard to believe, but true. You look at his age, you look at all of the criminal charges that are against him, all of the pressure. I would stay in for all of those reasons. More than that, i guess its the lawyer in me, but i would be setting up my opening argument for 2028 if trump ends up losing in the general election. Since 17 trump republicans, all they do is lose, it seems, or certainly underperform. But nikki haley, the day after donald trump loses, can look at the Republican Party and say, i warned you. Weve now lost eight years in a row. I told you this was going to happen. Follow me. We now have a chance to build a new Republican Party and start winning elections again, start and true to his core. The party is true to who he is. Not just the party of reagan, but the party of main street republicans, the party of Small Business owners, the party of entrepreneurs, the party of immigrants, the party of people who love america and believe america is the greatest country in the world, because we are. We keep asking on this show how many more losses will the republicans take before they get it . Part of the problem for republicans with loss after loss, there was nowhere for them to go. Now theres somewhere for them to go. Nikki haley has to double down on where she is. It would be a shame if she acquiesces and endorses him at the end. Theyve been losing, but now theres somewhere to go. The democrats have got to start hanging onto a question, whats wrong with donald trump, is he okay. Just keep posing that question. Theres something really wrong with him. Its not funny anymore. Its dangerous. Hes not well. If we had a parent that was carrying on like this, we would intervene and get help involved. Forget about this guy being president of the United States. Is he just okay period . As far as nikki haley is concerned, she has to be seeing this as well. No. She certainly does. Haley, like desantis before her, has raised questions about trumps fitness for office. Shes delivering these messages to audiences that otherwise would not hear them, fox news and other conservative Media Outlets will play nikki haley and they would never play joe biden or any other democrat making those same arguments. So thats important too. Shes still going to have an impact this november. Coming up on morning joe, apple gets hit with a landmark 2 billion fine. Cnbcs dom chu join us with a look at way thats happening. Thats next on morning joe. Hg thats next on morning joe. Smile you found it. The feeling of finding psoriasis cant filter out the real you. So go ahead, live unfiltered with the one and only sotyktu, a oncedaily pill for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. Its like the feeling of finding youre so ready for your closeup. Or finding you dont have to hide your skin just your background. Oncedaily sotyktu was proven better, getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. Dont take if youre allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. Sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. Serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. Sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. Tyk2 is part of the jak family. Its not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. Find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. Theres only one sotyktu, so ask for it by name. So clearly you. Sotyktu. Im jack black. Get tickets right now for kung fu panda. So clearly you. You dont have time for a drum solo. Get tickets [ screaming ] get tickets skadoosh. Get tickets i love san francisco, love the golden gate bridge. What a shot. Its just magic. 35 past the hour. Welcome back to morning joe. This morning, apple was fined nearly 2 billion by European Union regulators for restricting Competition Among music streaming rivals. The decision is the result of a fiveyear investigation set in motion by one of its rivals spotify. Lets bring in cnbcs dom chu. It seems the europeans not afraid to actually curb some of the excesses of some of these companies that shape our lives and just keep getting bigger and bigger. Its not just that. To that point, its mostly the Technology Companies going all the way back to microsoft back in the day. Lets put it in numbers here. 1. 8 billion euros is about 1. 95 billion at Current Exchange rates. It doesnt seem like a lot maybe for a Company Worth 2. 8 trillion in market value. But this is significant in a lot of ways. It is one of the biggest fines handed out by the European Union to a tech company ever. It is also the first time the eu has actually fined apple itself. This is the european commission, which is the executive branch of the eu. It basically says apple abused its dominant position distributing the music streaming app to customers. It found apple had put restrictions on App Developers that kept them from telling apple users about alternative and maybe even cheaper Music Services that were available. It banned streaming App Developers from informing people how it could access those said cheaper alternatives. All of this started with spotify because of the Apple Commission it charges through the app store. Apple did respond to this eu ruling, saying the biggest is spotify itself, which has a 66 market share of europes streaming market, which is more than double its closest competitor. Theyre talking about things like antitrust as well. They also say spotify had a lot of success because of apples app store itself. Speaking of antitrust, breaking news while you were talking from the Washington Post, jetblue ends bid to merge with Spirit Airlines. The announcement comes after a federal judge in january blocked the carriers bid to merge. Jetblue announced it has dropped plans to merge with Spirit Airlines in a transaction that would have created the nations fifth largest carrier. This was, first of all, just a formality. They lost a ruling here. A lot of the regulators put this particular deal on the front burner, because what they say it does is by consolidating two of these carriers, you are in essence taking an option away from certain travelers. What jetblue was looking to do is take on the infrastructure of spirit and expand on it to provide flight plans and itiner itineraries. What happens if you remove an ultra lowcost carrier from the market . Spirit airlines is not really like jetblue. Jetblue is much more akin these days to delta or united. They offer the same types of fare classes. Taking spirit off the market, that would give you one less option for those really budget friendly flyers. Thats a reason why this is moving in the direction it is. This is, again, regulators in the Biden Administration taking a much harsher view of these big business mergers going through just to begin with. By the way, this isnt marxism. This is actually competition. I know billionaires and multinational corporations dont like it, but actually we want competition. The more competition, the better for consumers, the better for Small Businesses, the better for people trying to get into the marketplace. Cnbcs dom chu, thank you very much. Former Trump Organization chief Financial Officer Alan Weisselberg surrendered to the manhattan d. A. s office just minutes ago, where he is expected to plead guilty to perjury charges in connection to testimony he gave during Donald Trumps civil fraud trial. Thats according to three sources familiar with the matter. Weisselberg was not expected to enter into a Cooperation Agreement with the plea. He is expected to enter the plea later this morning. An attorney for weisselberg did not immediately respond to request for comment. This manhattan case is seen as one of the weakest cases for a good number of reasons. Talk about why so many people are so skeptical of this case moving forward. It was first to charge. To your point, joe, it is considered maybe not weakest in terms of evidence, but weakest in terms of the seriousness. This is not about classified documents and national secrets. This is about an effort to overturn the election. Some make the case there is election interference here because trump was making hush money payments to silence what would have been an embarrassing and problematic matter in 2016, the Stormy Daniels stuff. But it is seen as its being brought in deep blue manhattan. The attorney general has done a good job bringing the case, but its perceived as a biased figure. I think it is not one that is going to change the Political Landscape much, but it doesnt have to change it much. Poll after poll shows this race is going to be so close that even if trump is convicted or even the display of him having to sit in a courtroom day after day for weeks, if that turns off enough independent and swing voters, that could make a difference at the margins and that could matter. We dont know if he is convicted, what sort of penalty he would face, whether that would include incarceration. It might. What concerns legal analysts about this in terms of legal theories may not concern voters. Weve seen a real disconnect. You can never really predict whats going to move voters. Also the trail itself will reveal the details of all of this. Who knows the details of how he responds, how he holds up to that. Coming up, the impeachment inquiry and lack of evidence. Well play you those moments next on morning joe. vo dan made progress with his Mental Health. But his medication caused unintentional movements in his face, hands, and feet called tardive dyskinesia, or td. So his doctor prescribed austedo xr a oncedaily td treatment for adults. As you go with austedo austedo xr significantly reduced dans td movements. Some people saw a response as early as 2 weeks. With austedo xr, dan can stay on his Mental Health meds dan cool hair vo austedo xr can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntingtons disease. Pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood, or have suicidal thoughts. Dont take if you have liver problems, are taking reserpine, tetrabenazine, or valbenazine. Austedo xr may cause irregular or fast heartbeat, or abnormal movements. Seek help for fever, stiff muscles, problems thinking, or sweating. Common side effects include inflammation of the nose and throat, insomnia and sleepiness. As you go with austedo ask your doctor for austedo xr. Austedo xr heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. 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I just dont think that panned out. Youve got a lot of checks. Youve got a lot of suspicious financial activity. My question to you is, what from here . Is this whole inquiry coming to an end . The odd thing, speaking of republicans, james comer, who ran that committee, he apparently left the hearing early and did not ask a single question. Huh. How weird is that . Very strange. Hes been calling for him to come in. He didnt ask him a single question. I tell you, steve ducey has i dont want to get steve in trouble. Good guy, steve. I just got him in trouble again. Steve ducey has asked questions that need to be asked. That was fox news host steve ducey on friday. Before that we heard larry kudlow, also a guy whos been a friend of mine for a long time. Sorry, larry, dont mean to hurt your reputation. Asking a republican member of the Oversight Committee ask whether the investigation of hunter biden has reached a dead end. Comer tried to frame last weeks deposition as a win for republicans. No, it wasnt, james. You didnt even ask a question. I know it was because arnold the pig whispered to you, dude, this is an fstorm. Arnold has a foul mouth and told him get out of this him, get ou this while you still can, and comer had nothing on hunter, looked stupid, and then decided hed blame the deep state. Watch this. Here we go. The American People can read the transcript and make a decision and determination on whether or not the president s son was being truthful. Now what were trying to do is go to the next phase, have the public hearing, bring all the associates in, and let everyone see everyones side of the story and make a determination, but at the end of the day, were going to try to hold this family accountable. Were going to try to have referrals. Were going to try to identify the people in the deep state that were part of the coverup because remember. In addition to the biden financial crimes, we also have the coverup by the deep state actors. So were trying to hold everyone accountable, trying to wrap this up. I mean, how stupid, jen, does he think everybody is . He talks about the deep state. Their witnesses are international fugitives. So much. Who illegally smuggle weapons and illegally smuggle oil to communist china from iran or to countries that consider the United States their enemies, and then they get a guy that was their star witness who ended up lying, lying to the fbi, and it just keeps getting worse. Like, hunter biden, you know, they keep talking badly about hunter. I can now see when you read that transcript, right, they didnt want it to be public because he just keeps making fools of them. He did, and the democrats i mean, if you havent read the Eric Swalwell exchange, its phenomenal. I recommend that to everyone, but this is, like, you were saying before, joe, when graty, you know, the laws of gravity applies with trump gets into courtrooms and when democrats get in front of republicans in committee hearings, right . This has never worked out. It didnt work out with hillary in benghazi, or alejandro mayorkas, and its because the truth is on the side of the democrats. You can imagine the prep session with chairman comer. What are you going to say . You didnt even ask hunter any questions. Ill fall back on the deep state because making stuff up is the only thing they have. All right. Man. Not not a good look for them. Okay. Our next guest is known for her signature humor and now New York Times bestselling author sloan crossley is using that humor to tackle the issues we all face, the loss of a loved one. Her book entitled grief is for people, and she wrote this after losing her mentor and beloved boss to suicide. She also describes the mysterious burglary of her apartment right before her friends death which shattered her sense of security. Just as a covid pandemic was beginning to take shape, and Sloane Crosley joins us. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I would like for you to tell us more about the book and why you decided to put this all pen to paper. Oh, well, first of all thank you both for having me. Good morning. I really first, it started as a story that i felt like i had to tell. It started as just the story of the burglary, that my friend was trying to help me solve in this sleuthlike fashion, and then a much greater loss fell into my lap when he died by suicide a month later, and i realized it was bigger than that. It was a book about grief, about friendship, about the joy we sort of experienced, and while im not someone who could ever be confused with identifying a marketplace, i kind of wish this book had existed when i felt so sad, but i felt so sad in 3d, and i felt humor and hanger and all of those emotions. Sloane, if you could tell us a little more about how do you try to balance with a subject so weighty, so sad with your signature humor, and what do you hope when others read this book, what do you hope they can take from it and apply to their own lives and potentially their own losses . Well, theres always levity in that sort of topography of grief that you feel, and humor is sort of the way i describe things naturally. So in place of what someone might have when they look at a cloud, i have a strange analogy or a reference, and thats part of grief is, you know, you laugh and then you feel like somebodys punched you in the stomach and youre sort of pulled up short by the profound loss that you feel, and so it really imitates hopefully that really feeling, and i guess what i want people to take away from it is that grief is not exclusive to loss of a parent, loss of a spouse, loss of a child, got forbid, and theres all sorts of ways we grieve, especially now, especially postpandemic, and you shouldnt ladle this struggle for permission to grieve what you want over your feelings if that makes sense. Sloane, tell us what you mean when you talk about grief is for people. You seem to suggest that people we should not run frit, but embrace it, you know, illuminate us more on that. The structure of the book, theyre out of order, and its in a state of acceptance because its a book and i get to do that, but what it does is sort of give people a guide, i suppose, without being a selfhelp book about how to miss someone you dont need a guide on how to miss somebody, but how to really feel that missing in a sort of productive and articulate way. Let me ask you, sloane, just for people that are watching and im sure so many will buy this book and learn from it. Im curious what you say to them. Can you can you take us to your low point . Yeah. When you saw nothing but darkness around you and you were engulfed by grief, can you talk about that moment . And it happens for so many people. Can you talk about that moment when something switched and you you were on the uptick . You decided as ive told myself at times, you know, im in hell. Keep walking. Keep going. Dont stop. What was that moment for you when you realized you were in hell and you had to keep walking through it . Well, on a minor level, that moment was the moment i got the phone call saying that my friend had died. I was on the street. I remember thinking i should get off the street. I kind of sat in the middle of the sidewalk like a senile dog that wouldnt move, but i dont think i think thats shock. So i dont know if thats the lowest moment. I think the lowest moment are a series of moments where you cry into the night until your jaw hurts, when you feel like no one can help you, and i think really what i talk about in the book is how to become on the side of the living because thats a thing that i think we dont talk about when we think of mourning people who are who warrant our condolences and of course, you have that, but i didnt even have the shelving to accept condolences because everyone was here to give them to me and my friend wasnt. So it felt like teams, and i wanted to be on his team, not to say that i felt the way he felt, but that i just i wanted him back and i felt like there was this bubble around everything. Yeah. If i could just push through, i could pull him back, and so then eventually i realized its not what he would have wanted, and i think that moment, realizing that he would have wanted me to have a full, big life without him helped me move forward. And what an incredible process of moving forward, writing this book which im sure is going to help so many people. Thank you. Thank you, sloane. We really i hope it does. We really appreciate im sure im sure it will, and we really appreciate you writing the book and coming on and sharing with us this morning. Thanks so much. A complete joy. Thank you. Thank you. The book is grief is for people by Sloane Crosley. Thank you for being here and thank you for watching our show. Ana cabrera picks up the coverage in 90 seconds. 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