president abandoning ration persuasion for pure demagoguery. and to that president biden responded by saying, i like mitch. he s a friend. welcome back to morning joe this thursday, january 13th. jonathan lemire and michael steele are still with us along with joe, willie and me. president biden will attend a closed door democratic caucus lunch at the u.s. capitol to push senators into backing the party s two bills on voting rights and change the filibuster rule if needed. now former president barack obama is speaking out on voting rights in the first opinion piece he s authored since leaving the white house. the piece for usa today is entitled we need to follow john lewis example and fight for our democracy. and he writes in part, protecting our democracy wasn t always a partisan issue. the voting rights act was the result of democratic and