Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning 20240704

Up Way Too Early on this thursday morning. Well have coverage of the State Of The Union tonight. Morning joe starts right now. January 6th was a disgrace. American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of Domestic Business they didnt not like. Fellow americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the senate floor. They tried to hunt down the speaker of the house. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the vice president. They did this because theyd been Fed Wild Falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth. Because he was angry and lost an election. Former President Trumps actions preceded the riot for a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. Therefore, i am endorsing donald j. Trump. You know, the one thing we cut off there, and maybe its not fair to mitch, is that at the end of it, right after that, he broke into a rousing tune, had a band, happy days are here again. It was like the 32 convention. I couldnt believe it. Yeah, a little discordant. The song didnt go with the message but, you know, thats mitch. Mitch mcconnell there, 2021, a month after january 6th, blaming donald trump for the insurrection, the attack on the capitol squarely. Yesterday, Mitch Mcconnell endorsed donald trump for president. Who saw that coming . We should add donald trump relentlessly attacked in a racist way Mitch Mcconnells wife. He said, you know what, i said for a long time ill endorse whoever the nominee is, even if it is the guy i blame for an attempted coup against the United States government. We say a lot of bad things about ted cruz sometimes here, but there is a difference between Mitch Mcconnell and ted cruz. All right. If donald trump had ever attacked ted cruzs wife, ever called her ugly, ever struck out at her in the most personal of terms, that is texas tough right there. That is a real man. No bs. You cant cross that line. You cross the line with ted, you might as well have crossed the rio grande, my friend. On the way to cancun . Yeah. You cant look the retrieval of memories. Call ted cruzs wife ugly or say his father assassinated jfk, he wont support you. At least for a couple months. Not at the convention. A few months later, hell do a phone bank for donald trump. Well, Lindsey Graham is another, yeah. There is a guy, though. No. I mean, that guy. Profile in courage. Mr. Spine. Go on the floor. Enough is enough. Im out. Then three red necks and a Hound Dog Chase him around reagan national. Its not like someone puts his cell phone out there. Yeah. I think we need a compilation. Start with Chris Christie in the mcdonalds episode. On mcconnell, though, i will say, the two moments that led to Donald Trumps comeback post january 6th. One is mccarthy heading to maralago, beginning the rehabilitation tour. The only is mcconnell not choosing to convict trump in the second trial, pushing it until after the inauguration. Having it in february, believing things would cool off. Voting to acquit himself. Had he voted to convict and whipped others to do so, trump wouldnt have been able to run for office again. Mcconnell chose not to do that. Here we have the door open for trump. There are a lot of things mitch did that we saluted on this show. He stood up. He stood up to trump at very important times, yet, at the time, if you want to take this endorsement at the end of his career, basically, or what happened the end of that process, there was a question. Could Mitch Mcconnell have gotten enough republicans to convict donald trump in the Impeachment Proceeding. He made the call, well let the courts play out. Mara, we saw where that led us. Part of being in leadership is showing on leadership and attempting to do what you think is right. We all have political minds, talk about strategy, but theres such a thing as right and wrong. The end of the day, it sounds like a lot of people have forgotten why you go to washington. Its supposed to be to serve americans. Its supposed to be to be a public servant. This looks like its about power. Its shameless. Yeah. Americans understand that. They see that thats part of why so many voters are deeply demoralized and cynical about this process. Right. At this point. Its shameless but also bizarre. I mean, heres a man how old is Mitch Mcconnell . Old enough that it opportunity matter. Old enough exactly. Im old enough that it doesnt matter. Right. Why not go out and just say what you think . He did say what he thought on that for that brief, shining moment on february 13, 2021, where he said not only the stuff we just saw on tape. Right. He said, theres a criminal law in this country. He was endorsing jack smith before jack smith was even appointed. Right. He was saying that the man was a criminal, that he did cause these people to engage in violence on the hill and that one of the remedies could be criminal prosecution. So where is he today . Yeah. And for what . Hes done. Well, for what . And im sorry, ill ask, and i say this of cruz, of lindsey, of all of them. I say it of just all the people trump insulted. What man i say a man, but or a woman, but as a man, what man would put up with that . I had a very powerful republican slander a friend of mine. 20 years later, 20 years later, he pulls me aside before a speech and begs me to stop. He says, jesus christ, joe, its been 20 years. Its been 20 years. I said, you shouldnt have said that about my friend. Its going to be 20 more years. I mean, thats what we would all do. Well, except for my friends. But hold on, except for my friends, when donald trump said i was a murderer and should be executed, a lot of them voted for donald trump. But the rest of us here. But that even raises a question, willie. What is it about donald trump . Its his brilliance. Someone can assault someones wife or husband, or in Mitch Mcconnells case, continue racist slurs against his wife. Yeah. Theyre just fine with it. I just thats not im not even looking at donald trump there. Im looking at these people. Im looking at my former friends. Like, yeah, he called you a murderer, but im voting for him anyway. Regulations, you know, theyll be down under trump. Yeah. Crazy. You and i talked about this on and off the air. What are those looks in the mirror like in the morning or at night for Lindsey Graham, ted cruz, any of the guys with personal pride. Not talking about politics. If you have any personal pride, how do you swallow all that down and go out and support the guy who attacked you relentlessly . He attacks Lindsey Graham in his home state during the primary. Liberal. The crowds gets the crowd to boo lindsey. Takes their support for granted, and he should because theres nothing he can do to them that they wouldnt call in line anyway. But it is, again, its not politics, as a person who has personal pride, how do you do it . I dont know. I dont know. Lindseys first words of, hey, yall. My first two words if somebody did that to me would be markedly different. I dont think im outside of the norm here, lemire. Again, this is so bizarre. I want to underline, again, Mitch Mcconnell insulted repeatedly, said this guy tried to basically destroy american democracy, has watched his wife be attacked with racist creeds repeatedly, and says, i endorse him. It is cynical and based out of fear of trump. Mcconnell, who is stepping down from leadership, is not running again, hed seem to be the person who doesnt have to do this. Exactly. Yes, he does want republicans to have the majority in the senate again even if hes not going to be the leader there. But donald trump took that from the helm twice. Yes, twice. He would have been Senate Majority leader over the past four years, except over one person and one person alone. The two men havent spoken in years, yet mcconnell still backs this. He defended it by saying yesterday, well, you know, february 2021, just days after that speech, i said id back whoever the republican nominee was. Why . Because hes putting party before country. Thats what he is doing. The party before personal pride, too. George, thats an old custom that i understand when it is george h. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, john mccain, pick your mitt romney. Bob dole. George h. W. Bush. Right. Stakes arent that high. You said this is a man who may face criminal prosecution because he led an attempted coup against the country, so change it for this one case. Its not just the nation. If he cared about the Republican Party, he would have said, we have to get rid of trump long ago. Even if he wanted to sacrifice himself just for his party, i mean, why not do that . We have just to try to balance things here, as we always do, we have somebody here from a remote location that is going to be defending not only Mitch Mcconnell hold on try that again. Cut that. All right. Here we go. Ready . You know, we try to be fair. T. J. , were cutting that out, right . Yeah. Okay. We always try to be fair at morning joe. Lets bring in sam stein. He believes that what Mitch Mcconnell did was [ laughter ] quote, a proud, honorable, manly thing. Sam, explain. Sorry, what . True patriot. You called him a true patriot, the paul revere of our day. I appreciate the setup. Thank you. Look, im not totally surprised. I dont think we actually are surprised by this. No. This was coming a long way away. He always said he was going to support the nominee. It was baffling to a degree because of precisely the criticisms he had already registered. Look, theres nothing really more to add on what youre saying. He obviously republican politics is basically dictated by a fear of trump and his base. I think thats the Fair Assessment throughout this. Frankly, if youre being utterly cynical about it, you know, the people who have stood up to trump, who have followed their personal convictions, have paid a political price for it mostly. Those who voted to impeach him in the house, the republicans, many of them, if not all, have been ousted. The people who voted for conviction have either left or are leaving or are now, you know, scampering away. Mcconnell, what stood out to me here about mcconnell is all of the things you said, but also the fact that this guy is a selfproclaimed institutionalist. What he did after january 6th is he took the political power that he possessed, and he forfeited it. He said, im not going to use it. Ill kick it to a Different Branch of government, the judiciary, and let them decide. Heres a man who is known to be a sort of machiavellian, Ruthless Practitioner of politics, utterly powerful, who, in that moment, in that critical moment, decided he was going to just not use it. I thought that was always an extraordinary decision on his part. Ultimately, were now left with him leaving leadership and trump potentially being sent back to the white house. The sad part, as sam said, is the inevitability of this. Joni ernst endorsed trump. Governor youngkin in virginia endorsed trump along with a list of others. George mentioned the part of the speech we didnt hear in february 2021, so just a little over a month after january 6th, where he said, donald trump could face and should face criminal prosecution. President trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations is run, still liable for everything he did while he was in office. Didnt get away with anything yet. Yet. We have a criminal Justice System in this country. We have civil litigation. Former president s are not immune from being accountable by either one. How do you reconcile your trump endorsement with the fact that you called him tactically and morally responsible for january 6th and the fact that he insulted you and your wife repeatedly . February the 25th, 2021, shortly after the attack on the capitol, i was asked a similar question. I said i would support the nominee for president even if it were the former president. Leader mcconnell, in april of last year, you indicated you didnt really directly answer the question as to whether or not you were comfortable with mr. Trump if he was in the middle of criminal trials and indictments and he was the nominee. I presume that means youre comfortable with him . I dont have anything to add to what i just said. I said in February Of 2021, shortly after the attack on the capitol, that i would support President Trump if he were the nominee of our party, and he obviously is going to be the nominee of our party. George, to answer your previous question, Mitch Mcconnell is 82 years old, on his way out of leadership. He was a patriot that day by calling out donald trump. I think he truly believed that he didnt have to take the step of barring trump from public office. But it didnt work. Why not, as a parting shot, not for himself but for the country and even his own party, say, this is a bad thing . I just it is beyond my comprehension. Look at nikki haley the last few weeks. Shes not perfect. She could double back. But she seemed liberated, happier, to be able to speak truth. Not the full truth, but she was getting there. Shes leading people toward the truth, and its liberating. But where does that story end . I hope nikki has become liberated and understands the Republican Party that i used to be a member of desperately needs somebody like her carrying the torch in these dark times. But what are the odds that at the end, she will find her way to endorsing donald trump, even after and well show, even after the insults continued last night. It doesnt look good. I mean, we almost need a psychologist here at this point. Oh, we do. To understand how an 82yearold man like Mitch Mcconnell feels the need to continue to express this fealty to someone who has done nothing but destroy the country and the institutions that Mitch Mcconnell has served. You know, im honestly to the point where i just want to say, what is it . Is it about money . Are you trying to make money when you leave office . Youre 82 years old. Do you want to be friends President Trumpers at the country club and dont want to be shunned . What is it . Thats lindsey. I remember john mccain telling me near the end of his life, he said, you know, weve already lost lindsey. This was actually maybe not i think this was in february of, what was it, 17 maybe . He said, lindsey is so excited to golf with the president of the United States, hell do anything. But Mitch Mcconnell, he aint going golfing. Why . Its not like he doesnt understand history. He knows how he and trump will be painted in history. Does that not matter, what your children and grandchildren and people think of you after youre gone . Its also embarrassing for all americans to see this. This is not what we want from people who are supposed to be serving. Were supposed to be different in this way. Its not supposed to be about a cult of personality. Yeah. Theres something very dark about it, and i think, you know, people like Vladimir Putin are going to be watching this with a smile. You know who else will . Donald trumps guest at maralago today, orban. Or thats friday. Hmm. Hell be looking at it. As donald trump tries to model himself into a position to be the next orban right here in the United States. When we come back, we will show you Donald Trumps response to nikki haley saying, hey, maybe donald trump, maybe you can work to gain some of my supporters as you move toward the november election. Donald trump, his response, more insults. Well show you when we return. 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. President biden and former President Trump both had huge nights. Now, it is pretty much certain well have a rematch between biden and trump. At this point, the only thing that can stop them is a flight of stairs. After the results came and both guys threw big Victory Parties with confetti made from classified documents, it was touching. Nikki haley officially suspended her president ial campaign. But heres the good news for haley. Shes only 52, meaning she can run for president at least eight more times. Shes got that. If you do the math, he might be right about that. Jimmy fallon last night upstairs here. November rematch between joe biden and donald trump essentially set this morning following nikki haleys decision to drop out of the 2024 president ial race. Haley did not endorse donald trump in her speech yesterday. One big question is now, though, where will her supporters go . Haley says that is up to donald trump. It is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. I hope he does that. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing. How did he choose . That was a nice outreach. It was, yeah. You can grow your base. Donald trump responded during haleys speech, while she was saying that, with this on truth social. Quote, Haley Got Trounced in recordsetting fashion. He invited her supporters to join the maga movement. Trump previously said, anyone who contributes to haleys campaign would be, quote, permanently barred from the maga camp. Meanwhile, President Biden welcomed haleys supporters into the fold, writing in a statement, donald trump made it clear he doesnt want nikki haleys supporters. I want to be clear, there is a place for them in my campaign. I hope and believe we can find Common Ground. A Biden Campaign official said the Finance Teams for biden and the Democratic National committee have been reaching out to haleys donors. Additionally, the Biden Campaign has been studying haleys performance in the primaries, watching the moderate and independent voters who say they will never vote for donald trump. On super tuesday, the Biden Campaign focused on where those voters are located to target them, potentially persuade them to vote blue this november. It was a sizable margin, depending on the state, not only that voted for nikki haley. We can talk through some of the numbers. Obviously, she won vermont. Even the places she lost, 20 , 30 , 40 of Republican Voters, and a percentage saying theyll never vote for donald trump. Will they vote for joe biden . Will they stay home . Its Up In The Air right now. Sam, if you are an incumbent, and donald trump basically is a threetime incumbent now, a bleak, bleak message, losing 20 , 30 , 40 of primary voters before you go into a general election. Yet, the media seemed transfixed over the uncommitted in michigan or wisconsin or whatever. The numbers were about the same as barack obama before he trounced mitt romney. What do you make of how each of these candidates go into the general election . I mean, i think they each have their own set of vulnerabilities, right . Trump, its fairly obvious, nothing is really changing in terms of the script. He has little to expand his coalition, though his team would say, were trying to reach out to black and hispanic voters, union workers. But more or less, stylistically, trump is not going to soften the edges. Hell assume republicans will go back home, and hell do very little to try to earn over those people who gravitate to nikki haley because they were frustrated with his presidency or repulsed by how it ended. With biden, its a different case. For him, theres a lot of angst among the progressive base. I think thats fair to say. Theres angst over his handling of the israelhamas war. But he has made and will continue to make overtures to expand toward the nikki haley voters. He is, as weve seen the past couple weeks, trying to soften his approach to the war in gaza in an effort to round out his support among the base. I just think it is stylistically, it is totally different president s going at it. You know, it is to be seen, how the coalitions are built. Biden has to bring voters home. Needs to bring young voters home, people of color home. Theyve faded maybe 10 , 15 there. Obviously, israel gaza is having an impact. What does joe biden need to do between now and labor day to start consolidating that base . I thought a lot about this. Ive been traveling, talking to voters in several states, and it is clear that he needs to be much more visible. He needs to be talking not only about his victories, and hes got a lot of accomplishments to discuss, but also telling voters he understands their frustration. He understands their weariness. He understands that, for some of them, the economy is not so great right now. The rent is high. Wages still havent caught up with inflation. He needs to speak to that. People are still paying a lot of money in Student Loans if youre a younger american. We talked about this on the show. If youre under, you know, 40, 45 years old, you know, youre starting to wonder, can i afford to have kids . Can i afford to buy that house . Hes got to really speak to those concerns. Then, of course, hes got to be able to speak even more movingly about the plight of palestinians, i believe. And what he is going to do to ensure their human rights are protected alongside israelis. He needs to do that, but he needs to be much louder. The president has an opportunity to do it tonight in the State Of The Union. Hes spoken little about the war in gaza since the initial weeks of the conflict. I think thatll change tonight as he tries to frame exactly what is going on there. Reports out this morning that ceasefire talks broken down there in cairo. They may not get that in place for ramadan as they hoped. George, weve seen the president , hes been on the road a little more lately, talking to the media a little more. They know tonight is also a moment to try to show his vitality for the job. Theres questions about that. We see the polls about his age. I think tonight, certainly, hell draw contrasts with donald trump, whether or not he mentions him by name, but he also needs to make a positive case for the next four years. Thats something democrats say he hasnt really done. What would you recommend . I agree with Everything Mara said. He has to be empathetic, has to be himself. He, i think at the end of the day, he doesnt have to do a hard sell. He does have to get out there. He just has to be normal. The reason thats all he has to do is trump won in 2016 because hillary was the issue. In 2020, trump was the issue. 2024, trump will lose again because he will make himself the issue. He cannot help but make himself the issue. What biden needs to do is just basically say, that guy is crazy. He doesnt have to refer to him by name. He just has to say, the guy is nuts. Lets be normal, america. Thats the theme of this campaign, i think. To that point, joe, Wall Street Journal oped page, the top, gops third gamble on trump. Republicans are elevating the one man who could lose to biden. Getting at exactly what george is saying. Biden may step back and let donald trump do his thing. Exactly. By the way, very interesting, lets be normal, the original lyrics to princes lets go crazy. Wow. Lastsecond in the studio, he switched it. Said, i think this may have a bit more of an edge. Probably a good tweak. Hard to dance to, lets be normal. Unless you dance like that. So its crazy, its crazy that that thats where we are, that it is such a low bar, to be normal. But thats what donald trump does. Again, thats what nikki haley warned about. The Wall Street Journal editorial page time and time again. The republicans selected the only guy that can lose. But he can. But i think it is going to be important. People dont understand. People theres just such a its such a short attention span. I think he does have to hammer some of the things hes accomplished, and he does have to show the contrast. You talk about Student Loans. People are frustrated. Interview people, well, he promised hed cut it. Explain how Trumps Supreme Court overruled him. Hes still trying to get student loan relief. There are black voters who are upset about the Civil Rights Act not being passed. He needs to explain, it was the senate that refused to do that. Go down the long list. I mean, its a study of contrasts. In that study of contrasts, you have to line it up for the people. Were for this. Theyre for that. If most dramatic example is abortion rights. I mean, that is going to be number one issue for many voters this november. I do think that if the Biden Campaign can do the job right, things are going to shift over the summer. Most voters, you know, most general election voters are not really engaged at this point. So over the summer, that usually changes ahead of the november election. Once democrats, especially younger, and i believe black voter, progressive voters, nonwhite voters, once they start seeing more of donald trump and remembering what that experience was like from the escalator and talking about mexicans as rapists, down to Killing Americans in a pandemic, they probably are going to come home, i believe, and turn out. You know, the anger and frustration that many of them feel about biden being too old in their eyes, not listening to their concerns, i do believe that many voters at the end of the day are going to put that aside with donald trump on the ballot. You just dont want to take that for granted. Right. And it is the Biden Campaigns responsibility. If the issue is gaza, explain, okay, yeah, weve been trying, trying to do everything we could do to get to get netanyahu and the government to pull back. Were continuing to do that. By the way, the other guy, hes saying, just finish them off. Finish them off. The other guy, he supported a muslim registry. If you were a muslim, you and your child would have to register with the United States government and law authorities. Were on the anniversary of his revised muslim ban. This isnt a close call. It is up to the biden team, though, on the campaign trail, to make sure people see that very clear contrast. By the way, the humanitarian aid the Biden Administration is trying to get into gaza is hung up by the House Of Representatives that wont pass the bill that also has foreign aid in it. George conway, always great to have you here. Just be normal. Thats the phrase of the day. He cant do it. We have a packed show ahead of tonights state of the Union Address. Hakeem jeffries will be our guest. As well as national cochair of the Biden Campaign, congressman James Clyburn of south carolina. Well also be joined by White House Press secretary Karine Jeanpierre. Plus, the new effort launched by former republican congresswoman liz cheney to keep donald trump out of the white house. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Here, were playing lets be normal, a classic. Yeah. Wealthchanging question are you keeping as much of your Investment Gains as possible . High taxes can erode returns quickly, so you need a taxoptimized portfolio. At creative planning, our Money Managers and specialists Work Together to make sure your portfolio and wealth are managed in a taxefficient manner. Its what you keep that really matters. Why not give your wealth a second look . Book your free meeting today at creativeplanning. Com. Creative planning a richer way to wealth. Why choose a sleep number smart bed . Can it keep me warm when im cold . 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In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve memory. Prevagen. At stores everywhere without a prescription. Three sailors have been killed in a Houthi Missile strike in the gulf of aden. Four other people were injured in yesterdays attack. Three of them now in critical condition. In a statement, u. S. Central command wrote in part, these reckless attacks by the Houthis Have Destructed Global Trade and taken the lives of international seafarers. These are the first deaths since houthis began launching attacks on ships with the war in gaza. The Barbados Flag Bolt Carrier was part of the response to the americanbritish aggression against our country, they said. Houthi infrastructure was struck both on land in yemen and at sea in retaliation back in january. Joining us now, president emeritus of the council of foreign relations, richard haass. Author of home and away, available on substack. Change midlife. Home and away . Amazing. It does. Reduces male pattern baldness, helped my backhand in, whats the sport, pickleball . Does anybody play that . Its the hottest thing going. Thats what everybody keeps telling me. I dont know. Its good. Like wiffle ball tennis. Why not just play wiffle ball or tennis . Tennis requires athleticism. Speaking of wiffle ball, im telling you, if we move this out, home plate is actually over here. Yup. Hit this way. Thats the monster over there. Yeah. First, second. This is easy. Alex, well have a Wiffle Ball Tournament in here. When should we do that . Opening day . We have four hours. Anytime you want. A full nineinning game. Pitch clock. We can do a doubleheader. Nerf Football Championship this way. Thats fun. Check our insurance writer. Yeah. I have a lot of pentup frustration right now. So, richard, home and away, its changed my life. I think your life maybe needed some changing. Trust me. Listen to the pot. So whats happening, richard, with the ceasefire . I think we may have wanted it too much, or maybe i read that in home and away. I think you may well have. The houthis arent interested. Im not talking about them. Hamas. Its not always what the pictures show. Okay. Sometimes you have to listen to what i say. Do i have . You do if you want to stay on my show. Morning, joe. What about let me clarify that. Hamas, we were talking about this before, its kind of hard to have a ceasefire with a Terrorist Organization, when the Terrorist Organization knows you want the ceasefire more than they do. Also when you talk about hamas modus operandi. They like having, honestly, civilian deaths. In this case, what is better than during ramadan to put the israelis in a situation where there are pictures throughout the arab world showing muslims, palestinians, essentially, being attacked during the holiest month of the year . From hamas point of view, why necessarily would a ceasefire now be desirable . Also, again, it underscores, what, hamas took the hostages. This wasnt a sideshow. It was a central part of the strategy. They studied israeli history, saw how much hostages matter to the israeli public, put pressure on the government. The idea theyll give up what they see as the biggest leverage, not going to happen. This underscores this is a long war. This is not about to end, whether you get a ceasefire now or some other point. At most, itll be temporary. Joe, well be talking about this not for weeks or months but longer. Whats left in the toolbox for the Biden Administration . Obviously, criticizd heavily for what is happening in gaza. Not doing enough. Putting pressure on Prime Minister netanyahu. They started the air drops. They can say the humanitarian aid were trying to get through is being held up in the House Of Representatives. What else might the president say tonight about it . The air drops are a drop in the bucket. You cant feed millions of people by meals ready to eat. It is symbolic more than anything. I think the most important thing is what the president says tonight and subsequent public statements. Does he signal real differences in American Foreign policy, distance between the United States and israel . Does he condemn the Settlement Structure in israel . If you want a twostate solution one day, there is less and less territory to put into the palestinians side. Why wouldnt he do that . Why wouldnt he criticize, lets talk about the west bank, and call the settlements what they are, illegal settlements that have been going on now for years, deliberately meant to undermine a twostate solution. Why shouldnt he say that in the clearest, most unequivocal terms . He absolutely should. The United States looked the other way too long. The israelis have been doing this, doing this, and we should call it, youre right, for what it is. We should also start thinking about ways to back up those words. On the Previous Administration, i think i have this right, we stopped labeling goods coming out of the occupied territory. We said they come from israel. Why dont we say they come from the occupied territories . Say the goods produced in settlements that are exported to the United States, why dont we put a special tariff on them . Why do we encourage them . Condition military aid. If were going to send either we dont send large ordinance or say, israel, you cant use it in population centers. Why dont we, the president , articulate the parameters of a peace plan. Then go to the United Nations. For years and years, the fundamental document that guided all was resolution 242. Why dont we update it . Why doesnt the United States articulate what should be the principles on both sides, palestinians and israelis alike, that ought to shape the next year of peacemaking . Why doesnt the United States work with the saudis, uae, jordan, and other arab neighbors who want peace there, and instead of just reacting, jonathan, and always voting no to somebody elses u. N. Resolution, we actually put a tough one on the floor ourselves that we can vote yes for . To this point, the Administration Simply hasnt been willing to cross that bridge. Maybe that will change. Why that . The president s instinct has been to side with israel. This is something, for decades well, of course, we can side with israel, but we dont have to side with Benjamin Netanyahu doing whatever he can to stay in office. This is about him holding on to power. If it had anything to do with israeli security, these extra steps, i would be supporting him. But this is not about israelis security. This is about netanyahus power and his security from prison. Yeah, thats a decision from the president himself, not to do that yet. Maybe thatll change. Maybe thatll begin with the State Of The Union. Right now, it is the private pressure. Hes not gone publicly after netanyahu like this. We should also note the Israeli Government says ceasefire talks will pick up next week, but it doesnt mean theyll be in place for ramadan. Richard, can we shift to ukraine for a minute, too . Yesterday, a Russian Missile strike in odessa came within a couple hundred yards of Hitting Zelenskyy and greece, a nato country. Speaker johnson will be perched behind biden during the State Of The Union. What case can he make to the American People . Traditionally in foreign policy, the executive branch, the president has enormous leverage or latitude, for better and for worse. This is one of those rare cases you cannot do American Foreign policy without the congress. It has a price tag on it. He has to keep talking and educate and ree mind people why this matters. Also, attack the underlying ice isolationism. The idea that what were spending on this is small. The percentage of our gdp, National Security, is half the cold war average, that our problems at home are not because were not spending. He needs to attack the Isolationism Writ large. Make the case that what we have done in the world is a good investment for us. And russia and ukraine, if we dont have something here, were undermining the cause of freedom, the representation of the United States, and sending Vladimir Putin a signal that europe is his. The president ought to talk in stark terms about this. Richard, Many Americans going back to gaza for a moment, Many Americans are frustrated and want to see President Biden take a much harder line with bibi netanyahu, yet, as jonathan pointed out a moment ago, hes chosen, the president has chosen to take a more private route. Is there any sign the private pressure is working . How do you measure that . The only thing is the israelis let a little aid in. Essentially not. Its hard, joe asked a second ago, why isnt the administration being tougher . It is hard psychologically for the president generationally. He is of an age. Yeah, he came into politics half a century ago. I get it. Israel was still david. It wasnt goliath. Joe biden became president after the sixday war. All the arab armies were against israel. It is hard to pivot. Israel is seen now more as goliath rather than david in the world. Its tough. Again, think about the time you had 67, 72 in munich, the plo assassinating the Israeli Olympic athletes. You had 73. That was bam, bam, bam for a lot of people. Some of us younger, the First Impression of, what are palestinians . Exactly. That was the framing. That was the framing. I will tell you, it was the framework for decades. Exactly. He lives under that framework. Its a generational thing. For people in their 20s and 30s, the only thing theyve really known, joe, is bibi netanyahu. Right. An Israeli Government thats not interested in peacemaking, is interested in settlement building. It is attacking civilians really in a cavalier way. Theres a real generational divide, which is, again, what worries me. If you care about israel and you care about this relationship, how shortsighted is this Israeli Government . Well, its Benjamin Netanyahu, again, in large part. The same Benjamin Netanyahu who knew where their illegal funding was from in 2018, looked the other way. I cant say this enough. That guy on the screen sent his representative to doha, and qatar said, do you want us to continue giving hamas funding . Three weeks before the attacks. Netanyahus government said yes. They had the secret attack plans a year before. They had, as you said before, last time you were on, they had warning that it was coming. Hamas terrorists were throwing away their sim cards. They were preparing for battle. They did absolutely nothing. Took ten hours in some cases to go rescue women that were being raped, children that were being brutalized, parents that were being shot in front of their kids. Grandparents, people being burned. It is time to bridge the gap, willie. I will tell you, if you love israel, if you believe that israel needs to exist, then you have to worry about the Severe Damage Benjamin Netanyahu is doing to the cause of israel in the United States, Young Americans and across the world. President biden is feeling the pressure. As this debate goes on, the hostages are toiling now into their fifth and sixth months, and the suffering in gaza continues. Richard haass, thank you very much. Always good to see you, mara. Thank you, as well. Still ahead, we now have a verdict in the rust movie trial for the armarmorer who had alec baldwin a gun that led to the Fatal Shooting of a cinematographer on the set. Danny cevallos joins us next. The will states that mr. 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A new mexico jury found the armorer for the movie rust guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter. Hannah guitierrezreed faces up to 18 months in state prison. The nearly twoweek Criminal Trialcentered on the accidental shooting on the film set in 2021. Haylna hutchins was killed by a live round from a prop gun held by alec baldwin. Baldwin claim he is didnt pull the trigger. He faces Involuntary Manslaughter charges, as well. His trial is set for july. Lets bring in legal analyst dan danny sa valess. Any surprise with the verdict . What does it mean for baldwin later this year . Yes and no. The states case, generally speaking, this was not a strong case, but if there was a stronger case, it was against the armoarmorer. She was acquitted of the tampering with evidence. Some of the evidence was, Somebody Saw A Bag of a white powdery substance, never tested, and it was supposedly cocaine. Not a surprise, an acquittal there. Heres the thing, a guilty verdict for the armorer is good baldwin. An acquittal for the armorer was good for alec baldwin, as well. Baldwins team got a free look at the entire theory of liability against the armorer and a lot of the states evidence. No matter what, thats a win. But a guilty verdict here means that alec baldwins team can basically take the states case and make it their own, as they point at other people responsible. Whether its the armorer, who was found guilty, whether it is david halls who took a plea agreement, or the supplier who supposedly supplied the props, equipment, and allegedly, according to the defense here, possibly even the live rounds. Thats all good for alec baldwin in this case. An acquittal would have meant the overall case wasnt that strong. Because if they couldnt convict the armorer, how are they going to convict the actor . Alec baldwin looked like hed be under criminal charges, then dropped it, and now hes indicted on Involuntary Manslaughter. However you feel about alec baldwin, whoever worked on a movie set or from hollywood said, it is not the job of the actor to know whats in the gun that he was handed. Its the job of the armorer to assure you that this is what i have. Let me show you whats in the chamber. These arent live rounds of ammunition. Whats the case against him look like . Alec baldwins defense case is a strong one for so many different reasons. Number one, the reason you said. An actor on a movie set, that is probably the one place where you could say that the rules of gun safety are a little different. Everyone who handles a gun learns the number one rule, never point a gun at something you dont want to destroy. But on a movie set, a gun is not a gun. A gun is a prop. A gun is a toy. I dont say that i dont want to sound glib because guns arent toys, but if youre told something isnt a gun, youre handed it and you are an actor, you are entitled to believe it is not a gun. If this was a Science Fiction movie set in the future, and you were handed a ray gun, youd similarly be able to believe its not going to shoot a laser once i pull the trigger. So the biggest witness against alec baldwin in his case is alec baldwin. He gave an interview where he made two really, really bad statements. Number one was the i didnt pull the trigger. You didnt need to say that. Central in this case, that was not central in this case, will be technical stuff about there is a half cock, a full, and what happens if the trigger can be pulled. Thatll be a factor. Worse for alec baldwin is when he said, i, as a smart actor, know that i would never, never, never point a gun at anyone. This was really stupid. Ill tell you why. Because he should have sat back on the idea of, im just a dumb actor. If you could imagine, if this was a 12yearold actor on some other set, they would never be blamed for thinking that a prop handed to them, that they were told was not a gun, was not a gun. Now, alec baldwin is on record saying, oh, id never, never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger. Bad idea. Instead, say, look, me just actor. Me know nothing. Sounds like a defense. The prosecution does seem to have it out for him, even in this trial. Theyre calling baldwin a prima donna who ignore td rules of a movie set and didnt listen. Well see how it goes for his trial in july. Danny cevallos, thank you so much. Coming up next, new York Governor Kathy Hochul joins us in studio to talk about her new action to reduce crime in New York Citys subways. Plus, White House Press secretary Karine Jeanpierre will be our guest ahead of President Bidens state of the Union Address tonight. Were back in two minutes. In t. Made my life a lot harder. But the picture started changing when i started on vyvgart. Vyvgart is for adults with generalized Myasthenia Gravis who are antiachr antibody positive. In a clinical trial, vyvgart significantly improved most participants ability to do daily activities when added to their current gmg treatment. Most participants taking vyvgart also had less Muscle Weakness. And your Vyvgart Treatment Schedule is designed just for you. In a Clinical Study, the most common side effects included urinary and respiratory tract infections, and headache. Vyvgart may increase the risk of infection. Tell your doctor if you have a history of infections or symptoms of an infection. Vyvgart can cause allergic reactions. Available as vyvgart for iv infusion and also as Vyvgart Hytrulo for subcutaneous injection. Additional side effects for Vyvgart Hytrulo may include injection site reactions. Talk to your neurologist about vyvgart. President biden will deliver his state of the Union Address. Hes been practicing for weeks. Not his speech, staying up past 9 00. Welcome back. Me, too, by the way. Practice staying up past 9 00. Way past my bedtime. Itll be tough. Yeah. Welcome back to morning joe. Its thursday, march 7th. Jonathan lemire still with us. Bringing into the conversation, lets bring in president of the National Action network and host of msnbcs politics nation, reverend al sharpton. Special correspondent for vanity fair and the host of Fast Politics podcast, molly jongfast, an msnbc political analyst. Rev, what do you need to hear from President Biden tonight . I think he needs to really lay out in a very unequivocal way what he has brought us from when he went into office and where we are now. Ive said publicly, and i was at the white house yesterday on other issues as president of the National Action network. I gave some unsolicited advice to some of the senior staff because we were there on other issues, but a minor part. Own what is being used against him. As an old man, i passed the inflation reduction bill, infrastructure. Compare me to the other old man. Lets do a comparison of two old, white men. Right. That would change the whole course of this conversation were having about his age. We have two old men. One does a walk that he has because of doctors explaining he walks a certain way. The other does a perp walk to the next arraignment. Which walk do you want to have in the white house . Yeah. I mean, politics is about contrast. The contrast between these two, not great in age, but, molly, on issue after issue after issue, on comportment, respect for the law, respect for the constitution, this is pretty easy to sell. What does joe biden need to do tonight . I think it is important to note, you should start with donald trump is out on bail, right . We forget, right . He is on bail still. I would say that, look, i think the top line should be the Inflation Reduction Act reduced inflation, right . Republicans said it would increase inflation, and they were wrong. So i think thats pretty good. Good policy makes good politics, right . He has good policy. You know, a lot of this stuff has really worked. There are bridges being built in north carolina, in different states. There are theres infrastructure happening. People are seeing it in their lives. So i think if you brag about a lot of these legislative accomplishments, thats a really good start. He has the attention, now he can sell the policies, which are already happening. Just generally, compare the sorry state the country was in when donald trump left to where it is now. For the First Time Since the 1960s unemployment is under 4 for two years running. Crime stats, despite the fact some cities still havent gotten it right, crime stats are near 50 year lows. Jobs, wages, everything going in the right direction economically. Yeah, the metrics are there. A lot of people dont like to think back about the covid pandemic, but thats where the Biden Administration begins the Success Story of pulling a nation out of that, dealing with the resulting inflation. Yes, Prices Higher than people like, but inflation has certainly cooled. 3 . Its certainly cooled. 3. 1 . The stock market is booming. Blockbuster job report after blockbuster job report. The strength of the economy is there. He certainly faces challenges. There are two hot wars overseas. Hes limited in what he can do to address them. Certainly, you know, the issue with the southern border and, tonight, aides tell me itll been an opportunity for him to turn this on republicans. Say, look, i was ready to sign that bill. Theyre the ones who blocked it because the guy who is running for president in their party told them to. I think well hear a lot tonight about the familiar but still important themes about defense of democracy, and whether he uses trumps name or not is irrelevant. Hell suggest the stakes of this election this november are so high, the future of the republic itself and what we think of as the american democracy is on the line. Hes going to talk about that and talk about the idea of freedom, particularly with reproductive rights. He has a number of things he has to do tonight. Of course, its a speech about policy and also performance. Aides privately acknowledge, last year, he hit a home run, the spontaneous moment with republican lawmakers in the back. Theyd love Something Like that again tonight to prove his vitality, which is partially why House Speaker johnson was telling members of his caucus, behave. Dont shout. Good luck with that. Lets go to the white house. Joining us now is press secretary Karine Jeanpierre. Hey, good to see you. I was going to say, i dont think you need me. I was just listening to the commentary. I dont think you need me this morning, but it is good to be on. Well, well ask you anyway, lets talk about the contrast that you seek to draw. Clearly, its been a twoman race for some time now but almost officially now after super tuesday that it is going to be donald trump as the republican nominee versus the president. How will you draw a contrast while talking about your own record with your opponent . Well, again, willie, good to see you. Thank you so much for having me. Look, tonight is obviously a very important night. The president is looking forward to not just being in front of congress but talking directly to the American People. Just think about it. Hell be talking to folks who are sitting on their couches, sitting around the kitchen table, and letting them know how he sees the vision for our country. Talking about how hes going to build on these accomplishments that has delivered gained for the american families. Look, hes also going to talk about who he stands for. Who he stands for. If you think about this, middle class over Tax Giveaways for the rich. Think of lowering costs over greed, corporate greed. If you think about Womens Health care over these extreme bans that we have been seeing across the country, and on abortion and ivf, as well. When you think about american democracy, standing up for that over the hateful, violent rhetoric and the attack of our rule of law that we have been seeing. If you think about standing for ptients over big pharma. Youll see the president lay all that out. Dont want to get too far ahead of him, but thatll be the contrast. Itll be important for the American People, as he knees it knows it and understands it and youve been talking about, to hear about his vision. What hes done in the last three years. Hes done more in the last three years, willie, than most president s have been able to do there their two terms. So that is going to be important for the president tonight. Karine, good morning. It is jonathan. You laid out what he is doing to say about what hes accomplished already. Tell us more about what he is going to promise for the future. You know, the vision for a second term. I know you guys are putting out information on potentially raising Corporate Tax rates. Tell us a little about that, Corporate Tax rates, tax hikes on the rich. Yup. How is President Biden going to sell what the next four years are going to look like . Look, as you talk about, Corporate Tax rate, making sure were standing up for the middle class family, thats always something that the president has talked about. You think about the economy, growing an economy from the bottom up, middle out, right . Making sure the middle class is not forgotten. Making sure communities that feel theyve been left behind are not. Thats what youve seen the president do the first three years. Look, heres what i would say. When we talk about 14 million jobs created, unemployment under 4 , wages have gone up, that did not happen by accident, right . That happened because of this president s policies. He wants to continue that over the next, obviously, several months going into the second term, right . He wants to continue delivering those gains for the American People. Look, theres drug prices, right . We have to make sure that seniors arent paying thousands of dollars a month, right . Thats why the inflation i heard someone talk about the Inflation Reduction Act. Lets not forget what that was able to do. It allowed medicare to negotiate with big pharma, right . It allowed to make sure that insulin was capped at 35 bucks for seniors. All of those things we need to continue and those historic pieces of legislation that obviously are now law, we have to implement them. We have to protect them. You have republicans that want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. The president wants to continue that process. There are 46,000 projects, infrastructure projects, that came out of the bipartisan infrastructure law. Weve got to continue that, get those projects going. And lets not forget, he is going to talk about his unity agenda. There are issues. There are issues that both sides care about. You know, ending cancer, fighting for veteran families and those are important. Getting fentanyl out of the country. The president got 400 bills passed and signed, signed more than 400 bills that have been bipartisan. Youll hear him talk about all of those things tonight, as well. Karine, two of the issues that are burning in this country, among others, is the right of women to choose and where we are in terms of the racial gaps in this country. The president has taken a stern position of pro choice, and hes made some deep inroads in closing i think we have the closing of the race gap between whites and blacks, has now shrunk more than it has in the last few decades. Black unemployment record lows. I remember last year, the State Of The Union, he had the parents of tyre nichols, who was a concern for us at that point, who had been beaten to death by police. Will he address women and womens rights directly and the continued fight in the black community where some are saying that blacks have become more say, less than enthusiastic about his campaign . Even though i notice its not a campaign address. Youre exactly right. Thank you so much for the question, reverend. Look, you are going to hear the president address how our democracy is under attack, how our freedoms are certainly under attack. Hes going to speak to what weve been seeing across the country as it relates to Womens Health care and the radical, extreme bills that were seeing on abortion, on ivf. Youll hear the president be very loud and clear about that. And we know Voting Rights is an issue here the president has spoken to, has spoken to very clearly, even took an Executive Action very early on in his administration, to see what we can do on the federal level to deal with, to make it easier for folks to vote. Youll hear him certainly lean into that, as well, tonight. Look, it is important, we belief, that as the president lets not forget, when he first ran, decided to run in 2019, he talked about the soul of this nation and really fighting for the soul of america. That didnt end with the president being elected, obviously, in 2020. That continues. That continues. It is important for this president to continue to talk about our freedoms and how they are under attack. They are. In extreme ways by extreme republicans. Hes going to continue. Youll see whose side he is on. He is on the side of the American People. Hell continue to fight for the American People. Tonight is going to be a really important night to hear directly from the president on these critical issues. We will do that about 14 hours from now. Yes. On capitol hill. White House Press Secretary Karine Jeanpierre, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thank you, willie. Appreciate it. Alabama republican governor kay ivey signed a bill to protect in Vitro Fertilization Services into law. The move came after weeks of backlash following the Supreme Court ruling that equated Frozen Embryos to children. Supporters of the measure were hopeful itd be a shortterm solution, allowing clinics in the state that halted services to reopen for ivf. The legislation does not define or clarify whether, under state law, Frozen Embryos created via ivf do have the same rights as children, though. Instead, it protects doctors, clinics, and other Health Care Personnel who provide Ivf Treatment and services by offering such workers civil and criminal immunity. Late last month, republican senator cindy hydesmith of mississippi blocked passage of legislation in the United States senate that would provide federal protection for ivf. Senator hydesmith pointing out the alabama Supreme Court decision did not ban ivf and argued the bill before the senate was a vast overreach, she said, that was full of poison pills. Molly, obviously, republicans know that this is a huge problem for them. I mean, abortion, there are moral objections to it. Obviously, there is debate and conversation around that. Theres not a whole lot around ivf. This is not a republican, democrat, conservative, liberal issue. This is the miracle of life being brought to anybody who needs it and who wants it. One of the great scientific advancement of my lifetime. You know, i had two kids via ivf. So did mike pence. Thats probably the only thing we have in common. But, yeah, i mean, this is such a dumb hill for republicans to die on. Nobody in the world thinks five frozen cells is a person. The math is not mathing. So i do think they have a real problem. I was really shocked at what you know, theres also just, like its also a case of republicans being bad at legislating. Like, this did not have to happen. They really set themselves up for this. Again, with the legislation that they passed, you know, they just said, if you destroy an employee, you cant be prosecuted. They didnt say, five frozen cells isnt a person. I think youve now opened the door to a legislative nightmare and also a legal nightmare. I mean, you have ivf all throughout this country. Right. I was just going to say, the point that you made is the inconsistency in this bill. They dont say its not life. Right. Because they know theyd get in trouble with their base. So without if theyre not saying it, then we are to assume they think it is life. So theyre saying it is okay to destroy that life because it is politically unpopular, but the inconsistencies across the board, especially for those that say life begins at conception, things get very, very muddled. Then you look in the United States senate and see that republicans cant even pass a bill to protect ivf. Yeah. And, i mean, tammy duckworth, you know, immediately when this happened, she came out and said, lets codify ivf. By the way, this is not controversial legislation. This is a popular thing. Right. Millions of dollars in this country are spent on ivf. Doctors who do it, i mean, theyre a really powerful group. But it points out the extremism of republicans position. Yeah. You look at overturning roe. For decades, 70 of americans told gallup they were against the overturning of roe. Roe overturned. There are republicans who are extreme who want to go after contraception next. Clarence thomas talked about going after contraception next. Talked about going after marriage equality, saying that these none of these should be constitutionally protected. This is where the Republican Party is going. They are getting more and more extreme on all of these issues. And going after contraception is such a loser. I mean, nobody in this country is like, we shouldnt have contraception. Its crazy. And theyve opened the door to this with the idea of embryonic personhood. Now, were down a rabbit hole, and it is impossible to stop. Willie, it is hard to overstate how bad this is for republicans. You look at the states that control, whether its floridas sixweek ban, look whats happening in texas and the extreme positions. You look at whats happening across the country. You know, a very, very progressive judge won a statewide contest in wisconsin, in large part because Wisconsin Republicans still embraced an 1849 total ban. Thats how extreme they are. Its why theyre going to keep losing. Abortion rights are passing in places like kansas and ohio. Were seeing these crossover, sort of transcendent issues. Like i say, i mean, theres a lot of debate around abortion and moral reasons why are objected to it. Everyone understands that. But ivf, i mean, its like, people who cannot have the miracle of life, if youre the party of life, get the miracle of life. The people who created ivf won the nobel prize because it is one of the great innovations in human history. Id also say one of the things about abortion that were seeing is that the people who are really having these horror stories, that are coming out, are not women who are trying to get abortions because there is an abortion pill. Its women who are pregnant, right . Who had a miscarriage and now need to take the abortion pill, and doctors wont treat because theyre scared of being prosecuted. Were seeing that in texas. These are people, theyre not necessarily pro choice, but they dont want to bleed out when they have a miscarriage. I think that is really a bad look for republicans. You can bet well hear about some of this tonight in the state of the Union Address. Special correspondent at vanity fair, molly jongfast, great to have you. Ahead on morning joe, House Republicans invited hunter biden back to capitol hill. Boy. For a public hearing. They just want hot stove, joe. They just want to keep burning their hand on the hot stove. This guy embarrassing them every time. And their star witnesses all seem to either be on the run or indicted. Not going well. Well talk to House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries about the gops continued push to impeach President Biden despite the utter lack of evidence. First, new York Governor Kathy Hochul is here in studio with us to discuss her plan to boost subway safety amid a recent uptick in crime. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Hi, im greg. I live in bloomington, illinois. Im not an actor. Im just a regular person. Some people say, why should i take prevagen . I dont have a problem with my memory. Memory loss is, is not something that occurs overnight. I started noticing subtle lapses in memory. I want people to know that prevagen has worked for me. Its helped my memory. Its helped my cognitive qualities. Give it a try. I want it to help you just like it has helped me. Prevagen. At stores everywhere without a prescription. With so many choices on booking. Com there are so many tina feys i could be. 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Following a series of Violent Attacks in New York City subways, governor kathy hochul says shes sending the National Guard and state police to control the countrys largest Transit System. She has. In the last week, a conductor was struck in the head by a glass bottle. A 64yearold man was kicked onto the tracks at penn state. And a man needed four stitches after another passenger slashed him with a box cutter. Joining us now is the democratic governor of new york, kathy hochul. Governor, thanks for being with us. First of all, look at the headlines. Newspaper of record, as reverend al likes to say, for morning joe, the new york post. Boots on the ground. The daily news, soldiers in the subway. No governor takes it lightly, the decision to get National Guard and put them in harms way. What led you to send them to the subway . I want to send reinforcements to the mayor of new york, who has primary responsibility for policing the subways. But the subways are vast, and we have seen a number of crimes. Again, not statistically significant but psychologically significant. Thank you for saying that. People will say crime is at a 50 year low and everything is wonderful. Willie will say, why is it all my friends say, dont go on the subway, or i go to a cvs store and the toothpaste is behind plastic . So thank you. Its not just numbers on the page. No. Its psychologically, do new yorkers feel safe . That is exactly what were trying to fight here. I can show you all the statistics in the world and say, you should feel safe because the numbers are better. But youre the mom on the subway with your baby in a stroller. Youre the parent putting your kid on the subway to go to high school. Youre the seniortor appointmen. Youre anxious, im the governor of the state of new york, im concerned about it. If you feel better walking past someone in a uniform to make sure someone doesnt bring a knife or gun on the subway, thats exactly why i did it. I want to change the psychology around crime in New York City because we are the safest big city in america. Right. I want people on the subways. It is safe. But ill make sure people feel safe. It is far and away the best way to get around new york. Still ride the subway all the time, one train. But i was saying to you in the break, the last couple years, you do notice that, rev, when we take the subway, always stand up on the yellow line, look over to see if the train was coming. Everybody stands back. Theyre against the back wall or the post because of the stories we hear about getting pushed in front of a train. It doesnt happen a lot statistically, but it happens. I guess for me, this is the response to a problem, but what about the root of the problem . Why is there a little uptick in subway crime . Were still not at full capacity. We had 4 million passengers a day. It is usually 6 or 7. When there are trains that are emptier, people feel more at ease to interact with others, sometimes in a violent matter. When we can get the platforms full again, crime goes down. During the pandemic, there was a spike because not many people were on it and the criminals feel at ease, no one is watching them. But theyre watching. Part of my plan, every subway train is now going to have cameras on it. That was not the case. I sped up the process. Now, even our Conductors Booths will have cameras in there. We dont know who the perpetrator is of the person who slit the neck of a conductor just a week and a half ago. I talked to the doctor who saved his life. What a great guy, to be on the train and save the life of a conductor. But that is not the norm. I dont want people to think that is going to be normalized on the subways in the state of new york. Were going to make sure we take back our subways, making you feel safe again. No stop and frisk. This is not punitive. This is a deterrent. The ftrain, my local. But your move here received applause from unlikely sources. Senator tom cotton of arkansas cheered this. Some pushback from Civil Liberty Groups in New York City who worry about the idea of the National Guard being on the subway. Explain a little more exactly what the purview is. Why are they worried . Im confused. The idea that they dont think the National Guard, soldiers, should be on the subway. Thats their argument. Why . Because they think its a step too far. To what . Not necessary for what . I dont understand. Youll have to take it up with them, joe. Im relaying it to the governor. You know, im tom hanks in big. I dont understand. I dont understand. I think there is a sense amongst some that, they believe, soldiers, their place is not on New York City streets or subways of an american city. The governor made that decision. Can you tell us a little bit more about what their purview will be . How many soldiers . How long . What will the jurisdiction be . Their job is to protect the primaries, the nypd, but ill give help as long as help is needed. I have 1,000 individuals. I dont have to keep them there long. I may keep them there a long time. Im not telling the criminals the day im stopping this because then theyll be back the next day. Thats not a good Crime Prevention strategy. Also, to the naysayers, im reading articles where people are saying, hochul is saying its one of my plans that if you committed a crime on the subway, youve harmed another passenger or conductor, you should not be able to take the subway again, right . I dont want to sit next to someone who just, you know, harmed someone last year and got out. The people are saying ill be harassing people and going to be stopping them. That is not the objective at all. Im here to protect people. Particularly people in communities of color who are riding the subways in high proportion because they dont have the luxury of vehicles, getting to lowwage jobs. I want them to be safe. Thats why im doing this. People criticize everything we do. Get in line, i say, as the governor of new york. Theyre always saying something. My job is to protect the people of the state, and ill do it. Ill also demonstrate that democrats fight crime, as well. This narrative that republicans have said and hijacked the story that were soft on crime, that we defund the police. No. We care about Civil Liberties. We dont want overpolicing. We want to make sure the police operate within certain restraints, protect our citizens rights, but by god, im protecting their lives and their sense of safety and security here in the state of new york. Governor, first of all, it is good to fight crime. Certainly, those in communities of color are the disproportion Disproportional Victims of crime. But this is not going to lead to stop and frisk. No. And the National Guard will not be interfering directly on the subways. Because when we deal with the jerome neely cases and others, we dont want overpolicing, but we need people protected. How do we protect and dont go back to stop and frisk and violating peoples Civil Liberties, but at the same time, relax people like brother joe and i, that were Fighting Crime . I take the concerns you raise seriously. That is why they are a deterrent. Theyre standing there as a deterrent. The police will be inspecting bags, every other person. Im not going to say what it is. But there is a scheduled stop of individuals to look at their bags based on numbers, not who the person is, not how they look. There is a thought out process to make sure were not selecting individuals or profiling people. None of that is going to happen. If it does, ill stop it, because thats not the objective. The objective is to restore the sense of safety and security in our subways, make people know theyre going to get to their destination in a without any harm, and these individuals are not even going to the bags. The National Guard are not going through your bags. Theyre there as a port function. That is it. I think itll do a lot to calm down the fears right now, the anxiety, which is running high. Thats important to me. It doesnt have to be permanent. Lets just see how long we need to do this. Let many ask you about bail reform. Its been a big debate for several years. Seem we read stories in the paper all the time. Somebody commits a crime, theyre out the next day. Commit another crime. Where are we in that debate . For new yorkers that want a tougher bail system, that maybe they think we overcorrected, what do you say to them . Ive corrected the bail system. Back in 2019, my predecessor, the legislature at the time, did a series of reforms. Im sure they were well intended but weve seen the effect of what happens with the high rate of recidivism because people are being cycled in and out, in and out. I want to protect peoples rights. They have rights. I as the governor, ill protect them. But heres the bottom line, i changed the law last year. With a lot of resistance. I held the budget up one month late to get the changes i wanted to give judges the discretion that they had had taken away from them, to look at the whole body of evidence. Did this person do this before . Are they repeat offender . What is the likelihood . Consider all these factors. We changed it starting last may. I guarantee youre going to see different outcomes in statistics this Time Next Year on the recidivism rate. People are not going to be cycled in and out. Also, there is a whole system here, joe, its the d. A. S and judges. Im seeing a disparity between Upstate New York and the city of new york. The law is correct. The judges have the tools they need. Its how it is being applied. Im calling them out on this. On that point, the nypd put out numbers yesterday. 38 individuals arrested for assault in the Transit System last year were linked to 1,126 other crimes across the city. 542 people arrested for shoplifting, committing 7,600 crimes in the city. Mayor adams saying, we dont have a surge in crime but in recidivism. For people who cant follow all the ins and outs of the bail system in New York City, what do you say . How do we get the people committing crime again and may commit a crime on the subway today and be back in the subway tomorrow . How do you stop that . The mayor is absolutely right. Were in full alignment. Its not theres a small number of individuals. We get them held, crime is going to drop dramatically. Thats our objective here. Thats why i fought so hard to get the laws changed. I need the judges to apply them. I need the District Attorney to know ive empowered them to stop these individuals from cycling in and out of our system. It doesnt make sense that this has been the way it was. Thats why i had to stand up and fix it. Now, well see the proof in the next year or so. We only literally changed it a few months ago. 750 members of the National Guard. 250 State Troopers additionally in the New York City subway. Thank you, governor. Kathy hochul, governor, thank you for being here. Great to see everybody. Well talk to democratic members in the leadership in the house as President Biden prepares to address the nation tonight. Representative Hakeem Jeffries and representative James Clyburn join us ahead on morning joe. some people just know that the best rate for you is a rate based on you. Not paul. You dont want to ride with paul. Get a rate based on you with drivewise in the allstate app. When my doctor gave me breztri for my copd, things changed for me. Breztri gave me better breathing, symptom improvement, and reduced flare ups. Breztri wont replace a Rescue Inhaler for sudden breathing problems. It is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a Heart Condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Dont take breztri more than prescribed. Breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. Ask your doctor about breztri. Custom ink helps us motivate our students with custom gear. Vision changes, or eye pain occur. We love how custom ink takes care of everything we need, so we can focus on the kids. [narrator] custom ink has hundreds of products to help you feel connected. Upload your logo or start your design today at customink. Com live picture of the United States capitol. 7 40. The president will give his state of the Union Address tonight. The republicanled House Oversight committee, meanwhile, invited hunter biden and three former Business Associates to testify at a public hearing on march 20th as part of its ongoing impeachment inquiry into his father, President Biden. A source familiar with Hunter Bidens legal strategy telling nbc news, Republican Committee chair james comer is, quote, desperate to keep alive an impeachment inquiry that died when hunter biden testified for almost 7 hours last week, end quote. Meanwhile, the House Of Representatives passed a set of funding bills needed to avoid a partial government shutdown. The bills now head to the senate where the Upper Chamber is trying to reach an agreement to pass them in time. House Speaker Mike Johnson said hes pleased with the legislation because it allowed him to make spending cuts. We also advanced, as youve seen the summary, cuts to some of the agencies we believe are really overreaching and have been turned, in some ways, against the American People. We are going to cut 3 from doj. 7 from the atf. 6 from the fbi. 10 from the epa. Thats just a start. We have a lot more priorities and things we need to advance, but the reality is, as we all recognize, is we have to grow the house majority, take back the senate for the Republican Party, and win the white house. Im here to tell you, the reason were optimistic is we believe those things are going to happen in november. We cant wait. That day cant get here soon enough. What happened to my former party . You have a speaker bragging about defunding the police. Hes bragging about defunding the top Law Enforcement agencies in america. Hes bragging about defunding the agency that is responsible for stopping gangs. Responsible for stopping terrorists at home and around the world. Hes proud of that . Seriously . Like, drug cartels, hes bragging about that. Hes bragging about it. So hes helping drug cartels, like, drug lords are thrilled to hear hes cutting funding for these agencies. Putin is thrilled to hear he continues to stand in the way of helping ukraine defend itself. Mike johnson, friend of drug cartels and put nmsz. That is hard to put on a Bumper Sticker when running for reelection. Also, the bipartisan Immigration Reform also would hurt the drug cartels and human trafficking. The Republican Party commits a selfinflicted wound at the behest of donald trump who falsely accused the doj of being weaponized against him. Hakeem jeffries of new york joins us. Leader jeffries, thanks for being with us this morning. A lot to talk about. Lets start with the cuts proposed in this funding bill. Do you think doj, atf, fbi, epa, you think itll see the cuts in the end . We fought hard to avoid the type of dramatic cuts that the extreme maga republicans wanted to visit on the doj, the fbi, the atf, whose primary job is to try to confront the massive amount of guns that are flooding our communities and resulting in people being killed in classrooms and movie theaters and in malls. The type of socalled cuts that Speaker Johnson is talking about are largely cosmetic in nature, compared to what they wanted to do if they had their way. Which was to cut hundreds of millions of dollars, if you can believe it, from the department of justice or the fbi or other Law Enforcement agencies. Leader jeffries, do they not understand that these are the very agencies that crack down on drug cartels . These are the very agencies that protect americans from terrorists, whether were talking about terrorist attacks in shopping malls, whether were talking about terrorist attacks in train stations, whether were talking about terrorist attacks at airports . Do they not understand that . Are they too stupid to understand that . Or are they fine with it because donald trump wants it . Its just like the southern border, i guess. Donald trump says, let fentanyl flood across the southern border another year and blame it on me. People are saying, let hijackers have their way, drug cartels have their way in the United States because, well, donald trump told us to do it . Is that how congress runs now . Well, it seems to be the case in terms of whenever one is trying to figure out how to explain the unexplainable, the simple answer is always that when the low energy maga king, donald trump, says to jump, the extreme maga republicans in the House Of Representatives respond, how high . Thats the reason why they continue to block a bipartisan, comprehensive Border Security bill necessary to stand with our democratic allies. Whether thats in ukraine or israel or the indopacific. Certainly in the midst of the defense of democracy and freedom and truth against authoritarianism, tyranny, and propaganda, we are continuing to see the republicans do the bidding of donald trump and undermine the best interests of the United States of america. Leader, what is it like listening to these republicans carp year after year after year about the need to pass a tough Border Security bill, and then a conservative like James Lankford gets together with democrats in the house and the senate, gets together with republicans in the senate, gets together with the president , and they come up with the toughest Border Security bill ever, and mike johnson and maga extremists kill it . We clearly have a broken immigration system and real challenges at the border, and under the leadership of President Biden partnering with House Democrats and Senate Democrats and, of course, republican senators like lankford, we are ready, willing, and able to try to find a way forward to establish a safe and strong, secure and humane border, while trying to also, at the same time, find legal pathways toward citizenship so we can continue to be a thriving nation of immigrants. Thats a competitive advantage for us. But, again, the republicans dont seem interested in solving problems on behalf of hard working american taxpayers. We need less chaos in washington, d. C. , more common sense. Common sense suggests that we have to address these challenges in a bipartisan way. We are willing to continue to do that. We just need partners on the other side of the aisle. Leader jeffries, we just had the governor of new york here talking about crime in the subways. I know its been brought out all over the country that some migrants have engaged in crime. Even though i think its been blown way out of the data that weve seen. Even in light of that hype, youre telling me that with many concessions to the republicans, to the Border Control bill, that in many cases they had represented and they had written, that your conversations with Speaker Johnson dramatically changed when donald trump said, no, dont vote for the bill, even though the bill had many of us questioning it and saying it was giving too much to the republicans. They wouldnt vote for their own bill under the orders of their president ial nomineetobe, donald trump . Well, this is a group right now in terms of the extreme maga republicans where, far too often, facts dont matter. Hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior. They believe shamelessness is a superpower. Weve seen it issue after issue after issue. We are going to continue to do everything we can to put people over politics. From the very beginning of this congress, weve said, as House Democrats, that we will find bipartisan Common Ground with our republican colleagues on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, to order to make life better for the American People. Joe biden has led in that way. Joe biden will continue to work toward building a healthy economy, lower costs, better paying jobs, safer community, address the issues at the border. In the context of a divided government, we need traditional republicans to step up, work with us, and reject the maga extremism that is poisoning the Republican Party. Leader jeffries, good morning. Want to get your reaction to something we talked about earlier in the show. Hunter biden testified before closed doors a couple weeks ago. He is now set to do so in a public setting in the house later this month. Just give us your sense as to what your colleagues on the other side of the aisle are doing. Well, from the very beginning, this effort to try to impeach President Joe Biden was clearly a directive that came from the former president , donald trump, of the United States of america. Despite the lack of evidence that there has been an impeachable offense, there is no evidence that President Biden in any way, shape, or form has broken to distract from the fact that this donothing republican majority in the house has done nothing to address the issues of the economy, nothing on housing affordability, nothing on public safety, nothing on National Security, nothing on the border, and so they want to distract the American People. Its unfortunate, and its going to crash and burn because it has no basis. This impeachment inquiry and effort, in law or in fact. Hakeem jeffries, the State Of The Union is in the building youre standing in right now tonight. What do you think the president will say tonight . What have you spoken to the white house about . Its my understanding that the president is both going to talk to the American People about the progress that has been made with respect to how things started, a onceinacentury pan pandemic. The economy turned around, and hes restoring goodpaying jobs. We see gas prices coming down. Thats an important context for the American People to understand, but i think the president will also make clear that we know we have to finish the job, that there are still affordability challenges that we have to address on behalf of Everyday Americans. Were willing to do that in a bipartisan way, but President Biden has a vision to grow the middle class, to put Everyday Americans first in the wealthy and the well off and the wellconnected last in the context of how we prioritize Public Policy in the United States of america. House minority leader congressman Hakeem Jeffries of new york. Leader jeffries, thanks for your time this morning. We always appreciate it. Thank you. Lets bring in one of leader jeffries colleagues, jim clyburn of south carolina. He is a national cochair for the biden reelection campaign. Congressman clyburn, great to have you with us. Ill put the same question to you. From your point of view, from your district, the people of south carolina, what do they want to hear from the president tonight . Well, thank you very much for having me. I think that leader jeffries is right on point. People will be interested in the president tonigh drawing a contrast between what was, what is, and leaning into the future with a vision of what this country can be. President biden has done a great job of bringing this country back together, of lifting people out of a quagmire. He has driven gas prices down, driven inflation down, and has raised the incomes of people all over the country, and i think that what he needs to do tonight is to continue to show his vision for how were going to build upon that for the next four years. I might give you one example. Student loan debt relief, he has already eliminated 140 billion in Student Loan Debt relief, but going forward, his administration has made it possible that every two months for the next four years, another 75,000 people will be eligible to have their debt eliminated, if not, relieved, and thats what this is all about. Not just what hes already done, but what his policies will do going forward. So President Biden has to lean into the future in a way that everybody can see this vision and can feel it in their lives in their communities. Jim, its always great to have you here and great to see you, buddy. Thank you. I wanted to ask you about something that has to be so frustrating to you and i know its frustrating to President Biden as well. There will be some democrats will criticize joe biden for not doing enough on Student Loans. You just talked about the things he was doing, but theyll overlook it was donald trump and republicans and Donald Trumps Supreme Court that killed more comprehensive student loan relief. Same thing with Voting Rights acts. The john lewis Voting Rights act. You had the president of the United States and democrats in the house and senate for it, but republicans and donald trump were against it. Every Voting Rights act that would help people of color to have more access to voting, donald trump has been against it and has stood in the way of it. How does joe biden get that message out to the very people he needs the most to get reelected . I think youve hit the nail on the head there, joe. Thats exactly what im talking about. I just left selma. Last weekend we were there for our annual pilgrimage. This is the 59th year, and we were talking about what this administration has done. Now selma is in dallas county, alabama, right next to Shelby County where the Supreme Court 11 years ago virtually neutered the Voting Rights act of 1965, and we have been trying with this president to get the house and the senate on the same page. Now weve passed the john lewis advancement act three times in the house. Each time it was filibustered in the senate. Thats not joe bidens fault. He has to really show tonight this is what my vision is. This is what i have done. Im being stopped by a senate that continued to filibuster this issue, and the senate is on the ballot. Onethird of the senate will be on the ballot come november. Give me a senate that will not filibuster these bills. Give me an opportunity to appoint people to the Supreme Court, who will not find it unconstitutional to eliminate student debt. This president has taken lemons and made lemonade time and time again. Trump university was one of the first universities that put people in debt, did not give them the education that was promised to them, and left them with that debt. Joe biden came in, eliminated that debt that they incurred at these flybynight institutions that included trump university. He also eliminated the debt for people on disabilities, and then he redid the system for students who are now graduated. Theyre going in the public service, and they paid over the last 20 years and still owe money, eliminated the rest of that. So i think joe biden has a tremendous record. He has demonstrated what is good about this country, and he is making it possible for the greatness of this country to be accessible and affordable for all of his citizens. Right. Thats what im lookin for tonight because thats the record he has. One thing he has to be clear about, rev, everything joe biden was for, donald trump was against. Its a clear, clear contrast with these two men. He was actively against it and no one has represented that better than congressman clyburn who continued to do what john lewis did every year. He convened everybody saturday, and i think that we need to really show when joe biden said election night, black america, you had my back, i will have yours, he needs to show tonight he has had that among the other issues he needs to address, and he wouldnt have been able to do that without this man, jim clyburn who turned the tide for him in south carolina. I was there. No doubt about it. All right, jim. Thank you so much for being with us. Its always a great honor. National cochair for the Biden Campaign, congressman jim clyburn, the man who helped get joe biden elected. Thanks for being with us. Coming up, senator Mitch Mcconnells endorsing donald trump for president despite the fact that trump continued to make racist comments about his wife. The minority leader was pressed about that on capitol hill. Well show you his response, and were looking at the fight to win over nikki haleys voters now that shes out of the 2024 race. We are back in 90 seconds. Of t4 race we are back in 90 seconds. The. They tried to hunt down the speaker of the house. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the vice president. They did this because theyd been Fed Wild Falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth because he was angry he lost an election. Former President Trumps actions preceded the riot and it was a disgraceful dereliction of duty. Therefore i am endorsing donald j. Trump. You know, the one thing we cut off there, and maybe its not fair to mitch is that at the end of that, right after that, he broke into a rousing tune. He had a band. Happy days are here again. It was like the 32 conventions. I couldnt believe it. A little discordant. The song didnt go with the message. Thats mitch. That was in 2021. That was about a month after january 6th, blaming donald trump for the insurrection, the attack on the capitol. Squarely. Yesterday, Mitch Mcconnell endorsed donald trump for president. Who saw that coming . We should also add in that donald trump has repeatedly attacked in a racist way, Mitch Mcconnells wife, but he said, i will endorse whoever the republican nominee, even if its an attempted coup against the government. We say a lot of bad things about ted cruz here. There is a difference between Mitch Mcconnell and ted cruz. If donald trump had ever attacked ted cruzs wife, ever called her ugly, ever struck out at her in the most personal of terms, that is texas tough right there. Thats a real man. You cross a line with ted, you know what . You might as well have processed the rio grande, my friend. All the way to cancun . Yeah. You cant the retrieval of many. He assassinated he said ted cruzs father assassinated jfk. He wont support you for at least two months. Theres a guy, you know, Lindsey Graham mr. Spine. Go on the floor. Enough is enough. Im out. Im out. And then three rednecks and a hound dog, let me in. Its like somebody doxxed him and put him cell phone up there. I think we need a compilation. We could start with Chris Christie in the mcdonalds episode. The two moment that is led to Donald Trumps comeback postjanuary 6th, one is House Speaker mccarthy, soontobe wanting to be speaker mccarthy, heading to maralago to begin that rehabilitation tour. The other is mcconnell not to convict trump pushing it until after the inauguration, having it in february, believing things would cool off. Voting to acquit himself, and had he voted to convict and whipped others to do so, trump wouldnt have been able to run for office today. Mcconnell chose not to do that, and here we have trump. There were a lot of things that mitch did that we saluted on this show, and he stood up. He stood up to trump at very important times, and yet at the end, if you want to take this endorsement at the end of his career basically, or if you want to take what happened at the end of that process, where there really was a question. Could Mitch Mcconnell have gotten enough republicans to convict donald trump in that Impeachment Proceeding . He made the call. Well let the courts play it out, and we see where thats led us. Part of being in leadership is showing some leadership and at least attempting to do what you think is right. I mean, you know, we all have political minds. We talk a lot about strategy, but theres also just such a thing as right and wrong and at the end of the day, it sounds like a lot of people have forgotten why you go to washington. Its supposed to be to serve americans. Its supposed to be a public servant, and this just looks like its about power. Its shameless, and americans understand that. They see that thats part of why so many voters are deeply demoralized and cynical about this process. Right. At this point. And its shameless, but its also bizarre. Heres a man how old is Mitch Mcconnell . Old enough that it doesnt matter. Old enough exactly. Im old enough that it doesnt matter. Thats right. I mean, why not go out and just say what you think . And he did say what he thought for that brief, shining moment on february 13, 2021 where he said not only the stuff we saw on tape. He said theres a criminal law in this country. He was endorsing jack smith before jack smith was even appointed. He was saying that the man was a criminal, that he did he did cause these people to engage in violence on the hill, and that one of the remedies could be criminal prosecution, and so where is he today . And its for what . Hes donald. And for what . And im sorry, but im just going to ask and i say this with cruz. I say it of lindsey. I say it of all of them. I say it to just all the people trump insulted. What man i say man, or woman, but what man would put up with that . I had a very powerful republican slander a friend of mine. 20 years later 20 years later, he pulls me aside before a speech and begs me to stop, and he says, joe, its been 20 years. Its been 20 years. I said, you shouldnt have said that about my friend. Its going to be 20 more years. I mean, thats what we would all do. Meanwhile, except for my friends. Except for my friends, when donald trump said i was axecute, a lot of them voted for donald trump, but that even raises a question, willie. What is it about donald trump . Its his brilliance. People can insult someones wife or husband. In Mitch Mcconnells case, continuing racist slurs against his wife, and theyre just fine wit. With it. Im not even looking at donald trump there. Im looking at these people, my former friends. Regulations, theyre going to be down. Its crazy. Yeah. You and i have talked about this on and off the air. What are those looks in the mirror like in the morning or at night for Lindsey Graham or for ted cruz or any of those guys . If you have any personal pride not talking about politics here, but if you have any personal pride, how do you do it . How do you swallow all that down and support the guy whos attacked you relentlessly . He attacked Lindsey Graham in his own state during a primary. They take the support for granted and he should because theres nothing he could do to them that wouldnt fall in line anyway, but its again its not politics as a person who has personal pride. How do you do it . I dont know. I dont know. Lindseys first words were, hey, yall. My first words if somebody did that to me would be markedly different, and i dont think im outside of the norm here, lemire. I just again, this is so bizarre. I want to underline again, Mitch Mcconnell insulted repeatedly, said this guy tried to basically destroy american democracy. He has watched his wife attacked with racist screeds repeatedly and he said, i endorse donald trump. Its so deeply cynical and its based all out of fear of trump, and mcconnell of all people who has announced hes stepping down from leadership and not going to run again, he seems like a person who does not have to do this. He wants the republicans to have the majority of the senate even if he wont be the leader there. Donald trump took that from the of course, he did. Twice. He would have been Senate Majority leader over the past four years except for one person and one person alone. The two men have not spoken in years, and yet mcconnell still, still backs this, and he defended it by saying yesterday, well, in february, 2021 just days after that speech, i said i would back whoever the republican nominee was. Why . And that of course, became because hes putting party before country. Thats what hes doing. Party before personal pride too. Thats an old custom that i understand when its george h. W. Bush or Ronald Reagan or john mccain. Mitt romney pick whoever. Bob dole. George h. W. Its not that high. This is a man who may face federal prosecute because of a coup against the government, and maybe you could change the tradition for this one case. Hes not doing it for the country. If he only cared about the Republican Party, he would have spoken out and said, we got to get rid of trump long along even if he wanted to sacrifice himself just for his party, i mean why not do that . We have to just try to balance things as we always do, we have somebody here from a remote location thats going to be defending not only Mitch Mcconnell hold on. Lets try that again. Cut that. Cut that. Well do that okay. You know we try to be fair. Were cutting that out, right . Yeah. Okay. You know we always try to be fair here at morning joe, and we have sam stein. He believes what Mitch Mcconnell did was quite a proud, honorable, manly thing. Sam, explain. Sorry, what . A true patriot. A true patriot. The paul revere of our day. I appreciate the setup. Thank you. Look. Im not toally surprised. I dont think we are surprised by this. This is coming a long way away. He said he would support the nominee. It was baffling to a degree precisely because of the criticisms he had already registered. Look. Theres really nothing more to add on what you are saying. Republican political politics is basically dictated by a fear of trump and his base, and i think thats the Fair Assessment throughout this, and frankly if you are being utterly cynical about it, you know, the people who have stood up to trump, who have followed their personal convictions, have paid a political price for it mostly. Those who voted to impeach him in the house, the republicans, many of them, if not all, have been ousted. The people who voted for conviction have either left or are leaving or are now, you know, scampering away, and mcconnell, what stood out to me about mcconnell is all the things you said, but also the fact that this guy is a selfproclaimed institutionalist, and what he did after january 6th is he took the political power that he possessed, and he forfeited it. He just said, im not going to use it. Ill kick it to a Different Branch of government, the judiciary, and ill let them decide, and heres a man who was known to be sort of a Ruthless Practitioner of politics, utterly powerful, and in that particular moment, he decided just to not use it and i thought that was an extraordinary decision on his part, and ultimately were now left with him leaving leadership and trump potentially sending back to the white house. The sad part is the inevitability of all of this. He wasnt alone yesterday. Joni ernst endorsed donald trump. We heard a speech back in February Of 2021. Just a little over a month after january 6th, where he said donald trump could face and should face criminal prosecution. President trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen. Unless the statute of limitations has run, hes still liable for everything he did while he was in office. He didnt get away with anything yet. Yet. We have a criminal Justice System in this country. We have civil litigation, and former president s are not immune from being accountable about either one. How do you reconcile your trump endorsement with the fact that you called him practically and morally responsible for january 6th and the fact he insulted you and your wife repeatedly . After the attack on the capitol, i was asked a similar question, and i said i would support the nominee for president even if it were the former president. Leader mcconnell, in april of last year, you indicated and didnt really directly answer the question as to whether or not you were comfortable with mr. Trump if he was in the middle of criminal trials and indictments if he was the nominee. Now that means youre comfortable with it. I dont have anything to add to what i just said. I said in February Of 2021 shortly after the attack on the capitol that i would support President Trump if he were the nominee of our party and he obviously is going to be the nominee of our party. So george, to answer your previous question, Mitch Mcconnell is 82 years old, and likely out of leadership and likely out of the United States senate. He had a lot to lose, and there could be a moment where you show a little bit of courage. Its not really courage he really was other than the acquittal that day, he was a patriot that day by calling out donald trump, and i think he truly believed that he didnt have to take the step of barring trump from public office, but it didnt work. So why not as a parting shot, not for himself, but for country and even his own party, say, this is a bad thing . I just it is beyond my comprehension. I mean, look at nikki haley over the last few weeks, okay . I mean, shes not perfect. I mean, she could double back any time, but, you know, there were certain she seemed liberated. She seemed happier to be able to speak truth, not the full truth, but she was getting there. Shes leading people toward the truth, and its liberating. But where does that story end . I, you know i hope nikki has become liberated and understands the Republican Party that i used to be a member of desperately needs somebody like her carrying the torch in these dark times, but what are the odds that at the end, she will find her way to endorsing donald trump even after and it will show, even after the insults continued last night . It doesnt look good. We almost need a psychologist here at this point. Oh, we do. To understand how an 82yearold man like Mitch Mcconnell feels the need to continue to express this fealty to someone who has done nothing but destroy the country and institutions that Mitch Mcconnell has served. Yeah. And im honestly to the point where i just want to say, what is it . Is it about money . Are you trying to make money when you leave office . I mean, youre 82 years old. Is it you want to be friends with the trumpers in the country club and you dont want to be shunned . To justify your decisions . Thats lindsey. I remember john mccain telling me near the end of his life, he said, you know, weve already lost lindsey. This was actually maybe not i think this was in february of, was it 17 maybe . And he said, lindseys just so excited to golf with the president of the United States and do anything, but Mitch Mcconnell, he aint going golfing, so why . Its not like he doesnt understand history. He knows how he will be painted in history. He knows how trump will be painted in history. Does that not matter, what your children and grandchildren and people think of you after youre gone . Its also just its embarrassing i think for all americans to see this. This is not what we want from people who are supposed to be sering were supposed to be different in some way. Its not supposed to be about some cult personality. No. I think people like Vladimir Putin will be watching this with a smile. Do you know who else will . Donald trumps guest at maralago toda or friday. Hell be looking at it and as donald trump tries to model himself into a position to be the next orbon right here at the United States. When we come back, we will show you Donald Trumps response to nikki haley saying, hey. Maybe donald trump, maybe you can work to gain some of my supporters as you move towards the november election. Donald trump, his response, more insults. Well show you when we return. Re insults. Well show you when we return. E. Each day is a unique blend of people to see and things to do. Thats why you choose glucerna to help manage blood sugar response. Uniquely designed with carbsteady. Glucerna. Bring on the day. When moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis takes you off course. Put it in check with rinvoq, a oncedaily pill. When i wanted to see results fast, rinvoq delivered rapid symptom relief and helped leave bathroom urgency behind. Check. When uc tried to slow me down. I got lasting, steroidfree remission with rinvoq. Check. 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Glenn close . with millions of possibilities you can book whoever you want to be. Thats my line booking. Com booking. Yeah why choose a sleep number smart bed . Can i make my side softer . Booking. Com i like my side firmer. Sleep number does that. The queen sleep number c4 smart bed is only 1,599, save 300. Shop now at sleepnumber. Com President Biden and former President Trump both had huge nights. Yep. Its pretty much certain were going to have a rematch of biden and trump. The only thing that can stop them is a flight of stairs. Both guys came in with Victory Parties made of shredded classified documents. It was touching. Nikki haley officially suspended her president ial campaign. Heres the good news for haley. Shes only 52, which means he can run for president at least eight more times. If you do the math, he might be right on that. Jimmy fallon upstairs here. A november rematch for donald trump and joe biden essentially set. Nikki haley decided to step out. She did not endorse donald trump in her speech yesterday. One big question is now though, where will her supporters go . Haley says that is up to donald trump. It is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and i hope he does that. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away, and our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing. How did he choose . That was nice outreach. Thats very nice. This is a time you can grow your base. Well, donald trump responded during haleys speech while she was saying that with this on truth social. Quote, Haley Got Trounced in recordsetting fashion. He then invited her supporters to join the maga movement. He said, anybody that tributes to haleys campaign will be permanently barred from the maga camp. However, joe biden said, donald trump made it clear he does not want nikki haleys supporters. I want to be clear. Theres a place for them in my campaign. I hope and believe we can find Common Ground. The Democratic National committee have been reaching out to haleys donors. The Biden Campaign has been studying her performance watching the more moderate and independent voters who say they will never vote for donald trump. On super tuesday, the Biden Campaign focused on where those voters are located to target them, potentially persuade them to vote blue this november. It was a pretty sizable margin depending on the state. Obviously she won vermont, but even in places she lost 20, 30, 40 of Republican Voters and a big percentage of those saying they will never vote for donald trump. So will they go out and vote for joe biden . Will they stay home . Thats whats Up In The Air right now. I mean, sam, really if you are an incumbent, donald trump is basically a threetime incumbent now. A bleak, bleak message losing 20 , 30 , 40 of primary voters before you go into a general election, and yet the media seemed transfixed over the uncommitted in michigan or wisconsin or whatever. Numbers were about the same as barack obama before he pronounced mitt romney. What do you make of how each of these candidates go into the general election . I mean, i think they each have their own set of vulnerabilities, right . Trump, its fairly obvious nothings really changed in terms of the script. He does very little to expand his coalition and say, hey. Were trying to reach out to black hispanic voters. Were trying to reach out to union voters, but more or less stylistically, hes not going to soften the edges. He assumes republicans will go back home and hell do little to win over those who gravitate towards nikki haley. With biden its a different case. For him, theres a lot of angst among the progressive base. Thats fair to say. Theres a lot of angst over his handling of the Israel Hamas War, but he has made and hell continue to make overtures to expand toward those nikki haley voters and hes trying to soften his approach to the war in gaza in an effort to round out his support among the base, and i think its stylistically its like totally different president s going at it and its to be seen how the coalitions are built. So biden has to bring voters home. He needs to bring young voters home. He needs to bring people of color home that may have faded maybe 10 , 15 . Obviously israel gaza is having an impact. What does joe biden need to do between now and labor day to start consolidating that base . I thought a lot about this. I have been traveling, talking to voters in several states, and its clear he needs to be much more visible. He needs to be talking not only about his victories, and hes got a lot of accomplishments to discuss, but also telling voters he understands their frustration. He understands their weariness. He understands that for some of them, the economy is not so great right now. The rent is high. Wages still havent caught up with inflation. He needs to speak to that. People are still paying a lot of money in Student Loans, if you are a younger american. Weve talked about this on the show. If you are under, you know, 40, 45 years old, you know, youre starting to wonder, can i afford to have kids . Can i afford to buy that house . So hes got to really speak to those concerns, and then, of course, hes got to be able to speak even more movingly about the plight of palestinians, i believe, and what hes going to do to ensure that their human rights are protected alongside israelis, and i think hes started to do that, but he needs to be louder. Right. Much louder. The president has an opportunity to do that tonight in the State Of The Union. Hes spoken very little about gaza. I think that will change tonight as he tries to frame whats going on there. Ceasefire talks are broken down there in cairo, so they might not get there in time for ramadan as they had hoped. The president has been on the road more lately. He knows tonight is a chance to show vitality for the job. We see the polls about his age, and i think tonight, certainly hell draw contrast with donald trump, whether or not he mentions trump by name, but he also needs to make a positive case for the next four years, and thats something that some democrats say isnt really done. How would you recommend it . I just think i agree with Everything Mara said. Hes got to be empathetic. Hes got to be himself. He, i think at the end of the day, he doesnt have to do a hard sell and he doesnt he does have to get out there. He just has to be normal, and the reason thats all he really has to do is trump won in 2016 because hillary was the issue. Trump lost because he was the issue, and trump will lose again because he will be the issue. He will make himself the issue. He cannot help but make himself the issue, and what biden needs to do is just basically say, that guys crazy. He doesnt have to refer to him by name. He just has to say, the guys nuts. Lets be normal, america. Thats the theme of this campaign, i think. Coming up, the United States military has flattened targets in yemen, but militants there continue to attack ships in the region now with deadly results. Richard haass weighs in on the escalating conflict when morning joe returns. Escalating conflict when morning joe returns. vo 26 people will go allin. woman yes vo this family will get two bathrooms. And finally, one vacationer will say. man yeah, woo, im going to live here. vo but as the euphoria subsides, the realization hits. man ive got to sell the house. all [screams] vo dont worry, just sell and buy in one move when you start with opendoor. woman oh wow. vo oh yes. Start with an allcash offer at opendoor. Com hi, im sally. Im from phoenix, arizona. 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I am, i cried can help you leave a legacy for the ones you love. [ laughing ] i am, said i and i am lost and i cant punch buggy red. Even say why i am, i said whoa, how did you defeat them . With a little kung fu strength and by connecting my devices to the most powerful force of all. Skadoosh. Hah, huh . Cool right . Amazing. Harness the power of xfinity internet and stay connected to the things you love. Ah, theyll be like this for hours. Hello dad, hello dad, hello da. Uhoh. Good bunnies. Ahh three sailors have been killed in a Houthi Missile strike in the gulf of adan. Four people were injured in yesterdays attack. Three of them now in critical condition. In a statement, u. S. Central command wrote in part, these reckless attacks by the houthis have disrupted global trade and taken the lives of international seafarers. This marks the sixth death since the houthis began launching attacks on ships over the what in gaza. They say this is part of the response to the American British aggression in our country. Theyre striking Houthi Infrastructure both on land and at sea back in january. Joining us now, president emeritus, richard haass, author of the weekly newsletter home and away. Its changed my life. Reverses male pattern baldness. Its helped my backhand in whatever whats that game you play . Pickleball. Pickleball. Who plays that . Doesnt somebody play that . Its the hottest thing. Thats what everybody keeps telling me. Its like whiffleball tennis. Why dont you just play tennis . That requires athleticism. Speaking of whiffle ball, if we move this stuff out, home plates actually over here. Yep. Thats the monster over there. First, second. This is easy. All right, alex. Well have a whiffle Ball Tournament in here when should we do that . Opening day . Opening day. We have four hours. We could have a full nineinning game. We can come play, like, nerf Football Championship this way. Thats fine. Well check our insurance provider. A lot of pentup frustration right now. So richard, home and away, its changed my life. Thats good. I hope your life needed something. Whats happening, richard with this ceasefire . We may have wanted it too much, or maybe i read that in home and away. You might well have. I think the houthis arent really interested. Stay with me, richard. Were moving. Its not always what the pictures show. Sometimes you have to listen to what i say. Do i have to . You do if you want to stay on morning joe, my show. So what about hamas clarified that. Hamas, we were talking about this before. Its kind of hard to have the ceasefire with a Terrorist Organization, when the Terrorist Organization wants the ceasefire more than they do. You also think about hamas their modus operandi. What do they do . They have had quite many civilian deaths and in this case, what would be better than during ramadan, to put the situation, where there are pictures throughout the arab world, showing muslims, palestinians being attacked during the holiest month of the year. From hamas point of view, why necessarily would a ceasefire now be desirable . Also again, it underscores, hamas took the hostages. This wasnt a sideshow. This was a central part of their strategy. They had studied israeli history, and saw how much hostages mattered, and put pressure on the government, and they see this as their biggest leverage. Its not going to happen. This is a long war. This is not about to end, whether you get a ceasefire now or at some other point. At most, its going to be temporary. I think, joe, were going to be talking about this not for weeks, but for months or even longer. So whats left in the toolbox for the Biden Administration. Obviously being criticized for whats happening inside of gaza, putting pressure on Prime Minister netanyahu. They started these air drops and they can say the humanitarian aid in the House Of Representatives. What might he say about it . The air drops are quite literally a drop in the bucket. You cant feed millions of people by meals ready to eat. Its symbolic more than anything. The most important thing is what the president says tonight and subsequent public statements. Does he signal some real differences in American Foreign policy, some real distance between the United States and israel . Does he condemn the ongoing settlement construction in israel which is fore closing diplomatic solution down the road . Theres less and less territory to put into that palestinian state. Why wouldnt you do that . Why wouldnt he do that . Why wouldnt he criticize lets talk about the west bank, and call the settlements what they are, illegal settlements that have been going on now for years deliberately meant to undermine a twostate solution. Why shouldnt he say that in the clearest, most unequivocal terms . He absolutely should. The United States has looked the other way too long, and the israelis have been doing this, and doing this, and youre right. We should call it out for what it is, and we should start thinking about ways to back up those words. The Previous Administration i think i have this right. We stopped labeling goods coming out of the occupied territories. We they come from israel. Why dont we say they come from the occupied territories . The goods that are exported to the United States, why dont we put a special tariff on them . Why do we want to encourage them . We should condition military aid. We should say, either we dont send large ordnance or say, israel, you cant use it in population centers. Why dont president s start articulating the parameters of a peace plan and go to the United Nations . You know, joe, for years and years and years, the fundamental document that guided all peacemaking was u. N. Resolution 242 after the war in 67. Why dont we update it . Why doesnt the United States start articulating what ought about the parameters and principles on both sides . Israelis and palestinians alike, that order shape, the next year of peacemaking . Why doesnt the United States work with the saudis, uae, the uae, jordan, and other arab neighbors who want piece there, peace there, and instead of reacting, jonathan, and always voting no to someone elses u. N. Resolution, we put a tough one on the floor ourselves that we can vote yes for. Yet to this point, the Administration Simply hasnt been willing to cross that bridge. Maybe that will change. Why is that . The president s instinct has been to side with israel, something for decades. Of course, we can side with israel, but we dont have to side with Benjamin Netanyahu doing whatever we can do to stay in office. This is about him holding onto power. If it had anything to do with israeli security, these extra steps, i would be supporting him, but this is not about israels security. This is about netanyahus power, and his security from prison. I mean, thats a decision from the president himself to not do that just yet. Maybe that will change. Maybe that will be the State Of The Union. Now its the private pressure. He has not gone after netanyahu like this. The ceasefire talks will pick up. Richard, can we shift to ukraine . Just yesterday, a Russian Missile strike in odesa came within a couple of yards of hitting president zelenskyy as well as the Prime Minister of greece, a nato country. What does the president need to say tonight . Theres ukraine aid bogged down in the house. How does he make that case to the American People . I dont know what he can do, you know, that he hasnt. Traditionally in foreign policy, the executive branch, the president has enormous leverage of latitude for better and for worse. This is one of those one of the rare cases you cannot do American Foreign policy without the congress. You cant provide the aid because its got a price tag on it. I think he just has to keep talking about it and educate and remind people of why this matters and also, i think, attack the underlying isolationism, the idea that what were spending on this is small, that the percentage that we spend on our of our gdp, we spend on National Security is about half the cold war average, that our problems here at home are not because of were not spending. He needs to attack the Isolationism Writ large, and what weve done in the world is a good investment for us, and he has to talk about russia and ukraine, that if we dont do something here, were undermining the cause of freedom, were undermining the reputation of the United States and were sending Vladimir Putin a signal that europe is his, and i think the president ought to talk in really stark terms about this. Going back to gaza for a moment, Many Americans are frustrated and want to see President Biden take a much harder line with bb netanyahu, yet as jonathan pointed out a moment ago, hes chosen the president has chosen to take a more private route. Is there any sign that that private pressure is working . How do you measure that . The only thing weve seen at the margins is the israelis will allow a little bit of aid in. To answer your question, essentially not. Its hard. Joe asked a question ago, why isnt the administration being tougher . Its hard psychologically for the president generationally. He is of an age. Think of the politics half a century ago. I get it. It was david. It wasnt goliath. Joe biden became a senator just a couple of years after the sixday war. Israel was seen as, you know, he had all the arab armies against him. I think its hard for him to pivot. Where to many, israel is seen as goliath more than david. Its tough. You think of the time. It was 67. It was 72 in munich, assassinaing the olympic athletes. You had 73, and so that was bam, bam, bam for a lot of people of that age, and some of us, younger. Yeah. The First Impression of what are palestinians . That was the framing, and i will tell you, that was the framework for decades. Exactly. And he lives under that frame well its a generational thing. For people in their 20s and 30s, the only thing theyve really known is bb netanyahu. Right. And the Israeli Government thats not interested in peacemaking, interested in settlementbuilding, and attacking civilians in a cavalier way, and its a generational divide. What worries me, if you care about israel and you care about this relationship, how shortsighted is this Israeli Government . Coming up, we lay out five things President Biden needs to do at the State Of The Union. Susan page joins us with her list when morning joe comes right back. Er list when morning joe comes right back why choose a sleep number smart bed . Can i make my side softer . I like my side firmer. Sleep number does that. The queen sleep number c4 smart bed is only 1,599, save 300. Shop now at sleepnumber. Com heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. Without the stuff you dont. So, heres to now. Boost. This looks like an actual farm. It looked cute on the app. meanwhile, at a vrbo. 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Everyone who handles a gun learns the number one rule is you never point a gun at something you dont want to destroy. But on a movie set a gun is not a gun. A gun is a prop. A gun is a toy. I dont want to sound glib, because guns are not toys. If youre told something is not a gun and youre handed it and youre an actor, youre told to believe this is not a gun. If this is a Science Fiction movie and youre handed a ray gun, you would similarly believe its not going to shoot a laser once i pull the trigger. Alec baldwin gave an interview where he made two really, really bad statements. Number one is i didnt pull the trigger. Central in this case is going to be a lot of technical stuff about how these colts have a half cock and a full cock. Alec baldwin said, i, as a smart actor, know that i would never, never point a gun at anyone. This was really stupid. I tell you why. He should have sat back on the idea that im just a dumb actor. If this is a 12yearold actor on some other set. They would never be blamed if a prop they handed them told them it was not a gun. But he said, i would never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger. Bad. Instead say, im just an actor, me know nothing. Even in this trial theyre calling baldwin a prima donna who ignored the rules of the movie set and didnt listen. Well see how the trial goes in july. Coming up, well speak with the father of an american hostage held in gaza as ceasefire talks in israel and hamas appear to be falling apart. To be falling apart. 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. 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Not to be outdone tj maxx announced theyre launching a new fight club. Wow. Welcome to the fourth hour of morning joe. Its 6 a. M. On the west coast, 9 a. M. In the east. That was deliciously random. We like that. Its great. I think that illustrates where this hour is headed, random, but entertaining, we hope. President biden is set to deliver the third state of the Union Address where hell lay out the issues facing voters ahead of the general election. Gabe gutierrez reports from washington. Reporter with the race for the white house kicking into high gear after super tuesday, this morning President Biden is preparing to deliver perhaps the most significant address of his presidency. The president will outline an agenda that is building on the progress we have made over the last three years. Reporter the president expected to hammer several themes in the state of the Union Address, improving the economy, reproductive rights and preserving democracy. Despite trailing mr. Trump in recent polls on securing the border, President Biden is expected to highlight his immigration policy. Still, he faces a slew of challenges as election season ramps up, persistent concerns about his age, the Israel Hamas War and high food prices due to inflation. Check my office. Ill give you a copy of the proposal. Reporter last year, some republican members of Congress Interrupted his address. This year, the white house says you saw him literally do that last year. Reporter the stage coming as the general election rematch takes shape after donald trump won almost every super tuesday state, his rival nikki haley suspended her campaign. It is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. I hope he does that. Reporter the former president securing the endorsement of Mitch Mcconnell, who had sharply criticized him over his conduct on january 6th. Recent polls show mr. Trump leading President Biden within the margin of error and after skipping gop primary debates, mr. Trump is calling on President Biden to debate him any time, anywhere, any place. Hes the worst president in the history of our country. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez reporting. Joining the conversation this hour, Washington Bureau chief at usa today susan page, former msnbc host Chris Matthews and staff writer at the Atlantic Mark leibovich. Chris matthews, what does joe biden need to do tonight . Hes going to face the enemy. Clearly we have watched Mitch Mcconnell and Lindsey Graham and you talked about it this morning. Everybody in this audience is magaed up. Totally with maga. Theyve all agreed to endorse trump. Theyre going to be adamantly opposed to anything on the border. Any time the president takes any kind of shot at the republicans for not supporting the deal they original were for at the leadership level, hes going to get attacked. Its going to be a brutal night for him. These guys are in the tank with trump all the way, and theyre going to show it tonight. I think its going to be like adam schiffs victory speech the other night in california. Theres going to be a lot of heckling. Its going to be very difficult for the president. Susan, youve written that the president needs to do five things. Tell us about those. Some of them are standing up to his opponents, as chris just said. One of them is demonstrating his own vigor, his mental acuity. He did that last year with that exchange that you showed part of just a moment ago where he took advantage of republican heckling. He turned that to his advantage last year. A moment like that would serve him well tonight. He also needs to kind of reset where he is on immigration. We now see immigration outdistancing the economy as the issue that is top on voters minds. At the moment, donald trump has Something Like a 30point advantage in handling immigration. President biden needs to show that he has policies on immigration that will do more to secure the border. I believe were going to hear some of that tonight. Mark, youve written about this town. This is one of the key events in washington, d. C. You never really know how these things are going to go. From my personal experience, bill clinton came in and for the first year he talked about school uniforms. We all laughed. It worked, that line. He said the next year the era of Big Government is over. We laughed even harder. It connected with a lot of working class and middle class voters. And then im sure you remember this. Sort of the peak of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he went and delivered the State Of The Union. Hillary clinton got a rousing ovation. Bill clinton got a rousing ovation by democrats. Again, every time bill clinton rose to the occasion, some of those speeches were so long i would leave, go into the cloak room, sleep for 45 minutes, come out. Hed still be going i said this cant work. Its so unpredictable. Thats really the last big bully pulpit. Bill clinton figured out a way to make it work for him. What does joe biden need to do this year . Whats interesting about the State Of The Union is its been a set piece for a long time. In more recent years its become more chaotic and unpredictable. Biden can do that so that sort of couples with the whole, well, the president has to show vigor, which in itself becomes a part of the narrative. One, biden hasnt said much publicly. This has been looked to like hes been saving up a lot of his message for tonight. And, two, can he parity the unpredictable things coming from the audience . As i said recently, the decor decorum of letting the president speak has been lost. There have been more rogue actors in the gallery and you never know how its going to look. Many of these people exist to heckle. Jonathan, lets talk about the objective here for the white house. This is not supposed to be a political speech. This is the annual address about the State Of The Union. But it is the biggest audience that the president will have now as weve turned the corner after super tuesday to what clearly is a twoman race. It will implicitly be a political speech. Chris matthews, it comes just two days after donald trump locked up the gop nominee. Just needs a few dozen delegates to go to make that official. How would you recommend biden deal with the elephant in the room, which is donald trump. Should he call him out by name . Does he go after him directly, or does he talk more obliquely and try to create a contrast between him and his november foe . You know, i wish lgic would work. Mitch mcconnell said all the right things after january 6th, about how the police were attacked from this mob, how it was an insurrection, how there was criminality involved. All that truth came out. Where did that truth go . If he could somehow bring back that truth of the attacks on the cops and the way they were treated in this moment of insurrection. I think he has a moment here to teach people in their own words really what they believe themselves, that they were running for their lives, not just mike pence and nancy pelosi. I wish mitt romney was out there speaking tonight, but theyre afraid. I think he has to call them out and get the people to think who are these people that represent us, are they leaders, are they followers . Are they just following trump . I wish he could talk to them. I was thinking the hardest thing about giving the State Of The Union is who are you talking to . When you talk on television, you sort of know who your audience is. Youve sort of gotten to know it over the years. Who is that person youre talking to . Its not a billion people. Its not 123 Million People like at the super bowl. Its somebody you know thats not too smart about the details but is a smart person. Always overestimate the brains of your audience and underestimate the knowledge they have. Help them a little bit on the knowledge. Speak to them as if theyre intelligent. We all know what happened on january 6th. Talk to those people as if it happened. I wouldnt be branching off into 40 different issues in this speech. Our constitution was a threat and these people in this audience are going along with the guy who caused the threat. I know its going to be tough. Hes going to have opposition out there. He has to talk truth to the American People. If biden gets reelected, its because we remember january 6th. I really think its that. Its not going to be gun control or something else. Its not about the border. These people want their jobs so bad theyll say anything to keep their jobs. Its just like in profiles in courage. They love being u. S. Senators. Theyll do anything to keep those jobs. He has to somehow get that truth out. These people in the audience here have been bought and paid for, because they love their lifestyle. Somehow talk to them. I dont know if theyll even admit what he was talking to, but the American People need to be reminded of january 6th. Willie, from the president s Vantage Point when hes speaking tonight, it would be really easy for him to point directly ahead of him, say i am staring right now in front of me at the very doors that rioters tried to break through to kill members that are inside this chamber. We can never forget how far weve come as a nation since those rioters tried to break through those doors that members, republicans and democrats alike and capitol security guards were pushing furniture up against there to try to stop the rioters from coming in and killing elected members of congress. And since that time, not only have we had a revitalization in democracy, but weve done something that hasnt been done in 50 years. Weve had unemployment below 4 . You just go down that list. And say the State Of The Union could be better but its pretty darn good and its actually great compared to what it was just three short years ago. Its such a contrast. His speech is right in front of him and those doors where guns were drawn and where republican members were yelling at him to back up and who now, of course, have completely changed their tune. But that was the scene. That was the scene that donald trump left america on his way out of the white house. Fears of covid, just a crippling recession, unemployment high and just one crisis after another. My gosh, what a contrast between where we were and where we are now. And how striking, as chris says, that many of the men and women in that room who knew their lives were in danger that day will be sitting here tonight supporting, having all endorsed donald trump, the man who sent the rioters to the capitol, the man most responsible for that day. Mitch mcconnell endorsed him yesterday. Governor youngkin of virginia from the outside endorsing him. The party is falling back in line with the man who brought us all of this. Speaking of that race now with nikki haley having dropped out yesterday, there are questions about where her voters will end up. Mark thiessen argues in the washington post, trump need haley voters to win back the white house. The issue facing him is not never trump voters, it is not trump again voters who are open to his policies and might have voted for him before but dont like how he behaved particularly after the 2020 election and supported haley in the primary. Trump has to go out and persuade them. Trump cant take back the presidency without bringing the notmaga republicans into his fold. We heard yesterday after nikki haley dropped out of the race, the Biden Campaign very quick to begin to court some of those voters who said i will never vote for donald trump. I voted for nikki haley. I know she lost. Im not voting for donald trump. Biden making a play for that set of voters. I think the contrast and the reaction is how President Biden needs to proceed, including the speech tonight and that hes one that wants to be a unifier. Hell take the high road and let the contrast be that trump cant get over his own ego and his own need to say malicious things and dismissive things. I couldnt agree with joe more. He needs to talk about what happened in that room. One of the things i learned as a preacher, if youre doing a sermon thats broadcast, dont preach to the 300 people in front of you. He needs to talk to america. Using the Marjorie Taylor greenes and others as a backdrop, and if they start acting up, ropeadope them and you keep speaking to the masses about what you want to accomplish and the contrast will destroy them. He should almost hope they disrupt so he can show hes the adult in the room and he knows how to handle naughty children and will send them to daycare sooner or later, i want to take care of america. Talk to the millions of americans, dont talk to those misbehaving children in congress in front of you. It would be hard for me not to mock those republicans that were running for their lives on january 6th. Pictures of many of them crouching down in the seats, worried about their life are here as we see pushing back at rioters who were trying to break in, telling them what a disgrace they were, now, of course saying oh, its much ado about nothing. This is a scene that of course maga republicans, extreme maga republicans are quite fine with. I guarantee you people in the suburbs arent. Im not saying to just focus on january 6th, but youre sitting there in that chamber and what a great contrast about america on january 6th and america after january 6th, how far joe biden has taken this country, taken this economy and, yes, even taken the presidency where you no longer have a president who looks at violence being committed in his name in front of a tv set for hours and refuses to call off rioters who were trying to kill nancy pelosi, trying to kill mike pence, trying to kill members they get a hold of. Yeah. I mean, january 6th creates all kinds i hate to say it, but its a really compelling contrast for what biden wants to do tonight. On one hand, you have the profiles in cowardice who will be right in front of him in the room. You also have the enduring image of the president sitting in his dining room eating a cheeseburger and doing nothing on january 6th. It creates a contrast. Literally the country that donald trump left behind in January Of 2021 was i mean, store fronts were closed. You had 25,000 National Guard troops in the streets protecting the capitol from the president s own supporters. They werent just rioters, they were the president s own supporters. As much as you can put in the speech as a contrast to the normalcy that joe biden has presided in the last years, i think he can be very effective and also without hitting everyone over the head with these atrocious memories, really assert these people caused this chaos and this is the person who knows what hes doing. Show the clips of january 6th again. Right there, thats Donald Trumps america. Thats Donald Trumps riot. That was what donald trump wanted. He called into washington. He said come on january 6th, it will be wild. And then he gave a speech telling them they had to go up to the capitol, couldnt be weak. And then he tried to go up and there was an altercation in his car, because he wanted to go up and march on the floor with the rioters. He had his children. He had his staff. He had his lawyers. He had his friends on fox news telling him to stop this. And yet, what did we find out . He sat and watched this for almost three hours in the president s dining room, and he would actually stop and rewind so we could look at the most violent parts. Why am i telling you that today . Because there are millions and millions of people who are being told every day by donald trump and being told by Cable News Networks and being told by extremists that this was all much ado about nothing. No, no. This is the fact of the matter, that this was Donald Trumps america. This is what donald trump had brought america to after four years. Pretty damn easy to contrast where joe biden and the country is today economically, militarily, socially and politically compared to this, willie. Somewhere in those pictures, officer Michael Fanone is being beaten within an inch of his life and having a stroke as he pleads with those rioters to spare him because he has children, another cop being beaten with an american flag. That all happened in america based on a lie that trump shouted with a megaphone. And many of those people he will pardon if he is reelected and let them out of prison. It is these two men. It is a rematch. How are you viewing the way this is going to play out with some legal trouble mixed in for donald trump as well . Thats all true. I dont know how these cases are going to work out. Some of them may not even take place before the election. I tell you how brutal its gotten. This morning they ran one of those ads making fun of joe biden and how he fell on the stairs for air force one. They have Kamala Harris laughing in the picture while he makes his fall. This is going to be one brutal campaign. If youre at all hesitant about talking about january 6th, dont be hesitant. The Major Networks have to remind people thats the room where all hell broke loose, where people came in to kill congressmen. And mitt romney had to hide and an africanamerican guard had to misdirect the crowd away from them so he could survive. There was lifeanddeath business in that room. The other side is going to be vicious. Theyre going to have kamala laughing. This is going to be rough as hell. Its going to start tonight. I think biden has to go in there and recognize that some of the country is not going to be with him No Matter What he says, no matter how brilliant he is and no matter how logical. It doesnt matter to them. They are genuflecting to trump like some weird, strange kind of secular religion. Its popularity about the country club. Its about popularity back home in your districts. Its real. Its a real fight. Hes got to win it and he has to begin winning it tonight. Well be watching tonight. That Capitol Police officer eugene goodman, according to democrats and republicans, saved untold lives and bloodshed on january 6th. Chris matthews, mark leibovich, thank you for being with us. A long time republican who voted for donald trump twice now says he is no longer supporting the former president. Straight ahead on morning joe. Heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. Without the stuff you dont. So, heres to now. Boost. 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. Sleep more deeply. And wake up rejuvenated. Purple mattresses exclusive gel flex grid draws away heat relieves pressure and instantly adapts. Sleep better. Live purple. Right now, save up to 400 off mattresses at purple. Visit purple. Com or a store near you today. No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office. Part of the Closing Argument and a warning from former congresswoman liz cheney at the final january 6th Committee Hearing in december of 2022. Now cheney is launching a new pac called the great test. She explained on social media, quote, the gop has chosen. They will nominate a man who attempted to overturn an election and seize power. We have eight months to save our republic and ensure donald trump is never anywhere near the oval office again. Our next guest points to the events of january 6th, the work by that House Select Committee and the writings of liz cheney as reasons for abandoning donald trump. Jim young writes in a new piece, trump has somehow convinced millions of americans that he is a victim of political persecution by his opponent. The Committee Findings in the doj indictment, i do not understand how donald trump can possibly be considered as a legitimate candidate for the most important job in the world. Frankly, i dont understand how hes not in jail right now. I will go no further than to implore you before you cast a vote for donald trump, please take the time to read liz cheneys book, or the Committee Findings or the doj indictment. The future of our country depends on it. Jim, appreciate your time. Thanks for being with us. Explain a little bit of your personal history, because i think it is important and constructive. Conventional republicans. We understood what that meant from george w. Bush and romney and mccain all the way up the line to donald trump. You voted for him once. What did you see in 2016 . And ultimately, what flipped you the other way . I think donald trump did some things right in his first term. Whether he gets credit for it or should get credit for it or not in terms of a relatively stable economy, low inflation, reasonable regulatory environment, i would say. I think he probably deserves a little bit of credit for that. One thing i want to clarify is that as soon as i saw what happened on january 6th, i was absolutely appalled. I wrote donald trump off in my mind from ever wanting to support him again. But then just a couple of months ago i happened to pick up liz cheneys book. I actually downloaded it to my ipad and read the entire book. I was just so impressed with her presentation. She really goes into tremendous detail about the whole process of setting up the investigation committee. So i was very impressed with the book. I have a good friend who is a very successful attorney here in oklahoma city. We like to have friendly debates about politics from time to time. I told him about the book, told him that i wish i could contact liz and tell her how impressed i was with her book and her message, impressed with her, i guess her courage, her honesty, the way she laid out the argument against trump and how it just really confirmed and cemented in my mind just how serious a problem we have from a standpoint that this was Donald Trumps show, unfortunately. Its very frightening, frankly. I dont know how i can present any more clearly than joe and Chris Matthews did just a few minutes ago. I certainly cant compete with them. But that was the message. Her book was clearly important in my thinking process. Jim, susan page has a question for you. You have to stop and say were talking about liz cheney. Donald trump says shes the rino now, liz cheney, whose serve rating, im sure, is quadruple of what trump could be. Shes the outlier now. Hes from a pretty republican state. Oklahoma is pretty red. Im wondering, sir, if you think trump is unfit for the presidency and your choice is trump or biden in november, how will you vote . Will you vote for one of them or vote for a third party . Thats a really good question. I dont know the answer to it right now. It would be extremely difficult for me to vote for joe biden, frankly, but we cant have donald trump as president. We just cant. All right. The new piece for the oklahoman is titled, i voted for trump twice, liz cheneys book and the january 6th indictment changed my mind. Thank you for being with us. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you. You know, my brother was in a position where he voted for donald trump. January 6th changed his mind. Now, a lot of republicans ive talked to have been that way. You know, democrats will say youve got to vote for joe biden, right . Some people are just not going to vote democratic. They just arent going to do it. But what the Biden Campaign is counting on is, they stay home. Thats what beat donald trump in 2020, as the senator from wisconsin ron johnson, explained on hidden camera, that he got 56,000 less votes than all the other republicans on the ballot statewide and thats why he lost wisconsin. That will be the key, whether a lot of those Trump Supporters vote for biden or not, if they stay home or leave that top line empty, thats basically a vote for joe biden. Weve talked about that in these primaries, whether its beginning in iowa going forward, the turnout, the lack of enthusiasm in many places, his deepest supporters are with him. It remains to be seen if, given everything weve just discussed and the images of january 6th, if theyre willing to come back out for him this time. Every metric suggests the support for donald trump is less. Hes doing much smaller events. Its fundraising. Hes facing a real deficit in terms of cash on hand compared to what President Biden and the democrats have. We dont know the impact yet of the criminal trial coming in a few weeks, rev. They will not vote for donald trump, these republicans. Some of them between now and november may decide to hold their nose and do it anyway. But if enough of them stay home or a few of them brace for President Biden, thats enough for him to win. I think theres a real question how enthusiastic republicans are for trump. I think the key is in terms of a Biden Victory is that he must show how really across the line trump is to where many republicans, many that voted for trump before just i cant come out and vote. Im not going to vote for biden, but im not voting. If he could dampen some of that turnout and then work on the turnout of his base, bring back out people of color, blacks, young people and women. He needs to bring out his base and he needs to hope that the base that trump had continues to dwindle. The reason i say i agree with you, joe, is he doesnt want to convince people who never vote for him is he sacrifices his own base. He needs to stay with his base and just let people keep seeing trump for who he is, because many of those people are decent people who feel it would be an indecent thing to vote for donald trump. Right. I think chris was so right on that point. There are some people who are never going to vote for joe biden ever. Some people are going to stay with donald trump until the bitter end. Dont try to convince those people. Ive gotten quite a few texts. Chris matthews has talked about an ad the trump super pac has been running on joe biden regarding whether hes mentally fit to still be president. I suspect youre going to see a response from the Biden Campaign at some point showing him mixing up nikki haley and nancy pelosi and still thinking barack obama is president of the United States. I suspect i dont know. I wouldnt be going there if there was this clip of me out there. Well, there is. We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will [indiscernible] im sorry. I was on the phone. Could you play that again really quickly . We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will [indiscernible] oh. Okay. Youre really calling out somebody elses ability to complete sentences . That was like an episode, a medical episode. Wait a second. I just got a text. We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will [indiscernible] oh. [ laughter ] and you think joe biden is weak on this point . Let me tell you something. These are serious times. I will tell you i have known both of these gentlemen and known them pretty well for some time. I will tell you theres only one of the two that actually understands just how Dangerous Things are in the world right now, whether youre looking at whats happening in ukraine, Vladimir Putin wanting to sweep across eastern and central europe. You look at whats happening in israel and whats been happening since october 7th. Willie, these times call for steady hands. So many lives are on the line across the middle east, across europe, across the world. We have the threat of taiwan being invaded. This is no time to have people who, again, would sit and stare at riots for three hours. The world is too serious right now. The issues are too important. Listen to what the two men are saying, not how theyre saying it. Lets turn back to the news in just a minute here. Ceasefire hostage negotiations between israel and hamas have stalled. 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This morning, negotiations to release some of the remaining hostages have stalled. 134 people are still being held captive inside gaza. That includes eight americans. Joining us now, the father and stepmother of one of those israel american hostages, jonathan and jillian. Their 35yearold son was captured by Hamas Terrorists on october 7th while trying to protect his neighborhood. Tonight, jonathan and jillian will attend President Bidens state of the Union Address as guests of two members of congress. Thank you both so much for being with us. Were so terribly sorry for what youve gone through, this or ordeal of the last five months. What are you hearing from the state department about how your son is doing . Well, really the only thing we know about his condition is rather old information. In late november early december, there was a hostage release, about 100 hostages, women and children. Of those, 40 came from our kibbutz community. Some were able to tell us they had seen my son in the tunnels be belw gaza. If you could tell us a little bit about your thoughts on how the Israeli Government is handling the situation. Do you think enough is being done to prioritize bringing the hostages home . Are they able to be helpful to you in any way . Ill speak to you about the first part and ill have my husband speak to you about communication with the Israeli Government. There are a lot of players here and we are pushing every country, every player, anyone involved in the negotiations to do more, to do everything they can to bring all of the hostages home alive. At this point thats all that we can do is just keep pushing and advocating for the Israeli Government to prioritize the hostages, for the American Administration to keep pushing the issue of the hostages coming home and pushing that with hamas. You can speak to the issue of communication. Yeah. Look, the fact of the matter is that until all of the hostages, those that are still alive and we dont know. We dont know if our son is still alive and in what condition he is. But the job will only be done for the Israeli Government and for all of those who would like to see this crisis over and for the war to end, of course, it will only be done when all of them living and, unfortunately, deceased are back home. Its rather binary. The Israeli Government will have done enough when all of the hostages are home, regardless of the conduct of the war on the ground in gaza. Jonathan, this is conduct of ground in gaza. Jonathan and judy, this is susan page, were also sorry and we hope for the best for your son. Youre going to be at the state of the Union Address tonight, what would you like to hear from President Biden tonight . I think we want to hear what weve been hearing, and we want to continue to hear it. We want the issue of the he or she hostages, not just the american hostages, all of the hostages, we want that issue to be raised up front and center. We want to hear that they will be tireless, the American Administration, continue to be tireless in their pushing for negotiated, if its cease fire that requires the release of all the hostages, we want to hear that thats still a priority with the administration as its been since october 7th, which weve been really grateful for. Jonathan, theres really a stunning chapter to this story as well. The last time we spoke to you se gees wife pregnant with their couples third child. That beautiful baby since has been born. What can you tell us about the baby . Well, their third daughter is a marvel. She brings us little rays of light in this horrific time, but the name itself, her name itself i think is really its double edged because her name in hebrew means dawn. In some ways its hopeful for the future. But she was also named after the daughter of dear friends of ours who was murdered along with two siblings, their parents and the grandmother on october 7th on our kibbutz. So we embrace her. We love her. She joins our large and ever expanded family, and so its a blessing but also a reminder every day of what has been lost and what still needs to be done. I would only add, if i may, about the State Of The Union. I think its quite remarkable that of the seven families that are going to be represented there, all u. S. Citizens, the invitations that were issued are wall to wall from congressional members, and i think obviously the Biden Administration or it needs to be said, the administration itself has been remarkably transparent with us and helpful, but the fact that theres walltowall support amongst Congress People, enough so that even within our family there are vast differences in the political orientation of those Congress People who invited us, its a sure sign or as much of a sign as anything can be of the solidarity in congress and i hope among the American People for the beneath need to get these hostages home. The eight remaining americans there and the other 127 other hostages israel will never be whole again, and we cannot allow hamas to win this fight simply by having all of the hostages die in hamas captivity. Jonathan and jillian, obviously peoples Attention Spans are not as long as they used to be. Were in an age of social media where it seems that peoples Attention Spans about 14 seconds long. What would you what would you like americans to focus on, not just tonight while the speech is going on and were talking about your son and the other hostages, but in the coming days and weeks, what do americans need to focus on and keep close to their hearts about your son and the other hostages . Well, i would say this. It is on the one hand we feel a great deal of support from Congress People as weve said, from the administration, and from some groups. What i think we find strange is that there isnt more outrage in the american streets and among American People about what actually happened on october 7th. We can have our differing opinions about israels conduct of the war. Thats legitimate. Even within israel there are differing opinions about how the war is being pursued. That being said, the fact that there are eight Americans Still being held hostage and that free civilian people were ripped from their homes and young people ripped from a concert about love and peace by a savage Terrorist Organization and 1,400 people were slaughtered that day, i think that mere fact is it has to be it has to be in our consciousness because it is a very bad sign for all humanity if an event like that again regardless of what we think about the war its if an event like that is simply pushed aside and ignored because of preexisting opinions about the conflict in general in the middle east. This is really a watershed moment, i think, for the world that seeks some kind of justice and some kind of humanity. And if i could just add quickly, the word hostage or hostages can become we can become so numb to it. Its a word. Its a category. Its not real, there arent people connected to it, and i hope that people will really say their names, understand that these are individuals, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons. These are people who are real people who have real lives and real loved ones. Theyre not just a category of hostage, american, israeli, it doesnt matter. And that we need to keep that humanitarian understanding and issue really up and front in our hearts. And weve had that connection across positions, across political, the political spectrum. Weve had that ability to really connect with people when we look at it as a human issue. His name is sagui, hes within held for five months today. One of eight americans and 134 total hostages being held by hamas, jonathan dekelchen, and jillian, we continue to hope and pray for the safe return of your son. Thanks for being here today. Thank you. That does it for us this morning, we will see you right back here tomorrow morning. Jose diazbalart picks up the coverage after a quick final break. A quick final break. The aclu showed up. Various see you in court. The aclu already making good on that promise. The aclu is currently engaged in litigation. In response to a 2018 lawsuit filed by the aclu. The aclu is prepared to preserve our democracy and hold those who threaten our freedoms accountable. We will defend everyones rights. In court, in congress, in every statehouse, and in the streets. We are the American Civil Liberties union. American Civil Liberties union, inc. Is responsible for the content of this advertising. My name is marie. Im 49 years old and im a business owner. I own a lemonade and ice cream shop in florida, so i can feel and see that my lines have gotten deeper just from a year out in the sun. Im still marie and i got botox® cosmetic. I did not want a dramatic change. I wanted something subtle. And im really, really happy with the results. Its still me, but with fewer lines. 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