Debates. Hans nichols, great to see you. I will be reading axios in a little bit. You can sign up for the newsletter at signup. Axios. Com. That does it for me this morning. Im yasmin vossoughian. Morning joe starts right now. Having the two men appear on camera worldwide to all of planet earth was a statement that will be understood very well by north korea. This president , ill tell you, is the most informed person on planet earth when it comes to the threats that we face. On planet earth. Okay. All right. Good morning, and welcome to morning joe. Whats that about . I have they been its a lot. Its about him. Its wednesday, july 1st seen like lost in space, willie . He needs to feel big. Like warning, warning. Whats going on . These people are weird. Yeah. Theyre just strange people. Along with joe, willie and me, we have they know theyre i was just going to say, they know what their job is. They know why theyre sent out there, so they go to the most extreme statements they can possibly make. I know. In defense of the president. So, instead of saying, yes, of course, he was briefed, of course he reads his pdb, they say, he is the most informed person on planet earth. Very odd. Yes. She also said he takes everything in verbally, i think, which we know. We know. Its not readings not a thing. Along with joe, willie and me, we have White House Reporter for the Associated Press, jonathan lamire. Best reporter, by the way, on planet earth. Wow yes, okay. Good setup. Nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of kasie dc on msnbc on sunday nights, kasie hunt is with us and political reporter for the Washington Post and msnbc political analyst robert costa. Hes the moderator of Washington Week on pbs. Yesterday, u. S. Coronavirus cases hit a new singleday record for the fourth time in the past week. The press secretary says about trump not wearing a mask, its his decision. Republicans on capitol hill increasingly saying out loud that he is setting a bad example. And joe biden steps up his criticism of trumps response to the virus, saying bluntly, donald trump failed us. Meanwhile, the New York Times found the money trail linked to a suspected russian bounties plot targeting u. S. Troops in afghanistan, really raising the question as to whether the president stands with our troops or with Vladimir Putin. You know, willie, somebody tweeted yesterday after the story came out, said, boy, Charlie Savage, im really hoping he can get a little more specific in the next reporting. We want the exact wiring numbers and instructions. Its remarkable, the work that hes done, and the fact that they have now found nailed this down. The transfers from the russian gru to a talibanbacked group. This is getting more and more focused. And like we said from day one, they might as well not lie about it. The lies are going to be found out. Yeah. But here you have, once again, whether youre talking about russia, whether youre talking about the coronavirus, whether youre talking about the New York Times reporting this morning that donald trump insists on having his twitter feed look like a local crime blotter. Just, again, donald trump wildly out of step with the American People. And willie, were about to show a poll. It just keeps showing up and more and more republicans are expressing more and more concerns, saying, is this guy really going to be around . Is he going to run for reelection, if he knows hes going to lose badly . And really, well talk much more about the russia story, but the more reporting that comes out, not just from Charlie Savage and the New York Times, but nbc has new reporting this morning as well. Theres nowhere for them to go at the white house, except for ignorance, that he wasnt told or that he doesnt read his pdb, because the facts are there. Its clear that the white house knew about this plot by the russians and has still to this day, hasnt done anything about it. Well talk about that in just a minute, but as you mentioned, there are new polls showing joe biden up again by at least ten points over President Trump nationally. The new Pew Research Poll showing biden with a tenpoint lead, 54 to President Trumps 44 . More on that poll in just a moment. A Suffolk University usa today poll has biden up 12 points, 53 41 . The partisan gap among americans satisfaction with the way things in the country are going has narrowed. According to the latest Pew Research Poll, only 12 of americans say they are satisfied with the direction of the country. Thats down 19 points since april. 87 say theyre dissatisfied. Key here, as joe pointed out, among republicans, satisfaction has dropped 36 points among republicans since two months ago. Until today, republican satisfaction had been above 50 for nearly all of trumps presidency. And 7 of democrats say theyre satisfied. Thats down a couple of points as well. Also according to the Suffolk University usa today poll, 67 of americans now believe the country is on the wrong track, up 12 points since may. The country is headed in the right direction, only 20 say that. So, joe, just take the wrong track number in the country. 67 . Twothirds of americans believe were on the wrong track. But you zeeroed in on that numbr in the pew poll that showed 19 of republicans, 19 of republicans say things are on the right track, down 36 points over the last two months. And the numbers have plummeted precipitously from, as you said, over 50 over 50 of republicans throughout most of Donald Trumps presidency have said theyre satisfied with where the country is, is a Straight Line down. Were looking at 19 . And yet, another poll, jonathan lamire, that shows donald trump losing by double digits to joe biden. You look at the usa today poll, suffolk poll, down 12 points there. Thats in line with a lot of other polls. Weve seen just an absolute deluge of polls over the past week or two that show that, whether youre looking at swing states or whether youre looking at the national election, things keep getting worse. And the president still, still has no answer to it. Things just keep getting worse. And what is his state of mind right now inside the white house . Well, joe, as we all know, the National Polls dont mean all that much, but they are a trend line, and they do seem to be getting worse. And we have seen in the last week or two the battleground polls also painting a very grim picture for President Trump. And yes, its still early, though not june anymore. Its july 1st. Theres still time for him to correct things, but there doesnt seem to have been at this point any ability for the white house to reverse that slide. Weve also seen, particularly in the last week or two, and ive been writing about this with my colleagues at the Associated Press, willingness from more and more republicans to start distancing themselves from him. Certainly, he received a lot of criticism for his handling of this russia matter and the bounties, but also, we saw yesterday, it felt like a Tipping Point in terms of the issues of masks, where it now seems like every major republican figure out there, from Mitch Mcconnell to a lot of state governors, nearly all are now endorsing the use of masks, saying, look, this is the number one thing you can do to keep you and your family and your fellow citizens healthy during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. We even saw the Vice President wear a mask over the weekend. Donald trump is sort of almost alone on this on an island in terms of refusing to wear a mask in public, and i think theres going to be extremely theres real pressure on him from other republicans growing to change that. The sense in the white house and the Trump Reelection Campaign is frustration. We saw a little bit of a shakeup last night. Michael glassner, whos been there since the 20152016 campaign, he was one of those in charge of putting on the rall s rallies, he was basically demoted last night in the after math of the tulsa debacle, where they only drew 6,000 people after saying they got a million ticket requests. Now, some in the campaign say hes been a fall guy here, that it wasnt totally his fault, but this was Jared Kushners decision and glassners been pushed out from that key role. Theyre trying to reimagine what rallies could look like. They underestimated how fearful senior voters, particularly, are of going to a space, particularly an indoor space, in the time of the pandemic. And theyre trying to grapple for a message here. The attacks on joe biden to this point havent landed, whether its about china or hunter biden. Now its about his mental acuity, and that doesnt seem, at least to this point, to be an issue thats gaining any traction either. Theyre still sort of scrambling here for a message. And there is, youre right, joe, there is growing chatter among republicans and political operatives it doesnt seem to be necessarily based on any inside information, but growing wonder if the president is going to stick with this, particularly if he cant reverse the slide in these poll numbers, cant find some sort of message. And the real number is the economy. If the economy continues to slide, that takes away what the Trump Campaign feels like its best and maybe only argument for reelection. If it continues to falter, you may see more and more republicans break from the president. You know, and just sort of a minor thing, joe, but not only is trump on the wrong side of the mask issue and a lot of people on twitter or whatever are talking about, why . Why cant he wear a mask . Is it the makeup . What is it . Why is he uncomfortable about it . And its really poking into an area where its getting into an area where hes uncomfortable. He doesnt want to be seen as weak or as, you know, looking strange or whatever. Joe biden was ridiculed the first day he wore a mask by trump people. And you know what . It hasnt stuck. Its cool. He and his wife, when they have to go out, perhaps to do something, to recognize the troops, theyre wearing black masks. And at this point, they found a way to weave it into their everyday life because it is a part of reality of staying safe. So, President Trumps on the wrong side of the mask issue scientifically. Hes also revealed himself to sort of be embarrassed in an area that i think bothers him more than anything else. Yeah. There is a real weakness there. Joe biden, its interesting, joe biden came out at the end of january and talked about how america wasnt ready for a pandemic, for the coming pandemic. That was in january, when donald trump was saying it was one person coming in from china, would be away soon, and said let the doctors and the scientists handle it. Biden was right there. He was, you know. The next month, donald trump was still saying it was 15 people and was going to go away soon. And its the same thing with masks. Joe biden wore a mask when he went out. Just wore it. Mocked and ridiculed by a the on of trump people. Youre now seeing a lot of people wearing masks. Most republicans are wearing masks. Liz cheney showing her father in a mask real men wear masks. Real men wear masks. Mitch mcconnells office, by the way, sent us something because we were talking about people not wearing masks. Mitch mcconnell sent us something. Hes been since the end of april. Actually yeah, early may, end of april, hes been pushing masks and wearing them. Yeah. I mean, there are some republicans who have been standing with the president , but not Mitch Mcconnell, in that area. I yesterday misspoke. So, very good for him doing that. But kasie, whether you talk about masks, whether you talk about the Civil Rights Movement that is moving forward right now, instead of the president doing anything to become part of that very relevant dialogue. Again, his twitter feed looks like a local crime blotter. Hes got this obsession with statues. And jonathan said that, if the economy doesnt get better, things will get worse for donald trump, but i think the bigger problem for him and i think youre starting to see it on the hill, especially with how republicans are responding to the coronavirus is, this president knows. Hes the guy who said its one person coming in from china. He knows, as the numbers explode, as we keep breaking records every day for the pandemic, hes the guy who not only said that back in january, february, and march, but also said in april and may that this was going away, we wouldnt have it in the fall, that it was going to go away magically. And donald trump is now looking at a fall election where every single day hes going to be seeing infection counts go up, hes going to see the death count going up, and thats just something that hes not going to be able to get around. We said it from the very beginning, dont run against a pandemic. The pandemic will always win. And thats whats happening right now when you look at those poll numbers. Joe, as these cases have been spiking, and as republicans in the president s party have been watching this meltdown, the president has been focused on almost anything but this. He has been tweeting. You know, he retweeted his supporters, one of which was yelling white power. He went golfing on saturday and sunday. Overnight, he threatened to veto the defense funding bill because it would rename some of these bases that are named after confederate figures. And Senate Republicans are looking around, and we have talked about this over and over and over again there never seems to be a breaking point. What was going to be the breaking point . This is the breaking point, because if the president continues on this track, the economy is not going to recover, because he is not solving the health care crisis, and republicans are going to lose, and its the president s fault. That is just the simple reality that they are grappling with. The numbers are falling out from under them. You know, one source told me yesterday, if the president is airing his reelection ads in georgia, which is, yes, potentially one day a swing state, but not essentially right now has been historically republican things are not fine. Things are absolutely not fine. And that number that you underscored at the top of the show i think says everything. I mean, who in this country everyone is miserable right now. Everyone is miserable for all their own personal reasons, and a lot of people have it a lot worse than others. People are angry, upset, theyre scared, theyre worried about their family members. And the president doesnt seem to have any answers. And any republican that is currently elected is having to answer for what the president is doing. They are trying to distance themselves now for basically the first time in the course of this administration. And you know, theyre not going so far as to necessarily hit the president , but i think we can show you some of the comments about masks specifically, where i think this issue is standing out the most. Weve mentioned a couple of them, but the tape i think is pretty clear. Take a look. If youre pro trump, you dont wear a mask, and if youre antitrump, youre more likely to wear a mask. But that makes no sense i mean, it actually would help restore the economy if we contain the disease. And the better the economy is, the better off the president is, i would think, running for reelection. So it makes no sense. So, i hope the president will help us just get rid of this mask politics. It hurts the country and it doesnt help him. What were all trying to demonstrate for everybody in the country is the single most important thing you can do, not only to protect yourself but protect others, until we get a vaccine, put on a mask. Its not complicated. Wearing the mask is the best opportunity for us to keep this economy open, keep us working, keep us safe, and help us as we build towards that vaccine where were in a much stronger position than any other country before us. For the fourth of july, we could all show our patriotism with a red, white, and blue mask going out there. My goodness, even mike kevin, even hes found religion on masks. But willie, weve been talking about this every day. This is another example of an 80 20 issue where the president continues to be on the side of the 20 and opposed to the 80 you look at, like for instance, vetoing a defense funding bill because he wants to defend the honor of really bad confederate generals who lost wars . Like, if youre talking about bragg . I mean, the state of mississippi voted to take down the flag and hes still fighting the lost cause . I mean, you talk about his magical thinking when you talk about the coronavirus were coming up to 130,000 dead, will probably be at 150,000 dead americans by the time people go to vote. And his magical thinking continues. And he always talks about making America Great again. He goes, by the way, ive got 99 of republicans supporting me, which is, of course, a total lie, whatever number he uses. This pew poll that shows less than one in five americans are satisfied with where america is. This is a guy that said, trust me, believe me, i can make America Great again like nobody else. Well, hes had his chance. And here we are, almost four years in, and only 12 of americans are satisfied with how things are going in the country, one in ten americans, basically. And thats why the republicans are now starting to figure out the best way to find the exits and get out of this burning political building. Yeah, i mean, this is a fundamental rule of politics and probably of life, too. These republicans are looking at these polls. Theyre looking at whats happening in their own states. Theyre looking at their seats being challenged by democrats, and theyre saying, i dont want to be associated with this. Ive hitched my wagon to him for four years now, and it hasnt gone well. Were losing right now, republicans say to themselves. The president is losing right now, and i dont want to be a part of this. So,