To mark the 50th anniversary of our relationship, this is a hybrid of breeds native to singapore and hawaii, where the president was born, most of us believe. A trump joke there from the Prime Minister of singapore at a state dinner last night. That will do it for me on way too early. Morning joe starts right now. I want you to know something, i come to work every day wanting to start the show with something other than donald trump. And yet every day more words come out of his face. Where to begin . Yes, they do. Where to begin. They keep coming out. So much to talk about. A waterfall of words are destroying his brand. Your voice is back. Barely. I had to go on stage last night and have him speak for me. How pathetic is that . We hear enough from him, you know. I guess. All those menthal cigarettes caught up with you. This is the first time on your set. Im a little scared. Good morning, everyone. Its wednesday, august 3rd. With us on set, the managing editor of Bloomberg Politics and the cohost of with all due
respect John Heilemann and professor at the university of Michigan School of public policy, former democratic congressman harold ford jr. Is working. And in washington columnist for washington examiner. I think it sounds good. Ill do the news. Yesterday we stopped for about ten minutes and we talked at the beginning of the show Donald TrumpsMental Wellbeing as questioned by just about everybody that we know. John heilemann, an implosion the likes of which i have never seen in all of my years of being a republican, ive never seen anything like this before. If you are a republican and if you actually believe in what the Republican Party has believed in in the past, starting with ronald reagan, its all very
sickening. Republicans are having a hard time right now. As you said yesterday on your show, donald trump doesnt give a damn about the Republican Party. They should have known that. They are all sitting in their own you know what. Its not like we didnt say on this show that donald trump didnt give a damn about the Republican Party. He cares about himself. People called him for months the chaos candidate and he benefited from being the chaos candidate. He now looks increasingly like the kamikaze candidate. Hes trying to destroy the party, himself and everything hes doing by now if you just apply rationale basis to looking at his behavior, hes just trying to destroy everything. Including his own campaign and his own prospects and everything that lies before him. There is it makes no
sense. Hell contradict himself. Say something one minute. Contradict himself three minutes later. Contradict himself again and say things that are clearly false that any rationale person would know theres videotape to show that he had taken a different position a day or two before. Look, look, its not even the lies which are obvious and daily and weekly. It is his complete lack of care for the people of this country. He does not have dedication to this country. Hes not driven by dedication to this country. If you saw him flipingly holding a purple heart and talking about it the way he did. Always wanted one of these. What i believe is he thinks he can go back and then be a big business mogul. I actually think hes crossed the line into the area where those primary voters are going to look at this and see him with that purple heart and see him talking about that family that way and theyre going to be turned off. I cant imagine maybe not yet but hes on a trajectory his brand is in jeopardy. If he cares about anything, care about your brand and start acting like an american. If you actually care about your family, if you care about your children and their brand, theres no doubt everybody in that family from ivanka to don jr. To eric, everybody is being damaged by the chaos. They spend their entire time answering they get on the air and mess up. They should be getting on the air talking about the economy, talking about the not Sexual Harassment which they know nothing about obviously. What im saying, willie, they are put in a position to
constantly defend their father for the stupid, stupid things hes saying. We see it every morning. Eric trump was on tv talking about Sexual Harassment. I wonder his whole argument was nationalism and hes going to make America Great again. When he stepped across the line on day five or six in a fight with gold star family and questioned whether khan, that was his argument and you have the vfw and these veterans groups coming out against donald trump, hes in a territory he cant be in. That was his last place. Thats where he lived. If you lose those people, if you lose the military, then what . He needs paul ryan and Republican Leaders and yet donald trump is still at war with leaders of his own party who must be feeling incredibly stupid right now. In an interview with the Washington Post, hes withholding his endorsement from House Speaker paul ryan and republican nominee john mccain in their primaries this month. Also kelly aot in new hampshire. Lets remember what speaker ryan said. Im just not ready to do that at this point. Im not there right now. I hope to support his candidacy fully and i want to do that but right now i got to tell you, jake, just being candid with you, at this point im just not there right now. At that point there was still he shouldnt be there right now. Yesterday trump returned the favor using very similar language. Im just not there yet. I am not quite there yet. I like, paul, trump said. These are horrible times for our country. We need strong leadership. We need very, very strong leip. Adersh trump said that speaker ryan
sought his endorsement that everybody wants my support. Ryans office didnt. Neither speaker ryan nor anyone on his team has ever asked for Donald Trumps endorsement. Were very confident of victory next week. Regardless, chaos. Theres a mccain commercial i want to show you later. Chaos and kamikaze behavior. Think about yesterday as willie suggested after he attacked the khan family, gold star family, 22 million veterans in this country, people upset. A story comes out in the New York Times that talks about his lack of military service, his five deferments, which is in contradiction to things he said years ago to tim russert about why he hadnt served. On that day in this context, he stands up on stage with as mika talked about somebody elses purple heart and makes a glib comment about that. A replica. And then claims that the
conversation he had with the gentleman who gave him the purple heart that the gentleman told him it was the real purple heart. A few minutes later that guy is interviewed by reporters. I didnt tell trump that. I told him that was a copy. What are you doing in the middle of this fight, at this moment, what are you doing holding a purple heart on stage and talking about it at all . Theres nothing rationale about any of this behavior, harold ford. I say this as somebody ive known donald for 10, 11, 12 years. This is not rationale behavior at all. Its as if hes trying to blow himself up. He told one minute that the purple heart is a copy, a replica. And then two minutes later he gets up on stage and he specifically says i asked him if this was the real thing. Specifically says opposite. Its one thing after another. Its painful to watch. Unfortunately i look forward to seeing it again. The petty grievances this guy
has that continue to play themselves out and back and forth with paul ryan. We talked about during the primary he was bad at times. Hes worse now than hes been at any point during that time. He is at his worse. The point you make, he will say he said x and show videos of him saying why over and over again and he denies it. I dont know how you deny over and over again a president ial candidate and then the khan family, he called for a ban on muslims coming to the country and it may well be hell look back on the last 96 hours and one of the most patriotic speeches i ever heard give was by a Muslim American and brought an end to this campaign. Great advertisement for the United States of america that this country has rallied around a Muslim American family and maybe it is undone some of the
damage that Donald Trumps stupidity in proposing a muslim ban has caused this country worldwide. Youre so right. Thank god. Take a look at donald trump. Weve been talking about this purple heart. We might as well show you this purple heart conversation. He holds it like its a toy and talks about it like, i dont know its a trading card or something. Its hard to watch. This is all really depressing. Depressing on a personal level because we know him and hes our friend. Its depressing for me as a conservative. Its depressing as a republican. And as an american. Its depressing most importantly as an american. If you know anybody who served, if you have served, if you lost anybody who served or if anybody who served has been injured, take a look at this and think about this as your next commander in chief. Watch. A man came up to me and he handed me his purple heart. Now, i said to him, i said to him, is that, like, the real one or is that a copy . He said thats my real purple heart. I have such confidence in you. I said, man, thats like big stuff. I always wanted to get the purple heart. This was much easier. But i tell you, it was such an honor and maybe i can bring him up on the stage, Lieutenant Colonel general lewis dorfman. Was he holding the purple heart, nobody wants a purple heart . Its not something you always want. Again, its bizarre that he
would say this was the real thing. After the guy said, no, its a copy. The Clinton Campaign was quick, very quick to react to trumps remark tweeting this is from a man who says hes sacrificed for our country. Tammy duckworth tweeted this photo saying this is how one usually looks when awarded the purple heart. Nothing easy about it. John harwood reporting last night that the Campaign Staff is suicidal. That manafort has checked out. And its actually worse than people imagined. The family cant control him. The kids cant control him. Manafort cant control him. Nobody can control him anymore. Hes just off in the fields wandering. Its really bad for this country. Its dangerous for this country. What does the Republican Party do now . I think we reached a moment where the Republican Party is going to change its tune. I think meg whitman coming out last night that ran for a republican in the state of california say im voting for Hillary Clinton, hes dangerous, the country cant afford im putting my country ahead of my party. I wonder if we see the thread being pulled where people have enough cover, paul ryan maybe and others, to come out and say, enough is enough. I cant stand by this. Something that people have been calling for for months and months and months. Paul ryan, joe, we know these people. We know sometimes we disagree with them. I do. We know them as people. We know theyre solid good people. We know theyre leaders. Revoke your endorsement. Paul is a great guy. Be a leader. Am i overstating it, i think theyre ruining the party. They are ruining their careers. They are damaging the party. And theyre doing it for a guy as weve said here time and time again who is a democratic for 65 years of his life. He voted for bill clinton in 92. He voted for bill clinton in 96. He voted for al gore in 2000 and john mcca in 2009 he said Hillary Clinton is great leader. He gave money to Hillary Clinton three times. He is a democratic and these republicans are sitting here there was a Conspiracy Theory at the beginning of the campaign, that bill clinton and donald trump spoke on the phone for a very long time before the Campaign Began and bill clinton encouraged him to run for president , John Heilemann. Listen, i mean, its not a stretch. Donald trump has been a democratic his entire life. The clintons and he have been friends. Im not saying that those conspiracy theories are true, but if that was a Conspiracy Theory you were running with, you sure would have a lot of ammunition to say hes deliberately throwing this election to Hillary Clinton. And destroying the party in the process. I ask you as the only previously elected Republican Office holder at this table, what would be the political cost to paul ryan or anybody else, focus on paul ryan, to stand up tomorrow or today and say, you know what . Im done. Hes not going to endorse me in my primary fight. Ive had enough. I tried to make good peace with this. I havent been able to. Im out of here. Whats the political cost to that . The fear they have right now are trump supporters. I think a guy like these
congressional districts, you are always going 10, 15 Percentage Points higher than your candidate. If you have a Good Relationship with your district, not much. You know what you do . You make the announcement at a town hall meeting in janesville and you spend an entire weekend Holding Town Hall meetings and explaining to people face to face why youre not supporting donald trump. Or subject to an ad that john mccains opponent put out against him ripping him to shreds supporting ludicrous comments by donald trump. Harder for john mccain. Hes just in a loselose position. He just is. If he doesnt support trump, hes going to get in trouble. Hes in trouble with the trump base now. He gets killed in the primary if
he doesnt support trump. He gets killed in the general if he does support trump. If youre mccain, just do the right thing. Heres more from trumps interview with the Washington Post. He hit back at mccain after mccain rebuked trump for questioning the right of a Fallen Soldiers parents to criticize him. Trump said i havent endorsed john mccain. Ive never been there with john mccain because ive always felt he should have done a much better job for the vets. Mccain has not responded though he did meet privately with governor mike pence in phoenix last night. Pence did not address trumps comments. He also took a swipe at kelly ayotte in a fight in new hampshire. Im doing well in new hampshire. We dont need weak people. We have enough of them. We need fighters in this country. Kelly ayotte has given me no support. She responded i call it like i see and it ill stand up for our military families and whats best for the people of new hampshire. We went after Newt Gingrich when he was speaker of the house. We ran him out of town. There are a lot of people in my district that werent happy about that. I held town Hall Meetings and explained why. I got 80 of the vote in the next race i ran. You can explain this stuff away. You can tell people im going with my conscious. You disagree with me. I understand you like trump. This is why im doing it. Its petty grievances thing. I like mike pence as a person. I was really disappointed watching a few days ago, maybe
two days ago, when a military mom got up and made a point and was booed by members of the audience and governor pence and others didnt do what john mccain did years ago when a woman said awful things about obama and mccain stopped the questioner. At a political rally for either republican or democratic, someone can stand and be booed after announcing that her son served in the military. Showed a picture of the son serving in the military. I think its turning against him. What have we come to as a country . What have we come to as a body when this is acceptable . As a republican nominee who enjoys support among a decent number of people in the country
after all that hes said and all hes done and what happened at mike mike pences rally . As we look at these responses donald trump has given to various candidates whether john mccain or paul ryan or kelly ayotte, the question is what is my benefit . Joe talked about the electoral questions that john mccain faces. When you give your support and stick your neck out there and what you get in kind is donald trump questioning you calling you weak saying you dont stand up for vets and saying to paul ryan i like the other guy in this race . At this point when is enough . N youve said things and now youre not endorsing me . The person im most sympathetic to is paul ryan because hes not just concerned about janesville, wisconsin, he has a majority to win back. For those members on the edge in purple districts, donald trump could very well be a big drawback. Hes also got a lot of members that hes got to keep onboard who are hearing in town halls that they love donald trump. I think the biggest problem donald trump has right now how do you do it if youre paul ryan and say hes racist but im still supporting him . Its incredibly tough. I count one of those very disappointing when he came out and said, fine, its endorsement, calling it what you want. I dont love it. I get why he did it. Hes thinking, if im speaker of the house, which is the president thats more likely to sign bills into law that my Congress Passes. I think he miscalculated and thought it was donald trump and thought that he would be able to
sort of take his agenda and put it on the blank slate that is donald trump. Weve now seen that donald trump is not governed by anyone but his own gut and what he thinks is getting applause lines at rallies. Since paul ryan accepted racism and continued to endorse, its only gotten worse. Not just worse, much, much worse. At what point does he pull his endorsement . We said its only going to g