michigan school of public policy harold ford jr. good morning. political reporter for the washington post, robert costa and columnist for bloomberg view, making a special appearance this morning, al hunt. great to have you on the show. they had the time for ceremony. didn t want to do it anymore. put the number up on nebraska avenue but came back. give us your thoughts about sbig throughout the years. i think sbigniew brzezinski was probably the most insightful foreign policy thinker. when he left the carter administration, they were discredited. somewhat unfairly, but they were discredited and i think more than any of the other so-called wise men, certainly more than kissinger, gates and he has been
trip with the president. you had the former campaign manager and the hard-charging deputy campaign manager both at the white house sunday still at talks about coming in to be tough guys, in a way, on this russia pushback for the white house. al hunt, it s pure insanity. donald trump wrecking things left and right, tweeting, destroying relationships across the globe, firing james comey. gee wee just confirmed dubke is leaving. being self destructive. after things blow up, predictably, he turns around and starts blaming his aides and starts shooting at his aides. it s preposterous that nobody in this white house will say, i resign. this man is losing his mind. i was going to say, joe, i m the one person who was old
other than a few others. al wrote me a beautiful letter that reminded me of a moment years ago. we were it was summer and we were at the house in maine. and my father had an interview with al that was set up down at the hotel down by the water, which is kind of like a long walk. we re like, are you really going to do this? we re on vacation. we got down there and he got on the air with you, al i was helping adjust the wires and stuff and he starts to endorse barack obama. the first foreign policy i think the first person to endorse first major person. in summer of 2007 before anyone else did, and he did it with you. august 2007. mika, i asked him for an interview that week about some foreign policy crisis, probably iraq. i wasn t even told about the presidential race. you were up in maine. he had this incredibly talented technician crawling underneath the table. me. making sure the wires were correct and as a throwaway i asked him about the presidential
all this talk. and i pointed out all weekend about the shakeup. he never grew close to president trump. was only there a few months. a lot of things fluid right now in the west wing because the president hasn t made any firm decisions. a lot of people aren t entirely sure for financial reasons, personal, political reasons why they really want to come into this white house right now. the only way this white house will work, you know it, al knows it anybody that s been around washington knows it, you need the chief of staff that has the power to hire and fire. not the president. the chief of staff that has complete control of the white house and says to the president, i ll run the white house. you run the world. let s go. this president, like all presidents, is getting the white house staff he wants, not the one he needs. something robert costa said. zbig brzezinski s memoir power and principle. and they have to be willing to
speak truth to power. it s a good book. robert costa, stay with us. al hunt, thank you so, so much for being on this morning. thank you, al. still ahead on morning joe, president jimmy carter will join us live. plus i think he is the premier and most important threat more than isis. i think isis can do terrible things but it s the russians who are trying to destroy the very fundamental of democracy, to change the outcome of an american election. i view the russians as the far greatest challenge that we have. coming up, moscow s strategy in all of this. and france s new president not afraid to speak truth to power, whether it s traditional allies like the u.s. or rising adversaries like the russian. even when he s standing right next to vladimir putin. you re watching morning joe. doesn t look happy. we ll be right back.