Cincinnati bengals, who pulled off a stunning comeback against the kansas city chiefs. We also will tell you about the remarkable admission from donald trump as he puts in writing that he wanted mike pence to, quote, overturn the election. That after saying at a weekend rally, if reelected he would consider pardons for those charged in the january 6th attack on the capitol. Plus, another highprofile artist pulls work from spotify in protest of Podcaster Joe rogan. Now the streaming site says it is taking steps to address Covid Misinformation as rogan himself addresses the controversy. It is fascinating. You know, the rams also are going to be taking on the afc champion bengals after cincinnati. What an incredible game. Wow. They topped the chiefs at arrow head stadium. Kansas city owned the first half. They looked unbeatable for a Third Straight super bowl appearance. It looked like it was coming their way with touchdowns on the first three possessions. They couldnt be stopped. But the bengals erased an 18point lead and tied and nfc Title Game Record for the largest comeback, going three points up on a field goal late in the Fourth Quarter. The chiefs had a chance of winning with a touchdown in the closing seconds of regulation, but consecutive sacks forced them to settle for a field goal. The teams went into overtime, and like last week against the bills, kansas city won The Coin Toss to open the overtime period with the ball. The last time this franchise was in such a position, Louis Phillips dropped a similar chance. A pick of the next play with a Touchdown Pass. Now they go deep down the field and it is intercepted by donald. This time Patrick Mahomes is intercepted in the third place of the extra quarter and the bengals took over and marched into a position for a walkoff field goal to win, 2724. There it is. Unbelievable. It was crazy. I was watching you and jack and i dont know who was freaking out more. It was really unbelievable. This team, this game. Yeah. It was just the tale of two halves. I mean nfl playoffs have been extraordinary. Lets bring in the host of Way Too Early and white house chief at politico jonathan lemire, and sports writer, Tv Commentator and radio host, mike florio, creator of profootballtalk. Com. Lets start with the obvious, mike. The last two weeks have been the most incredible two weeks. Mike florio, lets start with the obvious. The last two weeks have been the most incredible in football. In my years of watching nfl Football Games, one game after another afternoon, all could be scripts for a movie. Yesterday, both games the same. Just extraordinary. Well, the concern for yesterday was after last weekend as great as it was that there would be a let down. We felt there would be a let down. Tom brady tried to up stage the game, but still by the end of the day they were more dramatic and fascinating than what we have seen. Every game, six out of six, all great games. Now we wait for hopefully a great super bowl. Mike, i was sure yesterday was going to be the exception. I was like, okay, you know what . Gravity caught up with the bengals in football reality. That first half, jack car scarborough have been looking forward to the game for several days, like everybody else. Right before halftime after the chiefs kept pounding the bengals, jack walked upstairs, he said, i need a break from this, this is getting too early. Then that touchdown, then the second half. I mean the bengals really turned around. I think the great mystery for me is how one of nfls best quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes, how he turned in such a terrible second half. It was so unlike this guy, who does not choke. Joe, he was awful the second half but, you know, maybe it was destiny for the bengals. I saw them last play in the super bowl in 1988 when, joe, another joe, montana, took the ball down field to beat them. Joe namoth burrow is the guy who walks into the room. He gets hurt and yesterday he comes back and he comes back against the chiefs the way they did earlier this month. For the first time the overtime world didnt bite somebody. Patrick mahomes threw an interception. He should have thrown an interception right before that. The bengals were down 213 right before half times, and the chiefs left some points on the board. They decided to go for a touchdown with no timeouts. They didnt kick a field goal. Joe, it came back to bite them later. Yeah, it really did. I do not believe again, teams are playing like they have 30 extra seconds in halftimes or end of games. That mistake at the end of the first half was you know, reminded me of what dak did at the end of the cowboys game against San Francisco. Take the timeout, kick the field goal, win the game. So, jonathan lemire, i think a lot of story lines but i think mike lupecka touched on it. Aaron rodgers is not the guy when you are in the playoffs that figures out how to win. Joe burrow is. Whether you are talking about joe namath, joe montana. For now why dont we just put joe burrow, not in that select club but certainly he has the lineage. Look at the kid, the look in his eyes. Look at him when hes in the huddle. He is going to figure out a way to win. It was an extraordinary performance by him yesterday against a great chiefs team. Yeah, considering the Punishment Burrow has taken the last few weeks it makes it even more impressive. Burrow has taken an extraordinary amount of sacks his first two years but he stayed in there. It was 2110 with a few seconds to go in the half. Chiefs had an easy three points. Youre up 14 and getting the ball to start the second half. Mahomes makes a bad decision here, keeps the ball in the field. Tyreek hill is tackled, they dont score, they get nothing. Bengals get some life. The second half was all cincinnati. Patrick mahomes, as brilliant as he is this is now the chiefs hosted four straight afc title games. It has never happened before. At the end of those four years, only one championship. A super bowl loss last year to tampa bay and he was terrible in the second half. Theres no way around it. He was terrible. The interception at the end felt like it was coming. He just missed a couple of picks on the play before. But give credit to the bengals, this could have been a happytobehere moment for them. They overachieved this year. Making an afc title game this soon in Burrows Development was a huge step forward but they werent satisfied. The defense played great, they kept mahomes in check the second half. Theyre a fun story, a team thats never won a super bowl. A lot of americans will be backing them in two weeks. Yeah. Mike florio, i want to get to the rams game but i just cant get passed how different these two teams were in the first and second half. Do you have any insight on why the chiefs were unstoppable in the first half and couldnt seemingly get a first down in the seconds . You know, joe, weve seen plenty of times over Patrick Mahomes career that the chiefs will score their points in bunches and then not score the rest of the game. Theyll score 28 points in the second quarter, not score again. They will score 30 in the second half where they scored none in the first half. Thats not uncommon. Now, something didnt seem right about mahomes in the seconds half. I went back and watched the seconds quarter. I didnt see him get hit, i didnt see anything happen that would suggest he maybe got injured in the first half. Theres talk the bengals had a plan to dramatically change their defensive approach in the second half. That requires careful film study to see how differently the bengals played the chiefs in the second half versus the second half. I think thats what people will look at. What did the bengals do differently after halftime . They waited a long time to make the switch but it worked. Patrick mahomes went from 18 for 31 with three touchdowns in the second half to 8 to 15 with no touchdowns in the second half. I love joe burrow, but that defense deserves a ton of credit for completely shutting the door, twice now in the month of january in the second half against the chiefs. January 2nd in cincinnati and then yesterday in kansas city. Yeah, the defense was incredible. Joe burrow certainly was the first to note that after the game. Mike lupicka, on to the second game, the nfc championship game. You actually had San Francisco, at least as far as i was concerned. San francisco looking like a team of destiny, coming back 170 against the rams, final game of the season, getting the playoffs in, winning at lambeau field. It looked like a team that could be the team of destiny, 107 in the first half when dominated but hollywood ending for the rams. Talk about it. You know, joe, we talked about this last week. I mean how many sunday did Matthew Stafford watch somebody else make the plays he has been making the last two sundays . Again, you guys are right. Six games the last two weekends decided by a total of 21 points, but the 49ers have them by ten in the Fourth Quarter and, there again, you saw some headscratching play calls when they had a third and two, still up 1714. They dont score, and then the thing turns around. I mean stafford throws the ball down the field to Odell Beckham jr. Oh, wait, remember him . Then theres a penalty and they make a 44yard play and all of a sudden they go down and set themselves up to win the game. You know, boy, mike florio knows, you talk about winnow teams. They traded about 9,000 Draft Choices to get themselves a chance to play a super bowl at home, and one more hollywood ending for now with Matthew Stafford. There he is on the field with his wife afterwards. The rams made themselves into a great story because tom brady thought he was going to make it to this weekend and he didnt and it is because stafford made a throw last week and and another one yesterday when he had to. Unbelievable. Mike florio, speaking of tom brady, What In The World is his future . All signs are pointing to tom brady retiring. Saturday ended up being an unexpectedly hectic an confusing day. Espn reported as fact tom brady is done. Brady says, not so fast, lets the buccaneers know he hasnt made a decision, his dad comes out and says he hasnt make the decision. I think tom brady wanted to make the decision and announce it on his own terms. I would be fascinating if he comes back and plays one more year out of spite, im rooting for that outcome, but it seems he is going to retire. It is going to be some point later. He didnt want to upstage the playoffs. I joked about it earlier. I think theres a reason there was dismay it got out when it did. But it is expected it will happen sooner than later. Mike florio, thank you so much for getting up. Thank you, mike. We greatly appreciate it. We look forward to talking to you soon. Mike lupicka, a little tennis being played down under. Talk about a new g. O. A. T. You know, all of the g. O. A. T. Conversation about tom brady over the weekend, joe, and then up saw one of the greatest Tennis Matches i have ever seen, more than five hours yesterday. Raphael nadel, 35 going on 36, joe, melbourne was his heartbreak place. He wasnt supposed to have this in him. He is down two sets to zero. He comes back and beats the guy who Beat Djokovic at the u. S. Open. It was his legacy match. For all of the Talk About Federer and nadel, this was Everything Nadel has ever been, a champion, a sportsman. I was trying to get people up to watch this yesterday because it was an extraordinary tennis moment. Joe, i was there at wimbledon with mcenroe played the tiebreaker match. Im telling you it was every bit as good and great a story yesterday from nadel. Unbelievable. Thank you very much. Were going to be talking a little bit later on in the show with the great mary carillo about all of this. What a great moment. A lot of sports to cover this morning but a lot of politics and whatever this is as well. Thank you so much, mike lupicka. Thank you, mike. Former President Donald Trump is providing new evidence to those investigating his efforts to overturn the election. It is pretty clear evidence. In a Statement Released last night, trump offered a rather stunning admission about what he expects from his Vice President , mike pence, On January 6th of last year. Trump wrote, quote, if the Vice President had absolutely no right to change the president ial Election Results in the senate, despite fraud and many other irregularities, how come the democrats and rino republicans like wacky Susan Collins are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the Vice President to change the results of the election . Actually, what they are saying is that mike pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didnt exercise that power. He could have overturned the election. Yeah. Yikes. Thats the quiet part out loud . Thats what everybody is saying that he did say the quiet part out loud. Jonathan lemire, the president of the United States deriding his Vice President for not overturning an election. Yeah, were more than a year, of course, since that january 6th and donald trump is making it plain as day what he wanted his former Vice President to do. It was interesting seeing, first of all, a, the response from republicans yesterday. A lot of them came out and said, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is not what were looking for here. This should not be what we want. Theres a lot of tense in the gop who want to turn the page to 2022, turn the page to 2024, they obviously feel good about the midterms this year and trump is stubbornly staying in 2020. This comes at a moment where, you know, he also says that he felt that if there were, quote, illegal investigations into him, he was calling for his supporters to have massive rallies across the country including in washington, d. C. The biggest rallies yet, even bigger than january 6th. This, of course, is dangerous on a couple of levels, joe. On one hand he is, as you might imagine, suggesting that any investigation into him was improper and illegal, much like when he was president. Any news story about him he didnt like he would just deem fake news. And to do so and to suggest that he would call for his supporters to march on those locations where the investigations are taking place or washington, d. C. , seemingly thats an act of intimidation, which is deeply concerning as well. Certainly the prosecutor in georgia who is looking into that case has already called for additional security for her and her staff. I think we may see more of the same. A dangerous moment, joe. Well, you have seen the rise of authoritarianism, and it is certainly what we all understand donald trump has been wanting to do for quite sometime. If you cant win an election, steal an election, overturn an election. Thats what he was saying, talking about from mike pence. Yeah, he said he actually said some things we havent been playing his rallies of late, but he actually said some things that were so inflammatory, mika, that you had republicans coming out and actually criticizing him and saying, hey, no, no, lets take a step back. We didnt want to overturn the election. We were just talking about having some of the votes recounted. But, again, donald trump is now speaking in shorthand, now saying what he really means. He wanted a free and Fair Election overturned. Why . Because he didnt win. And, again, his words have consequences. This new sort of almost fascist i dont know, do you say almost fascist after january 6th or do you say fascist . I think you go his fascist instinct to use violence to overturn government institutions, were actually seeing it at trump events where you have people asking, when do we start using guns. You are seeing it at forums. This past weekend i believe it was you had a Michigan Senate candidate telling people to bring guns to polling places. If they didnt win, they needed to be locked and loaded. Basically saying, if we cant win at the ballot box we are going to win by killing people. Then, of course, at the rally, the other rally he had, more concerning rhetoric even for republican senators. Yeah, at that rally in texas on saturday, trump said if reelected he said he would consider pardons for those charged in the january 6th attack on the capitol. If i run and if i win, we will treat those people from january 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. You know, just so were very clear what he is talking about. He is talking about pardoning people, some of whom have been charged by the federal government with sedition against the United States. Of course, he knows that because it is sedition that he encouraged. He is talking about pardoning people who beat the hell out of cops with American Flags and with trump flags, that jammed cops heads in doors, that used bear spray against Law Enforcement officers. It was one of the most grotesque, certainly around the capitol in washington that i have seen, grotesque use of violence, repeated violence against Law Enforcement officers. Thats who donald trump called patriots On January 6th, those who were beating the hell out of Law Enforcement officers with American Flags. Now he is talking about pardoning those same people, those same people who also have been charged with committing sedition against the United States, had Gun Stockpiles across the river in virginia that they were going to bring in and use in a final push On January 6th. Any republicans who were on the fence about how dangerous trump might be might want to consider what he said at this rally, including what appeared to be calling for more violence in the future across the country. Also, yesterday some republicans did respond, condemning the comments by trump. Well, i think it is inappropriate. I dont want to reinforce that defiling the capitol was okay. I dont want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future. I want to deter what people did On January 6th. Those who did it, i hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it. I do not think that the president should have made President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed. Folks that were part of the riots and, frankly, the assault on the u. S. Capitol have to be held accountable. Theres a rule of law. I dont care whether you are part of burning cities and antifa in 2020, you were storming the capitol in 2021, Everyone Needs to be held fairly accountable. Thats part of leadership. They shouldnt be pardoned . Of course not. No, no. There you have a republican governor with 70 Approval Rating in one of the most political states, swing states, new hampshire, saying they should not be pardoned. Thats irresponsible rhetoric. You have Lindsey Graham who has been by his side almost nonstop saying we want to deter what happened On January 6th and you have Susan Collins saying the same thing. We will take good news where we can find it and that is definitely good news. Absolutely. Lets bring in White House Reporter for the Washington Post, tyler pager, at that trump rally. Also Congressional Correspondent for the Washington Post, Jamie Almaney is with us. And president ial historian and author, michael bischoff. I would like to start with you, michael, In The Beginning of the biden presidency, what do you make of this in terms of the former president s reach . Are republicans going to be pushed to have to make a decision . I think they are. Mika, could you have imagined a year ago we would have to be sitting here this morning talking about a speech by donald trump nearly one year, or more than one year into joe bidens presidency . This was garden variety. You know, you guys were using the word fascism. This was fascism. This was authoritarianism. This is what authoritarians and autocrats do. They call for violence, they want to wreck institutions, they lie. Donald trump is no adolf hitler. No one is an adolf hitler, who is in a category of evil all his own, but yesterday in 1933 on that day, thats the day that adolf hitler came to power. He came to power in germany. He was handed the job of chancellor formally and officially by the president who said that hitler will behave. Hitler said, you make me chancellor, i will still clear of antisemitism. He actually said it. He said, i will govern sanely, i will govern constitutionally. All of these things are lies. You cant believe a word. All im saying, mika and joe, is that if you have donald trump even before a potential run for president in 2024 already dangling pardons in front of participants in january 6th who could get into trouble trying to get them on his side to make sure they dont say anything that incriminates him and threatening violence, thats an idea thats a preview of coming attractions when an autocrat speaks, listen. Jonathan lemire, we have to go back to first president ial debate where he said when he was asked to condemn the proud boys. He said, proud boys, what was it, stand by and stand guard. It was a real message that Something Like january 6th would be coming up if he didnt win. I think it was stand by, stand back but thats the gist of it. Certainly he has at times winked and nodded and other times far more explicitly called for violence, endorsed violence at his rallies. It was something that would happen in 2015, 2016 quite a bit. It is something that he has at times, of course, expressed support there for the oath keepers and proud boys, never condemning them. Put on a play for them, condemn these hate groups and he wont do it. Certainly between the calls for pardons for january 6th participants and suggesting another march and rallies to intimidate prosecutors, were in a new place right here. Tyler, i know you were at the rally in texas. Give us a sense as to how his comments were received there, you know, and were those in attendance fully supportive of this president s interpretation of what happened On January 6th and how ominous that is for our country . Yes, absolutely. I was down there in conroe and supporters were eager and excited to hear from the former president. All of those lines, particularly about the january 6th insurrection and potentially pardoning those who have been arrested and charged with crimes in connection with that were big applause lines. As you know, you have been to many of these trump rallies around the country, the base is riled up on this issue and trumps promises and teasing another run for president in 2024 really excite this base. I think one of the things again that weve heard over and over again from Trump Supporters that i spoke to on the ground there in texas was that they dont even believe joe biden is really the president. They still rest their hopes on donald trump. So the concept of joe bidens presidency or what he is doing or trump running again doesnt even really register because they still think he is the uly elected president. I think that shows how much control he still has over the Republican Party. As we played earlier in the segment, republicans still are trying to do that dance weve seen over five years now of distancing themselves from him and criticizing them, but as soon as theyre up for reelection need his support because of the control and popularity that he has with the Republican Base throughout the country. That was definitely on display on Saturday Night in texas. Meanwhile, the House Select Committee investigating the january 6th riot issued new subpoenas for a group involved in a scheme to overturn the 2020 Election Results. The committee is looking to question 14 individuals who listed themselves as secretaries and chairpersons on Bogus Electoral College certificates. These documents awarded donald trump Electoral College votes in seven states he lost to joe biden. This plan made its way all the way to the white house with one of trumps legal advisers, top legal advisers, john eastman arguing in a memo that former Vice President mike pence could use the Fake Electors to overturn the election outcome. Jackie, you contributed to the Washington Post reporting on these new subpoenas. Tell us why these socalled Fake Electors could be integral to the committees investigation. Yeah, mika. Thats exactly right. The committee is hoping that in conversation with these Fake Electors, the people on the ground who were actually doing the work of trumps outside legal operation from washington, d. C. That were trying to implement this plan will divulge the origin of the plan along with other specific details about how the operation was coordinated. We already know if you are putting together sort of the bread crumbs the committee has left so far that people like mark meadows were aware of the plan of alternate electors, that they were being selected and held on stand by in the case that mike pence decided to actually implement this plan and block the electoral certification of the election. In mark meadows Contempt Report he writes in Text Messages that the committee obtained he loved the idea of the plan. We also know that Rudy Giuliani was the point person coordinating the efforts in the states along with people like boris epstein, janet ellis, people linked to the white house from the outside legal team at the time. I think the committee is hoping by bringing in some of the lower level players, players working in the states they will find out more and more information that will be able to sort of paint a holistic, comprehensive picture of what exactly the full effort taking place by the Trump Campaign and the white house to overturn the results of the election. You know, michael beschloss, we always seem to think that we are going through the most catastrophic time right, always. In u. S. History. I read things people are saying, for instance, about Critical Race Theory, what is happening in schools now, on College Campuses now. If you go back to 1986 and read the closing of the American Mind the same exact arguments were being made then. The same exact arguments were being made by conservative and even nonconservative scholars, but whatever we are going through we have seen this before. Im going to ask you about mccarthyism, because i think instead of a parallel to fascist leaders, whether they were in italy or germany, mccarthyism is such a great parallel. I read larry ties book on mccarthy in the summer. It reminded me of people even like eisenhower who ducked their heads and wouldnt defend their heroes, general george marshall. It reminded me of an entire political class, an entire Political Party losing their courage. It is every bit as bad as what is going on now. You had people killing themselves, peoples lives completely ruined. Im wondering, do you see in Lindsey Grahams statement, do you see in the other statements by chris sununu, an extraordinary popular governor, do you see the possibility, maybe the beginning of the fever beginning to break in the Republican Party like it started to break with Margaret Chase smith and other republicans back in the 1950s . Terrific parallel. Absolutely mccarthy in the early 1950s, although i would say donald trump and his methods are probably 20 times worse than Joe Mcccarthey because this is a former president that may be running again, plus you didnt have mccarthy going out and using violence to break up institutions or violate the rule of law to the extent donald trump has done. But i think What Mccarthy Shows is that we go through periods like this where there are people and we saw it in the 1930s with father cogland and to some extent hughey longs, nonothings in the 19th century where people say whats wrong with the system, we have to break up the system, we have to tell Vice President s to certify elections that were not really won as donald trump asked mike pence to do. We have to go around telling the literal truth, we have to use alternative facts. This is something we havent seen before in American History. The hopeful thing, and The Other Side of what you were saying, joe, because we emerged for mccarthyism after he was censured in 1954. America goes through these periods. We have always emerged. Our country was in jeopardy in the civil war and we prevailed at great cost. 1932 at the time of the great depression, a lot of people were saying the only way we will get through this is to junk the capitalist system. 1940 a lot of americans were say we americans should not fight adolf hitler, it is not our business. It broke up, the country was divided just about down the middle. But there is something in our character that always allows us in the end to prevail. Im praying that thats going to happen in 2022 and 2024. All right. President ial historian michael beschloss, thank you very much. The Washington Posts jackie alemany, what are you looking at today . There are a few stories on the back burner i cannot divulge at the moment, hopefully they will be coming out later in the week. Also going to ukraine, we know there will be potentially be a renewed push for the Climate Provisions of build back better. Theres a group of moderate House Democratic lawmakers asking biden releasing a letter with the League Of Conservation Voters today to ask him to reconsider it and get it to the senate as sort of a separate package, just the 555 trillion package, stand alone. Obviously the Scotus Battles will be heating up today after a momentous week with the retirement of justice breyer. Jackie alemany and tyler, thank you both. Still ahead on morning joe, the United States is expected to confront russia at a gathering of the u. N. Security council today. We will have the latest on the ukraine standoff and efforts to deter an invasion. Plus, more hopeful signs that omicron has peaked in the United States. Cases and hospitalizations are going down nationwide but deaths are still on the rise. 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[news source voices]. State of emergency. [flames burning] [wind blowing] it is 40 past the hour. A look at Reagan National airport in washington. Podcaster joe rogan is responding to the controversy over his show that has led to artists pulling their work off the spotify platform. Some of rogans guests have a history of spreading misinformation about covid19 and the vaccines. Here is part of the 10minute video he posted to instagram. I think if theres anything that ive done that i could do better is have more experts with differing opinions right after i have the controversial ones. I would most certainly be open to doing that. So rogan pushed back against the term misinformation. He says his guests have an opinion that is different from the mainstream narrative and wanted to hear what their opinion is. Rogan said he books all of the guests himself and doesnt always prepare before their conversations, but he promised to do more research in the future to balance things out. This comes after spotify, who has the exclusive rights to rogans podcast, is facing criticism for the partnership. Spotifys ceo now says his company has a Critical Role in balancing artists expression with the safety of users. He writes in part, it is important to me that we dont take on the position of being Content Censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those that violate them. He says the company is working to add a Content Advisory to any Podcast Discussion about covid. This is so stupid. It is so stupid. It is so stupid because by the way, they also have an exclusive deal with Meghan Markle and prince harry. They were upset about this, they were concerned about rogan. Joni mitchell said she is pulling her music off the platform. Theyre getting a reaction and theyre trying to deal with it, but theyre trying to deal with a decision they made purely based on money and now theyre paying foyer it. Jonathan lemire, lets separate the two statements. Lets separate what rogan said and spotify said. What spotify said was a total copout. When they go, were going to label any discussion about covid. No, you dont label any discussion about covid. You label the Garbage Discussions where people are coming on with Conspiracy Theories and talking about ivermectin and talking about other things that the medical field, the medical community disagree with and all of you you know, you have a guy on talking, spewing Conspiracy Theories about the vaccine. Maybe you should go ahead and make put a warning there. Maybe not so if Scott Gottlieb is on there. I think we are good if gottlieb is on there and if other people who actually read studies and are guided by science and guided by medicine. Thats quite different. So for spotify to say, oh, were just going to warn everybody if theres ever a discussion on covid, that is such a copout by spotify. Yeah, both sidesism is harvard to take. In fact, by putting a Warning Label on all covid discussion there is all you have done is elevate joe rogan further. You are saying that what he says is equivalent to what dr. Scott gottlieb or the like are saying. It is a total copout. As much as they are giving in to a little appreciate your here, neil young, Joni Mitchell, a number of artists pulling from spotify or others threatening to pull from spotify, theyre not willing to get rid of one of their bigger podcasters. Theyre clearly afraid of him and his audience. We heard from rogan there, he doesnt even do research about his guests. Which, joe, unthinkable. Unthinkable it is also suggesting he is not going to change, he will be out there and maybe add a sentence or two at the end of the discussion. He will still give the same platform to the same people. I will say this though, mika. For me rogan is out there saying, okay, i understand why you are upset. If i have a controversial guest on, i will have somebody thats more mainstream that can counter. I think thats very important that people hear that in realtime. So i thought i thought that was a positive thing, him saying he was going to do more research, thats always a positive thing. The only thing i will say, and i mean i dont listen to the program, i havent listened to it much, not a regular listener, i will say there is sort of a both sidesism going on with him where, you know, i will put on this person who is spewing dangerous information and then i will put on somebody who is smart. It is also like ill put on alex jones and then i will put somebody on The Other Side who doesnt say that the parents who got murdered, whose children got murdered at sandy hook are not just actors and that wasnt a false flag. No, thats not good enough. I will say just to, you know, bring it on back home for a way that people watching this show will understand, you know, he had somebody on years ago talking about how i was a murderer, that donald trump conspiracy theory. Rogan had it on first. He goes, oh, so Joe Scarborough is a murderer. I forget the exact words again, but it is sort of like he will let anybody come on his show, lie about anybody, slander anybody and spread lies, and then he will go, okay, ill get somebody on The Other Side that says Joe Scarborough is not a murderer. Nonsense. Maybe alex jones is wrong about sandy hook or whatever. I was going to say you cant have it both ways but spotify is allowing him to have it both ways. Hes an entertainer and he never said he is Anything Else but an entertainer. He should be free to say what he wants to say. It is spotify here that really theyve got to do better. Just saying were going to mark all covid statements. So what you are doing is you are telling a 19yearold listener who is listen to Scott Gottlieb on joe rogans show they have something to be concerned about, that maybe gottlieb is lying to them like the other crackpot doctor he had on was lying to them. It is not good enough, spotify. It is not good enough. Joe rogan is an entertainer. I get it. He has always been an entertainer. I get that. But if spotify, you know, wants him to be their ceo, which is what he is in effect, you know, theyve got to say, hey, you got to live by our code or you got to go somewhere else. Right now their code is might makes right. If it makes money, we dont give a about Anything Else. Bingo. I mean they are a valueless void right now. Thats the story i think it is not rogan, it is spotify. The cleanup has been so forced and fake. You know, companies are about the bottom line, but a lot of companies are about the bottom line, their philosophies and their core values, and they make those things equal because they believe that theyre about something. Spotify has shown who they are. Theyve got to clean it up. Ive got friends in spotify. Theyve got to clean it up. It is simple. They cant just say, a pox on both their houses. No, stop with the false moral equivalency. I think they missed their opportunity. Coming up as a republicansponsored bill banning Critical Race Theory in florida schools and workplaces makes its way through the florida house, one lawmaker is speaking out passionately. Florida state representative Ramon Alexander joins us ahead on morning joe. On morning joe. Clearchoice. [ awada ] the health of our teeth plays a significant role in our overall health. Chantell was suffering, and we had to put an end to that. The absolute best way to do that was through Dental Implants. 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Wherever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. 6 52 in New York City. A happy monday morning. Final song from royal tinnebaum, which i think i saw for the 878th time last week. Favorite movie of the 21st century. Mika, looking at New York City, man, the numbers for omicron for New York City dropping big time, the same thing for the state of florida and a lot of other states and cities hit with it early on, really seeing the numbers plummet. The mayor says the city is seeing a rapid decline in cases. On saturday the citys Positivity Rate dropped to just under 5 . Wow. The lowest of any region in the state. The city reported a sevenday average of about 5,000 new cases last week, a major decline from a high of roughly 43,000 earlier this month. Cases and hospitalizations from covid are also dropping nation wild, but data shows daily deaths are still on the rise. Health experts are hopeful those numbers might trend downward in the coming weeks. Just ahead, were going to speak with New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg who says schools should let kids take their masks off after the Omicron Surge ends. We will talk about that. Also ahead, we are diving into the ongoing standoff along russias border with ukraine. The actions u. S. Lawmakers are considering to put more pressure on Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops. Morning joe is coming right back. Morning joe is coming right back its sweet, its tangy, its tender, it never misses. You could say its the steph curry of footlongs. You could, but im not gonna. Subway keeps refreshing and refreshing and re. Realtor. Coms Draw A Map Feature helped us find what we wanted, where we wanted. So we could finally buy our first big boi house. Big boi house. Big boi foyer big boi marble. Big boi quartz. Word . Realtor. Com to each their home. As a dj, i know all about customization. Thats why i love Liberty Mutual. Word . 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The barnes firm, Injury Attorneys call one eight hundred,est resul Eight Million so a look now at housing prices, which continue to surge, and also rent prices are hitting an alltime it is insane. Can you believe this . You cant find a house. Like in new york at the beginning of the pandemic, everybody left. The prices are exploding everywhere. The National Median house of a onebedroom Rental Apartment in january was up 12 from last year, nearly 1,400 to rent a room according to the online apartment rental site zumper. Meanwhile, the median price of a twobedroom apartment rose to nearly 1,700, up 14 from a year ago. New york city leads the nation with a median rent price over 3,200 for a onebedroom unit. Geez. While boston is poised to overtake San Francisco for the number two slot in coming months according to zumper. Experts say inflation is the driving force behind the staggering increases in rental prices, and this is impossible for people to raise families. It really is. They cant live in the city. I know. Coming up, new questions about whether students should be wearing a mask at school, plus how the most di visit lawmakers are getting the most attention online. Back in one minute. Online back in one minute take advantage now. Welcome back to morning joe. It is monday, january 31st. The last day in january. Jonathan lemire is still with us. Joining us host of msnbcs Politics Nation and president of the National Action network, reverend al sharpton. And David Ignatius is joining us as well, a columnist and Associate Editor for the Washington Post. Good to have you all. It is great to have you all with us. Really quickly for those just tuning in on the west coast, in mountain time, real quick, we will talk about football for a second. We wont talk about it like we did for the first 45 minutes. But, my god. We asked rev if he watched any football game. You know, rev is saving souls on sunday. He is above it all. It is important. He is saving souls on sunday. He aint watching financial. I kept up with the score though, joe. And, unfortunately, David Ignatius and i were doing Politics Nation. David was watching, i was hosting. We kept up with the score. I love it. Exactly. Of course, you know, you know that we dvr Politics Nation and watch it after the final whistle. So good. You know, on the cbs things, you know, they go 60 minutes follows after the game. No, not for us. It is Politics Nation with reverend al. David, those were some Football Games the last couple of weeks. Did you have any favorites yesterday . You know, i thought the chiefs fail i love Patrick Mahomes, but to see him just let that game completely fall apart and to see the bengals win, you got to love it. Yeah. Yeah, it is exciting. I will say though, jonathan lemire, i mean it is such a great mystery to me. We showed that first Touchdown Pass where mahomes is running to his right and he side armed he side arms it and flicks it to his right, throws a touchdown. The only place you could put it in the corner of the end zone, right corner of the end zone. At that point i said, oh, boy, the bengals are in trouble. The guy who i love him, but he just disappeared in the second half. Yeah, hes probably the most tal ened quarterback in the league and maybe we have seen in decades. Look at this. Look at this throw. Yeah, there it is. No one makes it except him, which makes It Mystifying what happened in the second half. We heard mike florio talk last hour. The bengals sank eight guys in coverage making it difficult to throw the ball down the field, so it is part of it. But it doesnt explain the bad decisions mahomes made, not just the utter brain lock at the end of the first half where they lost a point because he threw the ball inbounds, but he took a couple of sacks late in the game when he could have thrown it away. Frankly, the onto worse quarterback play was the play in the last where Jimmy Garoppolo was in the midst of getting sacked and threw it up for grabs backhanded which led to the rams interception to seal that game. I suspect it will be the last he throws for the 49ers. It will be fun. Two years in a row, it is going home. Last year tampa bay and this year the rams. I dont know what it is about that guy, he cant throw the ball. He doesnt make great decisions. Yet im sorry, ive had a soft spot in my heart for the 49ers. He figures out how to win. It is like what bear bryant used to say about pat trammell. He cant run, he cant throw, but if you need eight yards for a first down pat will get you nine. Thats Jimmy Garoppolo up until yesterday. A great guy, a great story, but youre right, he will be cut. Mika to the news. The United Nations Security Council will be meeting today to ramp up diplomatic pressure on russia and offer moscow a chance to explain its massive Troop Buildup near ukraines border. The Security Council is unified. Our voices are unified in calling for the russians to explain themselves. We are going to go in the room prepared to listen to them, but were not going to be distracted by their propaganda and we will be prepared to respond to any disinformation that they attempt to spread during this meeting. The a. P. Is reporting the Security Council is unlikely to take any formal action as russia is a permanent member and holds the power to veto any resolution along with its ally, china. Meanwhile, key u. S. Leaders say theyre close to reaching a bipartisan deal on legislation thats aimed at imposing sanctions on russia if it invades ukraine. This as reuters reports moscows Military Buildup near the Ukrainian Border has expanded to include Blood Supplies along with other medical materials to treat potential casualties. Joe, what is the strategy of asking russia to explain itself . It is pretty clear what theyre doing. I think both sides are really buying time. Im not so sure, David Ignatius, the russians want to go in any more than we want the russians to go in right now. It is a bit of a faceoff, and it seems to me a delay only works against Vladimir Putins advantage. You have actually, you have i mean Vladimir Putin really, it is so fascinating after five years of disinformation that has split parts of this country apart, Vladimir Putin is actually doing something that we thought was impossible. He is bringing republicans and democrats together. Theyre coming together on the committees. Theyre coming together in the senate. You had jim reish, just as extraordinary, as you know, responsible voice for bipartisan foreign policy. He is on yesterday with Senator Menendez, the chairman of the committee, and theyre both there just shoulder to shoulder saying, were not going to let this stand. Youve got Mitch Mcconnell going, joe biden is making some great moves on russia. This is really a moment that im sure russia is taking note of. The United States for the first time in a long time, we are unified on one thing, that russia should not invade a democratic country that is trying to improve. Putin has done the impossible, joe. He has brought congress together. Really like you, im really pleased to see jim reish and Senator Menendez leading the response jointly. He brought ukrainians together. I was there a week ago and you cant find a ukrainian who doesnt resent the heck out of russia for trying to dictate outcomes. They are really angry at putin. One thing i am worried about is putin doesnt seem to have a united nato yet. We are getting a lot of back biting still from the french and the germans. Zelenskys comments in the last three or four days president zelensky, president of ukraine, have been strange to me and not reflective what i found on the ground among ordinary ukrainians. I think that putin did not expect that the response to his bullying would be as strong and cleareyed as it has been from this white house. I think he thought this white house is dead in the water after after afghanistan. I have to credit them. They have done a pretty good job in keeping the country and the world together. Good for them. You are exactly right. Thats something, again, that Mitch Mcconnell has taken note of, other republicans have taken note of, despite some bizarre statements out of france with a guy who is trying to act like Charles De Gaulle in 1968, yes were going to go at it our own against the soviets. It doesnt make a whole lot of sense. But republicans and democrats alike are united. I have to say also, this seems to be a terrible blunder on Vladimir Putins part in that he is making nato seem more relevant and more needed than ever. You have countries like finland that are talking about a need to get into nato, to expand nato. Thats the last thing in the world this guy wants. In terms of russias security interests, it is hard to imagine a scenario that over the longer term, five to ten years, would be more counterproductive. Theyre going to be economically weaker. Theyre going to be politically weaker. I can only think, joe, that he really does believe this kind of mystical idea about russia and ukraine. He wrote an essay about it last summer. He goes on for 5,000 words. It is the strangest things. Leaders dont write 5,000 word essay from the soul about the oneness of the two peoples. He must believe it. He has rolled the dice bigtime for russia. The chances he will get a victory out of this i think shrink, as you said, day by day. All right. We will be following this story and the developments as they come. Moving now to a number of states across the country where there is an effort by many republicanled legislatures to limit the ability to teach the history of discrimination in this country. Our next guest has seen enough. Florida state representative Ramon Alexander is speaking out against a bill that could prevent educators from teaching about topics like the holocaust and racial bias. Here is a moment from last week in tallahassee. And so instead of addressing systemic poverty, instead of addressing all of these issues that impact peoples quality of life, we are using these distraction tools. It either me up on the inside because i know theres some admirable, good people over there. Half of yall are uncomfortable with this bill yourself but you dont want to get primaried in your election. For a representative to say that race doesnt matter, what ozone layer are you on. Representative alexander, those comments are inappropriate. No, it is not inappropriate. We are better than this. I love america with all my heart and soul. And in spite of everything that has happened in america, im here because i love this country. Im not antiamerican, but i am an american an my Voice Matters just as much as your voice. My opinion matters just as much as your opinion. My reality matters just as much as your opinion and you cant handle the truth. Wow. Lets bring in right now the florida democrat, one of the states highest ranking black legislators. First, thank you so much for being with us. First, explain the bill making its way through the Florida Legislature that you were talking about, representative. Well, thank you, joe. Thank you for having me. Hb7 directly creates an environment to white wash history in our state and puts our teachers in our state in a very difficult situation where they could be at cause and seek further lawsuit if a student reports them for teaching something that makes them feel uncomfortable. Along with that, it creates geez. Challenges for private businesses to teach diversity and inclusion. It is also parts of the bill that has Mental Health in the School System taken out from under the Health Care Structure and put under professional development, which takes away and puts stigmas around it. So it is a big mess. Empty wagons make a lot of noise. A lot of noise, but it is a big distraction from the major issues that are facing people every single day in the state of florida. Yeah. So, representative, let me ask you a question. Lets say im a teacher, right, and im one of these i am a 1776 guy. I have talked about it all the time with reverend, but i believe 1776 and 1619 are two truths that need to reside next to each other. Yes, we have some extraordinary founding documents that liberated more people than ever in the history of mankind, woman kind. At the same time, 12 of our president s were also slave holders. At the same time slavery was an original sin. Now, if i said that, if i talked about how slavery was the original sin, that 12 of our president s were slave holders, that race has been an issue that has plagued us since 1619 and one that we are still needing to fight to get passed and progress towards being a more perfect union, could i get in trouble for talking about president s who owned slaves under this bill . Absolutely joe. Now, the broad nature of how the bill is written, it creates a lot of confusion and a lot of gray area. You know, the subjectivity and objectivity and what is and what is not, and i think our responsibility is to create an atmosphere for our young people to be able to critically think for themselves. Unfortunately, the florida Republican Party, instead of focusing on teaching the full future and our students are able to think for themselves and do not recreate history, we continue to go down a path of distraction using race as a means to distract from the real issues impacting people every single day. Right. Representative alexander, al sharpton. When you made your statement opposing this, it certainly was applauded by many. Reverend r. B. Holmes that works when me, out of tallahassee, works with me at National Action network, i could hear him clapping all the way in new york. What i want to raise with you to respond to, isnt the removal of the whole history from 1619 to 1776 and on that joe just recounted also robbing america of telling a story of triumph over some of the most ugly parts of our history and that the greatness of the country can be this evolution from some of the things that we ought to as a nation be ashamed of and, therefore, inspire students to see a story of triumph over some misgivings rather than hiding them . Because when you hide them, in many ways you are acting like you are normalizing them or that theyre excusable or that it is all right to hide them because for whatever reasons we dont have to talk about it . Absolutely reverend sharp tl. I agree with you 100 . We have a responsibility to make sure we tell the whole truth. I love america with my heart and soul. I said that during the judiciary hearing. We try to paint this picture someone is antiamerican because they are standing up for basic fundamental rights, the fundamental rights to stand up. When i was Student Body President at florida a m june, i led a sitin. In no way does it deflect from my ability to stand up for what i believe in. Absolutely reverend sharpton, we have a responsibility to make sure that our future understands our past so they cannot make the same mistakes and they can understand theres a Brighter Future and a brighter tomorrow and a brighter promise for all of our children and for their children as well. State representative Ramon Alexander of florida. Thank you. We hope to see you again soon. Thank you very much. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. Greatly appreciate it. Jonathan lemire, he kept getting in trouble for saying that republicans were using this Critical Race Theory, supposedly Critical Race Theory as sort of antiwoke legislation, that they were using it as a political device and he kept getting in trouble for it. It is very clear theyre trying to create some straw man that they can knock down time and time again. My kids grew up in florida. I still have kids in florida and, you know, have a lot of friends in florida. Theyre not teaching Critical Race Theory in these classes. But this bill, a teacher would get in trouble for saying, you know what . 12 of our first president s owned slaves. Slavery is americas original sin. Slavery was a problem and now Race Relations continue to be a problem. We continue to have to move towards being a more perfect union. Under this, the general wording of this bill somebody could get in trouble for teaching that truth. Yeah, those are facts. Thats the history. That should be taught to students in this country. Lets be clear, Critical Race Theory, a College Academic theory is now being used for shorthand for this sort of talk in schools across the country. Theres no doubt, he got in trouble for saying it, he is right, the state representative, it is being used as a divisive wedge issue. We saw it play out in the virginia governors race. Again, Critical Race Theory not really taught in its name in virginia schools, but it became a shorthand for the idea of parents and wokism and so on. I think that republicans feel like theyve hit on somebody there. This debate right here, this is a debate we will have a lot between now and november in governors races, in congressional races, as republicans think theyve hit on something that could lead to more electoral victories at the ballot box. But i think at the same time theyre tone deaf to where america is starting to go. Certainly no one more than i reminds us how far we need to continue to go. But we made a lot of progress, and by not telling the history our students, our young people will not know the context of that. So when im sitting in a courtroom in brunswick, georgia right. As rural south as you can get and see 11 whites on a 12person jury convict three white neighbors and send them to jail for life for killing a young black man, if you dont know the history you dont know why it is so tremendous to us. I think they are robbing us from saying, as joe and i say all the time, weve come a long way which gives us the strength to know we can finish the journey to where we need to go. Yeah. Rev, it is almost biblical if you look at what happened in the 2020 election. You look at the fact and we talked about it in biblical terms, that the stone which was rejected has become the cornerstone. You had black women stepping out in georgia, in pennsylvania, in wayne county, in milwaukee county, black women predominantly going out and saving madisonian democracy from forces that wanted to wipe away checks and balances. Thats an inspiring story. It makes me love this country even more, that were continuing with all of our flaws, we are continuing to move forward toward being a more perfect union. That is such a great point. Seeing your Press Conference in brunswick, georgia, that was a celebration of america and how far we came. You couldnt help but get chills listening to your words there because you were telling the story of america and the progress were making. And thats what we need to tell our students. I was saying at our rally over the weekend, to see a man that we criticize for in our opinion had badgered a black woman during the Clarence Thomas hearings when he was put up as a nominee for Supreme Court and we were critical of joe biden and some of the Judiciary Committee that we felt were too hard on anita hill, a black woman, and that same man is going to put a black woman on the Supreme Court. Thats how far weve come. I think we need to celebrate that so we can finish the journey. I think that you are absolutely right. Thats what we did in brunswick and thats what we have to keep doing. You have to give people hope rather than Keep Recycling that we cant go anywhere here. We can go and we have gone. We just need to keep going. All right. Still ahead on morning joe, why america cant quit its polarizing politicians. New data finds that rhetoric and conflict are superseding policy and substance. We are digging into that. Plus, our next guest makes the case for letting kids take off their masks after the Omicron Surge. You are watching morning joe. We will be right back. Morning. Morning. We will be right back. For th. Creating jobs, Cutting Energy costs, protecting our climate. So lets not waste anymore time. Lets get to work. Whos on it with jardiance . Were 25 million prescriptions strong. Were managing type 2 diabetes. And heart risk. Were working up a sweat before coffee. And saying, no thanks. . To a boston cream. Jardiance is a oncedaily pill that can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. So, it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. And jardiance lowers a1c. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including. Dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. 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Each day looks different than the last. But whatever work becomes, the Servicenow Platform will make it just, flow. Whether its finding new ways to help you serve your customers, orchestrating a safe return to the office. Wait. An office . Whats an office . Or solving a workplace challenge thats yet to come. Wherever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. Biden i know that Climate Change wherever the new world of is a challenge that is going to define our american future. I know meeting the challenge will be a Once In A Lifetime Opportunity to jolt new life into our economy. So lets not waste any more time. Lets get to work. 26 past the hour. A quick shot of ft. Lauderdale, florida, this morning. We have encouraging signs to report in the covid pandemic. Nationwide cases have dropped by a third in the past two weeks, and that is making a huge difference for some hospitals that were up until very recently overwhelmed. Nbc news correspondent Blayne Alexander has the latest. Reporter at the Cleveland Clinic icu the load was crushing. As one bed emptied there was another patient right there to fill it. The National Guard and air force called in to help. Now a different story. Across Cleveland Clinics Ohio Hospitals the number of Covid Patients dropped from 1,200 to 393 in less than a month. Starting next week elective procedures are back, the National Guard moved out. Overall, do you think, doctor, the worst is behind you . I think so, i hope so. I hope we dont see another variant. We will remain optimistic. Reporter a reflection of the cases nationwide, a drop in new cases and hospitalizations down 14 . Deaths, which lag behind, continue to rise in some states with 31 states seeing an increase in the last 14 days. The numbers tell us were likely looking at the rearview of the worst part of the surge. Still to be determined as do we see another rebound with an increase in cases. Reporter it comes as some cases are dropping masks and restrictions. In denver, the citys indoor mask mandate is set to expire this week. In orange county, florida, the nations ninth Largest School district says starting this week Covid Concerns can no longer be used as an excuse for missing school. Experts are cautious but encouraged. Im more optimistic today than i have been at any point since the pandemic emerged. We have better tools, better defenses, better information and better ability to make sure that covid doesnt dominate our lives. We have the best chance to get and keep the upper hand against this virus. Nbcs Blayne Alexander with that report. Meanwhile, taking a look at the u. S. Response to the pandemic versus those around the globe, an analysis by the Financial Times shows the impact of lower vaccine rates when compared with a variety of european countries. Quote, almost half of the u. S. Covid hospitalizations this winter could have been averted if the country had maxed the Vaccination Coverage of leading european countries. The analysis supports the findings of scientists and accounts of Front Line Medics who say lowered Vaccination Levels are perpetuating the pandemic in the u. S. Just one example. The number of Covid Patients in the u. S. In u. S. Hospitals on january 19th would have peaked at 91,000 instead of 161,000 if the u. S. Had the same rates of Vaccine Coverage in each age group as denmark. David ignatius, it is frustrating because a lot of folks pushing back at those who are calling this a pandemic among the unvaccinated, it is the unvaccinated that has put america in the place that it is. It is the unvaccinated that has led to omicron. This is the science talking, not opinion, not polarization. Frustratingly, there are so Many Americans who have still chosen not to get the shot. Do you see this changing in any way . Im not sure, mika, that it is going to change, especially as rates of infection appear to be waning. I was struck, as you may have been, in my travel several times over the last few months in europe at just how accepted the requirement for vaccination is. You cant move in a country like italy or poland or ukraine without your Vaccination Card. If you want to go to a restaurant, forget about it. You have to show your Vaccination Card to get in anywhere. In italy theres a system called the green pass. If you dont have your green pass which shows you are fully vaccinated, you are just not getting on public transport. So i think those are more orderly societies than ours. You know, it has always been the case that life in Northern Europe is looked different than in america, and were not changing who we are. But the fact we resisted this basic Public Health requirement as strenuously as we did hurt us, no question. Yeah, it is like was said, we have met the enemy and he is us. Yeah. Again, if we had only been vaccinated at the same level as many european countries, the number of infections would have been cut in half. You can assume also obviously the number of deaths, hospitalizations, negative impacts would have been cut in half. It is just again, this is a selfinflicted wound. This continues. This counts to be a pandemic now for the unvaccinated for the most part. Lets just hope and pray that something changes so more americans will go out and get vaccinated. Lets bring in our columnist for the New York Times, Michelle Goldberg. Her latest piece entitled let kids take their masks off after the Omicron Surge. She kwos from the Infectious Disease management in the Emergency Department of boston medical center, if we accept that we dont want masks thats a conversation we arent having. Dr. Noble from the atlantic joins us now. She is director of Covid Response at the university in San Francisco. Theyve been masked up at times even when the school has not been masked up but we are getting to a point postomicron that, my gosh, weve been telling supporters of donald trump to follow the science for two years. It is time we followed the science. Not you and me, but it is time everybody follows the science even when it means take off the mask. Well, i think it is important to emphasize that everybody doesnt have to take off the mask. You know, there was a phrase that liberals repeated over and over again at the beginning of the pandemic which was your mask your mask protects me, my mask protects you. That i think has become obsolete or thats what the science has shown us, that is quite obsolete because cloth masks do very little to protect omicron and now we have greater access to highquality Surgical Quality masks. Theres been a number of experts including joseph allen at harvard who has been saying oneway masking is enough, especially at a time of Vaccine Availability if not widespread vaccination acceptance. At the same time i think it is important that we understand that children going to school for months or years on end without seeing their parents without seeing their teachers faces, without seeing their peers faces, has real psychological effects. This isnt a case for taking the masks off immediately. It is a case think for building an off ramp. Dr. Noble, thats important, building an off ramp. I will say yesterday mika and i went to the mall. We are in an area where omicron cases have been completely plunged. We wore our masks going into the mall, being courteous, but in open spaces we took them off because the science doesnt suggest at this stage where we are we need to be Wearing Masks if were not around the people. When we went into crowded stores to be courteous to people we put on the masks. And the stores had a sign saying wearing mask. Yes, and if they said to wear a mask, wear a mask. It seems to me when we get postomicron and with so Many Americans vaccinated, we can make a hot of these choices using common sense. Thats right. And that moment is going to be here sooner than we know it. You know, in just a few weeks we will be looking at the Omicron Surge through our rearview mirror, and the atlantic piece is really to try to get kids first in line when we pull back on the covid restrictions. You know, kids are at the lowest risk of covid of any Demographic Group in the country and theyve endured the highest number of mask hours. They wear a mask six hours a day, five days a week, more than most of our adults. The data for masking kids is really not there. So we know vaccines are highly effective. Kids now have had the eligibility to be vaccinated for just about 12 week, all schoolage kids. If we are ever going to let them go back to normal, now is the time, or say midfebruary when omicron is behind us. Michelle, just to sort of bolster your argument, there are so many psychological and social growth tools that children need, by seeing each others faces and by being able to see their teachers faces. At the same time it is not that simple because i dont think it is just about the children. It is also about the safety of the teachers. Absolutely. Thats something that a lot of people have said in response to my piece, is that, you know, children have vulnerable family members, they might have younger siblings who cant get vaccinated yet, there are teefrps, there are other people in the school community. Again, thats why i think it is important to point out that those people can still wear highquality masks. It is not that cloth masks do nothing, but they do do less than i think a lot of people in liberal enclaves think against omicron. Again, you are not going to lose a huge amount of protection by letting the kids who have cloth masks, who are likely to be the kids whose parents are already, you know, sort of less concerned about or or, you know, who arent the biggest covid hawks. Letting those kids take off their masks and have a little bit normality, the science suggests you are not going to get a huge amount more infection and you get a huge boost, i think, in psychological wellbeing. Hey, doctor. Good morning. It is jonathan lemire. Certainly it benefits children in socialization some have masks come off as soon as it is safe to do so. I want to get you to pull back a little bit from the nations response to the pandemic at large. It seems there have been moments where we had lulls, where a wave has passed and we have been caught off guard. We relax and the Delta Variant shows up. We relax and then the omicron variant. What is the risk of pulling back a little too soon . We can always bring the measures back. So what i think the Greater Dininger is, is letting these restrictions remain in place long beyond their time of utility. So we have you know, we have all of these tools in our tool kit. We can bring our masks back if we need to if a worse variant comes, but we do not need to continue with these restrictions beyond the point of their utility. You know, thats what Scott Gottlieb said, mika, on our show before the Delta Variant. He said lift restrictions, and if a new variant comes then you have the credibility, you put the restrictions back in place. We are coming up to a point where dr. Gottlieb said the same thing last week. Lift restrictions. If a variant comes in the future, if people have seen that you lifted restrictions when you could, you then have the credibility to put some of the restrictions back in place as need be. And it is a constantly moving target because it is a moving virus. And we have to have what we need. When the restrictions are put back in place, masks are available. We have get it right. Dr. Jean noble and Michelle Goldberg, thank you both for being on the show this morning. Thank you. Over the Weekend Thousands of protesters brought the capital of canada to a standstill. Dozens of trucks and other vehicles could be seen blocking the Downtown Area of ottawa as protesters rallied against Vaccine Mandates, masks and lock downs. That seems like an interesting way to spend your weekend. The demonstrations were initially aimed at pushback against Vaccine Mandates for Truck Drivers crossing the u. S. canada border, but the movement escalated into an expression of disapproval with the canadian governments covid19 policies. Officials say several investigations are under way into reports of severe vandal simp and criminal behavior including the desecration of national mon yums. Meanwhile, ottawa mayor jim watson said some protesters harassed a soup kitchen, demanding free meals because their refusal to wear masks meant they were not to order in restaurants. That soup kitchen tweeted Covid Protesters were given meals to defuse the conflict and this weekends events caused significant strain on our operations at an already difficult time. The antivaxxers took food from the mouths of the homeless. Hungry, yeah. Because theyre put upon. Where were the protests when people were required to get five vaccines to start schools . Where were the protests when people were required to give their children five vaccines . They were in the Doctors Office getting vaccines. They were in the Doctors Office getting vaccines and making fun of left wingers on the west coast for being loopy antivaxxers. Okay. Now they have met the enemy, and the enemy their enemy is themselves. Yes. Theyve become what they hated. Theyve become what they mocked and now theyre taking food from Soup Kitchens because theyre so put upon for being asked to do what theyve been asked to do, required to do their entire lives. Coming up it is a cult. Yes, it is. A historic moment in the middle east as israel and the uae meet in hopes of Easing Tensions in the region. Plus, former President Trump spent the weekend talking about the former Vice President and called on his supporters to take action. What does that mean . Well get into all of that straight ahead on morning joe. Straight ahead on morning joe. T of everything you do. And if you have Heart Failure, entrust your heart to entresto. s the number one Heart Failure brand prescribed by cardiologists. Entresto was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. Heart failure can change the structure of your heart, so it may not work as well. Entresto helps improve your hearts ability to pump blood to the body. 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Powering possibilities. ™ it was a notable scene in the uae over the weekend as the president of israel made his firstever visit to the country amid tensions in the region, including recent missile attacks. The uaes crown prince greeted the israeli president in an historic moment as israels National Anthem played in the president ial palace. Recent terror attacks were condemned and said israel is dedicated to working together to bring security and peace to the region. That moment, however, came amid a significant rise in antisemitic rhetoric across the globe and here in the United States. Charlotte climber is a writer and fellow at georgetowns institute of politics and Public Service who had a very strong essay over the weekend about the spate of recent antisemitic incidents and holocaust denials. Charlotte, in it you honor the life of one holocaust survivor, henry green balm. You wrote in part, despite the enormity of his loss and suffering, henry made the most of his time left. He wanted to enjoy life. He wanted to enjoy the company of others and he wanted to tell history to as many people as possible. Why . For the memory of those who didnt survive. This man could have done whatever the hell he wanted to do for the rest of his life, and no one would have thought lesser of him. And yet, he made it a point to come to the museum every week and tell hills story to more strangers who had never met a survivor. Henry knew that his generation was slipping into history and that they would soon all pass on. I think he worried that not having living survivors around to tell their stories might allow the world to become complacent and fall back into the horrors he witnessed as a young man. So, charlotte, last week mikas brother went to the 77th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz. Mika came back from poland. We watched schindlers list. I must say, again, even watching a sanitized, hollywood version of what happened of course, it had to be sanitized or else nobody would go watch the movie it tore your heart to shreds. You kept going time and time again, over and over again, how could people do this to each other. In your incredible story you actually have a man who dedicated his life, a survivor to convincing us, but telling us, yes, this can happen and it did happen and i was there. Thats right. Good morning, joe. Good morning. Mika. Henry was an extraordinary man. You know, he had such a special talent for bringing folks into a warm and opening conversation and teaching them that the holocaust didnt just happen in the last few years of the war but the i would say the factors that led to the holocaust had been around since the 1920s with the founding of the nazi party in germany, the dehumanization of jewish party germany, the dehumanization in 1942. David ignatius. Weve been talking through this hour about the inability to talk about complicated subjects in america. And im just wondering if you think that the holocaust and reluctance to really engage the holocaust is an example of that. Were having trouble talking about race and our racial history, the history of juice and the suffering that they had. Whats going on that accounts for this, do you think . Yes, sir, thats a great point. I think that we have a deep discomfort, were talking about the holocaust, were talking about White Supremacy, antiblackness, certainly the history of slavery in the United States. I think it comes with a discomfort with teaching children about these horrific subjects. Heres the thing. If there is a 6yearold jewish child who understands what it means to be swastikas to be painted on Union Station here in d. C. , then certainly i think 6yearold nonjewish children are old enough to understand what antisemitism means, what White Supremacy is wrong, why its wrong and why we have to speak out against it. Al sharpton. What i wanted to raise here is i think also that it is incumbent on all of us that have had various experiences of bigotry to also show a united front against it. I remember speaking with some at a jewish conference last year before last, and said weve had incidents in new york where weve had a lot of situations between the black and jewish community. And words can be healing or words can be provocative. And though many people said that we did things that i never was there for at the beginning of crown heights, when i did come in, i should have made more healing words. And i think that we need to be able to say ourselves where we could have done better. Not just denying the disportions distortions of things people say you didnt do, but the more we do together, talk about how we can be together, it robs people of the denial that youre talking about with the holocaust and were talking about racism. We have to be better than the people denying. Not just clear the record for ourselves. Youre right. Like you, im a christian from central texas. I would say i was quite naive when i started working at the holocaust museum. I had a lot to learn about the holocaust. I had a lot to learn about the factors that led to 6 million jewish folks and 11 Million People overall being murdered over this period of time. I think we all have a responsibility to understand that it could happen here. Jonathan greenblatt has a really great book called that, it could happen here right now. It talks about the factors we are consistently ignoring. There is a rise in antisemitism, especially over the past five years. There was a report put out by the American Jewish committee in october that found that 82 of Jewish Americans feel that there has been a drastic rise in antisemitism over the past five years. Thats very alarming. Hey, good morning. Jonathan lemire. You started talking about where i want to go. Extremism, antisemitism, a rise under the recent president. Weve seen books that ban the holocaust to Key Educational tools. What sort of steps do you think can be done to reverse these disturbing and ominous trends . First, we need to get involved in our local governments. State boards, School District boards, the kind of positions that are so often neglected by local citizens because theyre not thought of as productive or effective. In fact, local offices are extremely effective in transforming policy for communities. If we get folks in those positions, we can keep these books from being banned and censored, and educate folks about what it means to live with folks of other experiences and other backgrounds. Thats how we get rid of hatred, is understanding each other. And also im very concerned that professor Deborah Lipstadt has not been confirmed as the u. S. Envoy to combat antisemitism. This is outbound ambassador to fight antihatred around the world. The senate has not confirmed her and that deeply concerns me. Thank you so much for coming on this morning and for this conversation, and for what youve written. The Washington Post David Ignatius, thank you as well. Up next, donald trump says the quiet part out loud again. This time admitting flatout that he wanted mike pence to, quote, overturn the election. Plus, a weird story from West Virginia summed up by one photo. Yikes. That one right therein there, involving the states governor and his dogs rear end and bette midler. Spotify and joe rogan and misinformation. The streaming company is making changes, but is it enough . Morning joe is back in a moment. Enough . Morning joe is back in a moment ments are a win, win, win, for this country. Creating jobs, Cutting Energy costs, protecting our climate. So lets not waste anymore time. Lets get to work. Limu emu and doug. We gotta tell people that Liberty Mutual customizes Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need, and we gotta do it fast. [limu emu squawks] woo thirtyfour Miles Per Hour new personal record, limu [limu emu squawks] hell be back. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. Mission control, we are go for launch. Only pay for what you need. Um, shes eating the rocket. Lunchables built to be eaten. Biden i know that Climate Change is a challenge that is going to define our american future. I know meeting the challenge will be a Once In A Lifetime Opportunity to jolt new life into our economy. So lets not waste any more time. Lets get to work. Hey, apple, did i do something to offend you . I mean, samuel l. Jackson, billie eilish, chris evans . What about john hamm . You know what the happiest animal on earth is . Seriously, i could have done be a goldfish, sam. What kind of advice is that . Listen, i just saw a fish so good. I saw you did another one for apple, greyhound, too. Thats fun. Seriously . Denzel, frances mcdorr man, momoa, snoopy. A missed opportunity. Maybe on the next one you and me satisfied with your message no, not satisfied. Two kind of feels like cheating. Will ferrell, paul rudd, jon stewart. It keeps going. That was, i mean, seriously, jonathan lemire, that was a super bowl ad. Super bowlquality ad. John hamm, that was a classic. Also the whats app ad was something, too. That ad with john hamm was so good, it felt like it was the creation of don draper, legendary ad man that john hamm played. It was hysterical. The pure disdain in his voice when he said, chris evans . Is what killed me. He rolls through the list of people and say i would be mortally insulted on apple tv. It fades to black. Hes like, jon stewart . Its so, so good. Snoopy . And the whats app add. Hes opening everybodys mail. Hes opening up everybodys mail. All the packages are wide open. Theyre like, why are you doing this . The punch line, mika, of course, every time a text. You send a text, its not in encryption, they can Read Everything youre doing up in the cloud. Anyone can. Those are two great commercials. Absolutely. Some great Football Games. Never thought id say that, but that was pretty awesome what we watched. Okay, lets get to the news. Former President Donald Trump released a Statement Last night offering a rather stunning admission about what he expected from vicepresident mike pence On January 6th of last year. Trump wrote, quote, if the vicepresident had absolutely no right to change the president ial Election Results in the Senate Despite fraud and many other irregularities, how come the democrats and rino republicans like wacky Susan Collins are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the vicepresident to change the results of the election . Actually what theyre saying is mike pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didnt exercise that power. He could have overturned the election. That statement came after trumps rally in texas on saturday where he said, if reelected, he would consider pardons for those charged in the january 6th attack on the capitol. If i run and if i win, we will treat those people from january 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. More than 700 people have been charged with federal crimes in connection with the attack on the capitol. Trump also rallied his supporters against the prosecutors currently investigating him. Many key figures looking into his business dealings and his actions surrounding the 2020 election are black. And in front of thousands of supporters on saturday, trump called them racist, and then issued a call to action. If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, i hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had in washington, d. C. , in new york, in atlanta dont want too it hear his call to action. Its dangerous. Reverend al, this socalled call to action has already got the atlanta prosecutor who is investigating donald trump and his lies and his pressure to actually have the georgia secretary of state steal the election for him. Shes now having to get security. Now hes, you know, pointing the finger at other election officials, which weve seen that happen incredible. Weve seen that happening far too much, people having to get security because of death threats. Something we know a lot about ourselves. We do know a lot about it. But i think what is so dangerous about it is in the same speech where hes talking about if he gets back into office that he would pardon people that did violence that has been seen all over the world at the capitol of the United States where five people died. And in the same speech hes talking about pardoning them, hes calling for big demonstrations if these prosecutors, who are racist and all of them receive probably more white votes than blacks to assume the positions they have. I mean, this is really, really scary what hes doing in terms of targeting them. And its really in terms of American History unprecedented to have a former sitting president talk about, im going to pardon insurrectionists. Some have been indicted for sedition and saying, if you hit the streets if they have evidence that ends up prosecuting me, thats unprecedented and unheard of in American History. It really is. Swinging a sword in rogers chair at vanderbuilt university. John, as he has from the beginning, he seems to be calling for violence here. He did it at his rallies openly. Told people to beat others up, protesters up and hed pay for their defense costs. He did that one after another after another. We saw him on january 6 inspiring those people to go up and commit insurrection against the United States. He told them to be strong. You saw one after another saying we were following Donald Trumps orders. Here you have him saying the quiet part out loud again, talking about mike peninsula should have overturned the election, where before he was saying we just want a recount and checking. Now hes saying he should have overturned the election. And then there seems to be a call for violence against these prosecutors that are holding him up, which goes right in line with Newt Gingrich saying the people investigating donald trump should be thrown in jail. Yeah, so, october 27th, 1964, Ronald Reagan gave a speech for barry goldwater, and it was titled a time for choosing. And this is it. It seems to me that if you are a citizen in the United States, if youre a republican or a democrat or an independent, the selfevident proof right before us, and its been going on, but the bit the parable of the prodigal son, lets not look back. Lets look forward. I dont see how it is even disputable that the former president of the United States is the architect of a unfolding coup against the constitution of the United States. I just dont see how you argue against that. And so when republicans, many of whom are my friends, say, oh, yeah, trump, you know, he says too much. But, you know, biden and spending. This is not that is not commensurate to the challenge. Its just not. And if you believe in the constitution, if you believe in the declaration of independence, you have to say that the kinds of things that trump says, but more importantly, what he does and what is done in his name is simply not acceptable. Yeah. By the way, we were calling out republicans during the age of trump just like i did during the age of bush 43 to be fiscally responsible, to stop being drunken socialists. They never did when donald trump or george w. Bush were in office. They were interested in other things. There were some republicans, though, john, calling out donald trump which shows you just how far he went this past weekend. Take a quick look at this. Well, i think its inappropriate. I dont want to reinforce defiling the capitol was okay. I dont want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future. I want to deter people who did on january 6. Those who did it, i hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it. I do not think the president should have made President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed. Folks, on the report of the right, in fact, the assault on the u. S. Capitol have to be held accountable. There is a rule of law. I dont care whether you were part of burning cities in antifa in 2020, you were storming the capitol in 2021, Everybody Needs to be held fairly accountable. They shouldnt be pardoned . Of course not. Oh, my goodness, no. Jon meacham, that is what Aaron Copeland might refer to as simple gifts. Well take simple gifts where we can find them. Youre right. There is always a false equivalency. Two people ive always had respect for, mitt romney and ben sass who are supposed to be the reasonable rational people. Just last week they engaged in this false equivalency, this dangerous false equivalency that suggested joe biden was no better than donald trump. They know that when they say that theyre being liars. They know that when they say that ben sass knows when he says joe biden is like donald trump and he doesnt respect elections any more he knows hes lying. Mitt romney knows hes lying. They know theyre lying. Im shocked. And when joe biden actually goes back and cleans up after the Press Conference, but donald trump just doubled down, they say nothing. Theyre playing for their base and they know theyre lying. I wish they wouldnt. This is straightforward stuff. They cant act like these are normal times. They cant, they cannot lie and say that joe biden, for all of his flaws and failings, is just like donald trump and not respecting fair and free elections. They know it is a false equivalency. They know its a lie. Its a flaw in the conversation for all kinds of reasons. Its just not commensurate. The criticism of the incumbent administration, no one saying theyre perfect, god knows. But as you just said, the idea that somehow or another this is actually secretly 1986 and its bob dole versus George Mitchell on the capitol gang, this is not that. And i think there is, i think there is this muscle memory. I think there is just this sort of sense that, okay, thats that team, this is our team. Yeah, we have, you know, an insurrectionist leader as the guy who is the front runner for our nomination. Well sort of ignore that for a minute and say, oh, what about joe biden . And i just dont think that in the fullness of time, thats good for the country. I dont think its good for the constitution. And i think they know that. Thats the other thing. I think they actually get it, but they cant make this conversation commensurate to the challenge. And i just think and we have to make it possible somehow. There has to be oxygen for it. Im not quite sure how that happens, but i know this. The former president of the United States, three different places in that statement, said he wanted to change the outcome of an election. And you know, weve had incredibly close elections before. 1968, 2000, 2016, for god sake. And nobodys ever said that. And thats what were up against. And its not its not the challenge of a morning. Its the challenge of a generation. It really is. It really is. Mika, i say this as a former politician myself. They know what theyre doing. I mean, they know what theyre doing. When joe Biden Blunders through an answer in a Press Conference and questions whether an election will be legitimate or not, and then he cleans it up later on, they know exactly what theyre doing. Its just like they knew exactly what they were doing. Theyd say, oh, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton she questioned the outcome of the election. How was she any different than donald trump . Ill tell you how shes different. Hillary clinton the next day took her medicine and they conceded to donald trump. Yeah. And she said he won and told everybody to get in line behind the new president , that elections have consequences. They do this all the time, though, and its really the fact that these people are saying that joe biden is just like donald trump, when donald trump again, just like this weekend, said the quiet part out loud. Mike pence should have stolen the election for me. Two weeks before the election, one week before the election, he said, my attorney general should jail my political opponent and his family, and put pressure on his attorney general just like he put pressure on mike pence later, to gel his political opponent. Lets stop for a second. Mitt romney. Ben sass. Donald trump pressured his attorney general to arrest his political opponent and his family on the eve of an election where he was losing in the polls. This weekend, this weekend donald trump struck out against his vicepresident and said his vicepresident should have overturned the election. I just ask you two, mitt, i love you, i love your family. I think youre a great man. I think youre a decent man. I think youre an honorable man. I think i can say the same about ben sass. I dont know him as well as i know mitt romney. I voted for mitt romney. I was sorry he lost. I think he would have been a great president. I really do. So, why does he compare joe biden to donald trump . Now, listen, you want to compare joe biden to Mitch Mcconnell, you want to compare joe biden to i dont know, compared to any other republican, dont compare it to a guy who has declared war against western democracy. Dont compare joe biden to a guy who is assaulting madisonian democracy. You know thats wrong, and it is dangerous. Its moral relativism. And in this case, you know, you know if this guy is reelected, madisonian democracy will be under grave challenge. Were not being hyperbolic here. No, its not. Look at january the 6th. You guys know this. Come on, like jon meacham said. Lets stop pretending this is 1986 and bob dole is debating George Mitchell on capitol gang. Were in a different world here. And as americans, i know you love america. I love america, too. We all love america, right . Just ask you just cut it out with the false equivalency. You say joe biden is not a good president , list all the reasons, thats fine. Dont say hes like donald trump. Its deeply offensive and deeply dangerous. Your words have consequences. The consequences are what im about to report. This is a pathological pattern going on several years now with the republican leaders, even like the ones you just mentioned. And our former guest, charlotte climber, brought up an earn credible point about what is going to bring this democracy to its knees is the factors that especially these Top Republican leaders are consistently ignoring. Consistently ignoring, whether its the president saying, ill get dirt from a political rival from a foreign leader. I dont care. Or, ill undermine our democracy. Or, ill just say i won when i didnt. These republicans need to step up. By the way, mika, i had a friend ive known a long time, a guy i respect. He said, dont forget al gore in 2000. Heres a guy, lets just say it. Lets just say it right here. Heres a guy who lost the presidency because five republicanappointed justices voted against him and four democrats voted for him. And what did al gore do . I need to go back to you. I need to go back to you. Ways not talking to al gore that day. I said he was stiff. I said he was wooden. That guy should have won that election by 15, 20 points going away. And yet that night, when the court ruled the way it did, after Sandra Day Oconnor was heard on election night, she said, my god, were going to have to stay on the court four more years. I cant get on the court and let al gore pick my successor. Al gore, what did al gore do . Historians, listen, you know it and i know it, historians are going to look back on that night at al gore. Thats going do define his career as an extraordinary patriot who upheld madisonian democracy. Who upheld the ideals that this country was founded on. Where our mettle is really tested, our constitutional mettle is tested after elections. Not what the winner does, but what the loser does. And al gore, what a shining example for all americans, even when you feel like you were done wrong, the presidency was stolen from you. Millions of americans believed it. Al gore gave one of the most patriotic speeches ive ever seen in my life. Unquestionably. Hes done it ever since. Thats the other thing, right. In the 21 years hes conducted himself with grace. A belief in a system that is flawed, but it is still worth defending. We have to work to reform it. We have to work to amend it, all of that. But absolutely. Its one of the great moments of grace Under Pressure which was one day i think hemmingway described that as courage. Bush was impressed by that speech. He called him that night. He knew what it had taken on a human level for gore to concede that way. And that was, what, wasnt it 567 . I lost the number. 537 votes in florida. Thats a real close election. This one wasnt, and were living in this not even close. You know, i just gave this enforced homily, we cant be trapped by the conversation. Were living a conversation were having a conversation because of what trump said. And i think that the issue is, and all the folks you mention, romney and sass, ill throw rob portman in and others, you know, this is the party that they gave their lives to, and that party is not there any more. Its just not. And i think its painful, and i get that on a human level. For me its the great question, its been the question for all of us since the early chapters of genesis. Are we going to be organized around the pursuit of power at any cost . Or are we going to be about, you know what, we have to see each other as neighbors and not as existential adversaries . And if thats the question, your point about madisonian democracy, you see each other as neighbors. Not that you love everybody. Theres a command to love your neighbor. If everybody loved their neighbor, you wouldnt need a commandment. But i help in the morning because i help you in the morning because you may help me in the afternoon. But the way trump is doing this, he wants to take it away for absolute power. And i think thats the defining question. Its also the republicans who could say this is wropg. This is the story, their reaction. They could put him away and are choosing to let him flourish. Thank you very much. Democrats are working hard to keep control of the house of representatives. To do so, the battle isnt only against republicans. Within the party, progressives are taking on moderates and a number of key primary races. One of those is in texass 28th Congressional District where conservative democrat henry cuellar, the nineterm incumbent, grapples with the fallout of an fbi raid on his home last week. Joining us now with more is nbc news capitol hill responsibility, garrett haake. Garrett, explain what is going on here. Reporter mika, i spent the weekend in texas covering this race. Texas has the first primary in this race. It pits young versus old, former intern against her former boss. Progressives trying to rally the energy of that base to meet a more conservative democrat. Really anything you would look for in an exciting primary race. That was before they got involved. In laredo to southeast san antonio, there is a lot of ground to cover for texas 28th Congressional District. Im Jessica Cisneros. Im running for the Democratic Party. Reporter somehow related to a country 7,000 miles away could be the races deciding factor. So, im running against henry cuellar. You might have heard of him. He was in the news last week. He was a member of Congress Whose house got raided by the fbi. Reporter the january 19th raid of congressman cuellars home and Campaign Office were part of a federal investigation relating to the nation azerbaijan according to a senior Law Enforcement official. Voteders have questions. Were a month away. The fbi raided cuellar, and nobody still knows why. Reporter had you heard about this fbi raid . I mean, yes. Its been all over the news. Reporter cuellar declined our interview request but posted a video on his website. I am committed to justice and the law is upheld. There is a investigation that shows there is no wrongdoing on my part. I intend to win. Reporter the ninetime winner is an institution, a moderate border main stay and congressional leadership. Progressives see him as conservative and too out of touch with the modern party. His only vote against the Womens Health protection act last year. In his 2020 primary, immigration attorney and former cuellar intern Jessica Cisneros fell three points short of victory. Now with more money from National Progressive leaders and a reshaped district, shes trying again. How much of your work is introducing yourself to people . Just that. This part of the district were in in san antonio is new to the direct. Reporter cisneros believes the pandemic proves the need for Medicare Advantage for all her primary advantage may not be who she is, but who she is not. Its always been cuellar. I want to give somebody else a chance to see what they can do. Reporter this race may be shaping up as a referendum on cuellar as we await more information on the fbi raid. The republicans are watching this primary closely. They see a wounded cuellar or progressive incumbent as an opportunity to see someone in play. Nbcs garrett haake. Thank you very much. Coming up, spotify controversy. Were hearing from Podcaster Joe rogan whose show is at the center of all of this. Plus an amazing match closes out the Australian Open. Mary carillo joins us from nbc sports to talk about the recordbreaking win for rafael nadal. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. G morning well be right back. Portant to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. Try boost glucose control®. Its clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. Try boost® today. As a dj, i know all about customization. Thats why i love Liberty Mutual. They customize my Car Insurance, so i only pay for what i need. How about a throwback . Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty only pay for what you need. 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The 35yearold spaniard now has one more major title than Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic who both didnt compete in melbourne. Federer was injured, and djokovic deported over his vaccination status. On saturday, topranked ash barty ended a 44year drought by defeating american Danielle Collins to become the First Australian to win the grand slam singles title there since 1978. Joining us now, nbc Sports Correspondent and analyst for nbcs tennis coverage, mary carillo. She played professional tennis before moving to the broadcast booth. And i guess, first of all, overall thoughts about this grand slam finish with so many missing players. Big key players. Right, there were some big players missing, mika. May i say first of all, ive been watching your show all morning. Politics has become such a blood sport. Its become so reddening. Im delighted to bring a little tense into this thing, a little sports. Thank you. It was a remarkable achievement. Yeah, it was remarkable. There are going to be people who say that, in the absence of Novak Djokovic who was deported, who saw that coming, or Roger Federer who also has 20 majors along with Novak Djokovic, this is a hollow victory. There is nothing hollow about rafa nadal. He is about the least hollow man ive ever met. This is a guy who just a couple of months ago was on crutches. He was seriously talking about retiring. Full disclosure, first you couple of sets go by and im in bed. I was watching the scores on my phone. And this guy nadal, he was down two sets and a break and love 40. Ive got to watch this 25yearold russian medvedev win his second major. Instead, rafa wins his second australian, his 21st grand slam title and for the first time, mika, he moves ahead of federer. Roger had gotten a fistful of majors before rafa started making his move. Novak djokovic came up right in between them. This just animates the conversation even more about who is going to be the greatest of all time. In my mind, djokovic has been number one for more weeks. Hes his record against rafa and roger. He said, i was dust at the end, i was dust. Its was magnificent. It was just magnificent. He had barely practiced enough. There were times in the last couple of months, mika, when he said he could only practice 20 minutes at a time. Then he got it up to 40. In the quarterfinals against a very talented canadian, he had heat stroke. In the semis he had to go four sets, bertini. He said, this is the most unexpected win of my career, without a doubt. Just something else. Something else. Hey, mary, good morning. Its jonathan lemire. I feel like dust after three hours of morning joe. I follow you on twitter, jonathan. I know you were watching. I was. Im a big tennis finance. Im on team federer, ill admit. I have such respect for nadal. The Australian Open had been a house of horrors for him a long time. Thats partially why this win meant so much. Pivot us forward a little bit. You mentioned djokovic in your mind, hes the guy to beat. Do we anticipate hell be able to play in paris in the french open . How do we see the Nadal Djokovic rivalry shaping up if indeed federer is in the last gasp of his career . Yeah, jonathan, university of shizuoka yeah, jonathan, youre right. He hasnt won a major in a couple years. Djokovic has a lot fewer miles on him compared to these other two guys and hes very hungry. He makes no he makes no quams about the fact that he wants to win the most majors of anyone in history. And that, by the way, to my mind, is not the only way you judge who is the greatest of all time. I dont know if this guy is going to look, if you want to be the greatest tennis player of all time, you have to be able to travel. Hes got to figure out a way. Like, you got to get through an airport. You have to get to another country. I really hope he works it out because that was such a messy start, and it was bad for more than a week. All the talk was about djokovic, you know, being deported, being held, and then the tournament started. Then the tournament started. It was an unbelievable event. Ash barty, the young aussie, is about as likeable as any tennis player ive known since yvon goolagon who is her idol of national blood. She is a junk yard dog, she tries so hard. Shes in the top ten for the first time. Ash barty just underscored why she is the number one player in the world. Shes great on all surfaces. 2022 is going to be a very, very interesting tennis season as far as i can see. So exciting. What an exciting story. And, you know, for djokovic looking at all of this, he had to get the unmistakable message. Life goes on without him. Im like you. I hope he gets this behind him because right now, maybe he cant go to the french open. Maybe he cant do wimbledon. It just seems like such a waste. Not just for him, mary such a waste. But for tennis fans. Exactly. You want this guy in the mix. I like the fact that after all this time, after almost 20 years, i mean, rafas been playing for that long. Roger before that, and djokovic. These are the three greatest players of all time. You cant tell until the final. Its like, you got to finish the book before you decide, oh, thats how it ended. So we dont know yet how it ends. But i got to hope novak figures out a way to keep travel and going to these things and proving his worth. Boy, lets hope so. Mary, thank you so much for being with us as always. We love having you on. Greatly appreciate it. Coming up, spotify is making some changes, but getting rid of joe rogan, oh, thats not one of them. The latest on neil young protest on Covid Misinformation. Joni mitchell and others considering getting off the platform. Morning joe coming back. Com. delivery man thats for you. mail recipient 1 these are opened. mail recipient 2 and it came like this . delivery man i dont know theyre all open. This ones open too. 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And get access to over 20 million wifi hotspots from coast to coast. So no matter what big event comes up, your team can be ready for whats next. Get started with fast and reliable internet and voice for just 64. 99 a month. Or, ask how to get a visa prepaid card with a qualifying bundle. The pandemic made teaching and learning really hard. But instead of working to help students safely return to the classroom, the San Francisco school board focused on renaming schools and playing politics. And theyve even saddled our district with a 125 million deficit. Our children cant wait for new leadership. Heres our chance for a fresh start. On february 15th, please recall School Board Members collins, lopez and moliga before our kids fall even further behind. The controversy surrounding one of spotifys biggest stars is ramping up. It all comes after neil young accused the platform of allowing joe rogan to push propaganda about covid. Nbc news correspondent emily a quetta reports. Reporter this morning joe roggin speaking out. I dont always get it right. Reporter responding to his popular podcast where he is known for questioning vaccine safety and a virologist suggested americans were hip know nightly newsed into getting vaccinated. Im interested in having interesting conversations with people that have differing opinions. Reporter roggin offering to make some changes as powerful celebrities put pressure on the streaming service. Whenever i get something wrong, i try to correct it. If theres anything ive done that i can do better is have more experts with differing opinions right after i have the controversial ones. Reporter now spotify says its going to add a Content Advisory to any podcast episode discussing covid19 directing people to expert information on the virus which rogan says he supports. Prince harry and Meghan Markle chiming in. They are expressing concerns with spotify to ensure changes are made to address the Public Health crisis. Arch well will continue its partnership with spotify in contrast to those stripping partnership with the platform. Im losing 60 of my worldwide income in the name of truth. The expanding revolt includes song writer Joni Mitchell and i go farrist. Plus bestselling author who signed a deal in 2020 tweeting she will not be releasing pod casts until further notice, though not saying why. Professor pop culture Robert Thompson says for spotify, navigating this controversy is a business decision. When they are looking for ways to maximize income, the podcast is clearly a direction they are going, and joe rogan is the standing on the top of the heap example of that direction. That was nbcs emily akeda reporting. Coming up, why americans cant quit polarizing politicians. The most polarizing characters get attention online. Where does that leave Everything Else . That conversation is next on morning joe. Conversation is n morning joe. Diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. 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They told every bad joke in the world about us, and so from that standpoint, baby dog tells bette midler and all those out there kiss her hiney. Ill tell you what, i dont know how he dreamed that up but that was jim justice during his recent state of the state address. Governor justice was referring to a now deleted tweet from bette midler where she called West Virginia poor, illiterate, and strung out. Bette midler later apologized for that tweet. But after the governors comments, she tweeted a chart from u. S. News and world report which ranks the 150 50 states based on factors such as health care, economy, and infrastructure. West virginia ranked 47th. She said judging from these rankings i old say his dog would make a better governor than him. Jonathan, the battle between bette midler and baby dog is going to continue for some teem. Jon meacham said it was a time for choosing and it does seem like perhaps i woulds between bette midler and baby dogs hiney. That was more of that poor canine than i think any of us perhaps needed to see, although it is a good running thing with the governor there. This is not the time or the place here, joe, to say id pick a side. But i did accidentally once steal bette midler at the vets. I put accidentally in quotes. Did you . Weve reached a new level of political discourse. Thats safe to say. God is watching us. God is watching us from a distance. Hes glad he is from a distance. Right. When were talking about baby dogs backside. Now to new analysis showing how obsessed americans are with polar itzed politicians, and new data by news whip, an organization that tracks social media, finds senator ted cruz tops the list with over 2,000 social media interactions. It found the most impactful news makers arent the most trending one. President biden ranks low on the list. Director of audience, neil rothschild. He newses day to cover politics. Neil, you know, we show ted cruz. Ted cruz actually has an impact on american policy from his committee, hes certainly on nord stream 2 right now, but the politicians i find fascinaing are those in the house who dont pass any legislation but the most divisive and they raise the most money because of i would. Talk about how that impacts politics, especially in the house of representatives. Yeah. Well, i say this also as someone who calls their dog baby dog, but you have this dynamic where its not like traditional media can breathe life into a politicians profile i e because of social media. You can have people like Marjorie Taylor greene and boebert tweeting thousands of times and all of a sudden theyre in the national conversation, they have a National Profile and people are kind of forced to Pay Attention to them. Thats kind of how you have this dynamic of folk who is arent the most influential policymakers suddenly becoming important parts of the national discourse. Neil, when i saw your report on the weekend, what was fascinating to me is that it overlaps in other areas like in activism, where ive seen activists with no following, no standing, come into a situation where were fighting for victims and say the most provocative things so they can get all the likes and attention on social media, and all of a sudden media starts covering them because they think they have a following. It has nothing to do with the strategy. This is whats happening with the back benchers in the house and others that youre talking about. So, are we in danger of now our politics, our social movements praying to the cheap seats because of this is what gets the most attention and the most rhythm on social media . I will say sometimes it can be just noise and sometimes it can have a real impact. When you are able to build such a National Profile, that makes it easier to fund raise and that makes it easier to win a primary and win an election and become a lawmaker. So it depends on the case, but oftentimes it can turn into a reallife impact with real policy implications and when that discourse can turn into things that become more tangible that can alter the course of the country. Its so interesting that some of these people, the fire breathers that get the most hits, that are retweeted the most, they do raise the most money. Some of the numbers attached to some of these back benchers are just shocking. But it seems like theyre builting a culdesac where theyll never go anywhere because their views are so extreme, they get the money, but theyre not going to be elected senator or governor because that wont expand statewide. I want to talk about its interesting on aoc. She is number two on this list. And you always sort of see just underneath the surface, Nancy Pelosis frustration when people start asking her about aoc because nancy pelosi rose through the ranks, she, you know, did it the traditional way, and i dont know that she always loves being asked how shes going to respond to an influencer where to her its building coalitionings in the house and passing legislation the traditional way. Yeah. And i think an important thing to think about here is that, like, aoc is, like, the modern face of the Democratic Party in a lot of ways, certainly to Younger Generation where kind of nancy pelosi kind of on all the ways she understands she can wield her power and for decades shes been able to master and perfect how she can perfectly keep her caucus in line and craft her message, and suddenly she has a lot less control due to factors that are kind of more strongly held by a Younger Generation. All right. Neil rothschild of axios, thank you so much. Please give our best to baby dog rothschild. Will do. An hour away from the u. S. And russia coming facetoface at the unSecurity Council. Stephanie ruhle will have coverage of all that and more of todays breaking news. Thats in two minutes. Thanks for watching. In two min. Thanks for watching. Woman whats my safelite story . I see inspiration right through my glass. So when my windshield cracked, i chose safelite. They replaced the glass and recalibrated my safety system. Thats service i can trust. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Avoiding triggers, but cant keep migraine attacks away . Qulipta™ can help prevent migraine attacks. It cant prevent stress. Qulipta™ can help prevent migraine attacks. It cant prevent changes in weather. You cant prevent whats going on outside, thats why qulipta™ helps whats going on inside. Qulipta™ is a pill. Gets right to work to prevent migraine attacks and keeps them away over time. 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