Thats to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable. At home, another four years of Donald Trumps chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of project 2025 will hurt real, everyday people and waken our sacred institutions. Richard, which are the reasons who have not stood up yet, who served in the Trump Administration, who could actually make a difference in terms of persuading those very few, unpersuadable voters who are left . And do you expect any more of them to stand up between now and november . I mean, theres the former Vice President who has, shall we say, a certain physical and political incentive to stand up, given how he was do you think hes going to do it . No. Look, i think if people were going to stand up, theyve had now, shall we say, several years to do it. Several people simply have not. Disagree with me or not, but how much of a difference will it make . Its certainly not going to shake trumps base. Im not sure many of these people would influence the independents or a small number of voters in swing states. Itll be interesting to see. Its fascinating, katty, how many of people who work with him most closely, who know him best, have come out against him. That, to me, is a stunning indictment. No question, those who know him the best decided not to back him, eugene. But Adam Kinzinger, republican, spoke at the Democratic Convention last week, gave a good speech. Tim miller, our friend from msnbc and the bulwark applauded him. Said, where are the rest . We know some have spoken out against him privately, but where was john kelly, where was rex tillerson, where was mike pence . Where was george w. Bush, liz cheney, and the list goes on and on . People who privately and sometimes publicly made it clear they disagree with donald trump, would never vote for him again, but theres always been Something Holding them back from taking the center stage, whether political ambition or not, but to forcefully denounce trump and back harris. To richard point, does it even matter . I dont see it changing. If every prominent republican who inwardly, secretly despises donald trump and thinks he is dangerous for the country and the world, had spoken at the Democratic Convention, there wouldnt have been any room for democrats to speak. You know, its not like theres a shortage of these people. But its very clear at this point, after years, that many of them are not going to come out. Theyre going to remain in exile or in the closet, i guess, and i dont does it make a difference that this group came out . I think very marginally. I think in so far as theyre trying to create a Permission Structure for establishment Republican Voters who are who really dont want to vote for either trump or harris to just go ahead and vote for harris. I dont think there are necessarily a lot of people who are going to be pushed off that fence to actually voting for harris, but, you know, tight election and small numbers can make a big difference. You know what, katty . I think theres two ways i have seen republicans in this trump era go at the former president while also trying to preserve republicanism in the way that they remember it. You have people like adam kinzen kinzinger, outside approach, appearing at a Democratic Convention, trying to create what eugene calls out as the Permission Structure to patriotically maintain your time as a conservative but vote for Small D Democracy by voting for Kamala Harris. Then you have people like mike pence, like liz cheney, some of the other names weve mentioned here, who are never going to come out and disavoid their party. That was nbcs Erin Mclaughlin with that report. Meanwhile, negotiations continue in cairo this week for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in gaza. According to White House National security spokesperson john kirby, discussions will continue for the next few days. One issue to be tackled includes how many hostages may be exchanged. Their identities and the pace of their potential release. This comes after an Intense Exchange between israel and hezbollah this weekend that stoked fears of a wider regional war. The Washington Post citing officials and analysts reports the exchange was a facesaving moment for both sides, allowing them to step back from the edge of a wider conflict, letting hezbollah claim vengeance and israel to project confidence in its security apparatus. Richard, your piece in Foreign Affairs bears the headline, the trouble with allies. America needs a playbook for difficult friends. You write the tensions with israel over the past year are merely one example of a persistent but underappreciated predicament of u. S. Foreign policy. How to manage disagreements with friends and allies. Richard, since october 8th, there have been disagreements between the Biden White House and Prime Minister netanyahu. Officials on record say they believe, at times, netanyahu makes decisions in his own political interests rather than trying to bring a conclusion to the war or bring those hostages home. Tell us more about this predicament and what can be done about it. Its a recurring one. It goes back essentially as long as weve had alliances. Disagreements with the allies during world war ii, with britain and france and israel over the Suez Affair In 56. Go through it. Every decade, there are these things. We just showed ukraine and israel. Okay. So with ukraine, should ukraine have told us about this incursion . They now want before they did it. They did not. Going forward, they want more arms, and it is answer is maybe but under what strategy . Why dont the United States and ukraine sit down and say, okay, wed give you more arms, but here are the understandings. What are the definition of succession . We supported israels right to defend itself after october 7th, but weve come a long way from that. What israel is doing in gaza is arguably counterproductive. The United States has given israel aadvice, and israel rejected the advice. For the most part, weve lived with that. Should we do more independently to support our policy, to push israel harder on putting together a plan for after in gaza . Weve looked the other way for decades as israel has built settlements. Why has the United States done that . Settlements take off the table the possibility of having a Palestinian State and twostate solution. Why are we simply looking the other way . Why dont we have a stronger policy there . We need to be more independent. If our allies arent going to take our interests into account, and often they dont if we simply disagree, why dont we press our views harder . Is there a scenario you could see this white house, the Biden White House, doing exactly that, insisting to ukraine that you need to lead us into where youre going next, especially if theres incursions into russia . Also, insisting to netanyahu that some of the outlines actually happen. Is that something you can see biden putting forth, maybe even after the election, after the Vice President has had her day at the ballot box . Its late in the day and itd probably be too easy for the other government to wait him out. After the election, you have 75 days left of the biden presidency. If it were going to happen, it should have happened months ago. I think itll be a challenge for whoever is the 47th president. We have got allies, in particular, israel. You have questions about what they do with iran. Do we want them to attack iran or not . What about hezbollah, gaza . What about the west bank and so forth, settlements . Ukraine, do we want ukraine to try to liberate crimea militarily . Do we want ukraine to pursue diplomacy . I think whoever is the 47th president , jonathan, is going to have some big, big issues with allies. Also taiwan, what do we want taiwan to do vis a vis china . I dont think it is too late for whoever comes after joe biden. If Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas became, like, different people tomorrow and decided, okay, time for a Palestinian State, is there enough left for a Palestinian State . When i look at the map, it just looks like worse than swiss cheese, what the israelis would be theoretically leaving to the palestinians. Given the settlements and the roads connecting the settlements and the way that palestinians cant even move around the west bank, let alone between the west bank and gaza. Whats your view on that . Gene, what you suggest is true. Whatever you have to work with now, its incomparably less with what you had to work with a decade ago, two decades, three. In the past when israel has given up territory, vis a vis egypt, say, you have the evacuation of certain settlements. Same thing in gaza, when israel left gaza. I think there would have to be territorial adjustments. Thered have to be compensation for certain stray settlements. I think the concentrated settlement blocks would remain, then youd have territorial compensation for it. All of which is to say, i dont think it is too late for diplomacy. But go back to your first point. Youd need different people. In order to have any negotiation succeed, you need leadership on both sides that, one, is willing, and, two, able to make peace, has the disposition as well as the political restraint. You dont have that. The reason you ultimately had a transition between israel and egypt, they were willing and able to do it. In south africa, you had mandela and declercq willing and able to deal with the end of apartheid. You do not have leadership between israel and either hamas or the Palestinian Authority thats both willing and able. U. S. Diplomats, i dont care how often they get on a shuttle, they simply dont have the counterparts to deal with here. The ceasefire talks continue in cairo. U. S. Officials late last night pushing back against reports that they had hit an impasse but acknowledge gaps still remain. We, of course, will bring you the latest development. Still ahead on morning joe, the Department Of Justice is pushing to revive the classified documents case against donald trump. What special counsel jack smiths team is arguing in a new filing. Plus, democrats in Battleground Georgia are suing the state over controversial, new Election Rules. Well take a look at that legal challenge and why it is so significant ahead of november. Also ahead, former National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster is the latest Trump Administration official to come out with a new Inside Account of his time working for the former president. He joins the conversation ahead here on morning joe. Well be back in just 90 seconds. Why do couples choose a sleep number smart bed . Can it keep me warm when im cold . Wait, no, im always hot. Sleep number does that. Can i make myside softer . I like myside firmer. Sleep number does that. Your Ideal Firmness and effortless comfort, all night. Can it help us sleep better and better . Please . Sleep number does that. 9 out of 10 couples report better sleep. During our biggest sale of the year, the queen sleep number c2 smart bed is only 999. 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I served in iraq and afghanistan. You know, one of the fundamental principles you operate is you always secure the high ground or you have eyes on the high ground. So i definitely took note today that there were a lot of lines of sight that appear to have been unsecured that day, that didnt have eyes on or that werent secured. Certainly, at this point, a lot more questions than answers. With every single detail that comes out of this investigation, it looks worse and worse for the Secret Service. Looks worse and worse for the Secret Service, and i imagine well continue to see Congressional Committees press the Secret Service on what their Investigation Continues to yield. Youll remember, first time we saw kimberly cheatle, no longer the head of the Secret Service, but the first time we saw her testify on capitol hill, a lot of the answers she gave lawmakers were, an investigation is ongoing. I dont want to get too much into it. Now, the new director will have to answer all those same questions, and he does not have the benefit of minimal time that she had. More time has elapsed, and there are only more questions. Were now going to see this as one of the key things that congress has left to do on its todo list for this year. Theyre going to, of course, have to do Government Fund l when they come back to town in september. Beyond that, this task force, and potentially another Rival Task Force mostly of trump allies in unofficial capacity, theyre still doing their investigation. But this task force of jason crow, mike kelly, and others has Subpoena Power. They will it has real bipartisan support . Real bipartisan support. Weve never seen, its not just the republicans and democrats that are actually on the task force. I think everyone has pretty widespread concern. In large part, we have only seen Political Violence threats ratchet up over the last five years. Thats a concern for every lawmaker regardless of their party. Yeah. John, if you were in the Harris Campaign, of course, you want that answered, too. The democrats definitely want answers from this investigation, as well. Special counsel jack smiths office asked an Appeals Court to restore the classified documents case against former President Trump. U. S. District judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the indictment last month, claiming smiths appointment as special counsel violated the constitution. In an 81 page brief filed yesterday, the special counsels office argues Attorney GeneralMerrick Garland had Clear Authority to appoint smith to lead that prosecution and that cannon ignored decades of precedent when she decided to toss out the case. Trump has been charged with 40 Felony Counts pertaining to allegations he willfully retained National Defense information at his palm beach estate after he left office. He has pleaded not guilty. Lets see where that one goes, but clearly jack smith is pushing back at those attempts to get this case effectively pushed down the road as long as possible. Not abandoning the hopes, even if slim, to bring this in the next few months. Deciding not to do the mini trial, the presentation of evidence weve heard from legal experts that would sort of put everything in the Public Domain ahead of election day, even if the trial were not. Its certainly still a long shot. Again, this is one of those cases where, both of these cases, this with january 6th as well as the classified documents federal case, that totally hinge upon the results of this election. If donald trump were to win, he can easily advice his Attorney General to to make them go away. Were Vice President harris to win, wed assume they would be revived at some point down the road. Of course, a lot riding on this election for Donald Trumps personal liberty, as well as his political future. Speak of politics, the Democratic Party