Morning Joe - Defense lifts Seahawks to 29-13 win over Patriots

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Defense lifts Seahawks to 29-13 win over Patriots To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

All right, let's see your predictions. Pablo, who's going to win? The Pats! The Pats, of course. You pick the Pats? I am actually genuinely going with the New England Patriots. The line is four and a half. I think they're going to win the game outright.

I believe in Drake May. I'm going to say, hats 20 to 17. Somebody has to pick the Seahawks. I am. Okay, well, good. You'll pick the Seahawks. I think the Pats. I think the Pats.

It's going to be a close one, but I'm going with the Pats. Seahawks. New England trying to find something about two-thirds away through what is one of the worst performances ever by an offense in a Super Bowl. Can they change it? After 25-yard bar. And 50 to go. She one down. It's intercepted.

Blood 40 and out of bounds. Trying not let these guys substitute in and out. They did get a substitution in there. And they bring a pressure as well. Good morning, but is it really when me? He Kiki gets it right and everybody else gets it wrong. Welcome to Morning, Joe. It's Monday, February 9th, we have with us, and I'm surprised he's here, the co-hosts of

our 9am hour, staff writer for the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire. The host of Pablo Tori finds out MS now contributor Pablo Tori and makes John even more upset. Co-hosts of the rest is politics podcast. The BBC's Caddy Kay still absolutely delighted by city's handling of Liver Pool and the host of Politics Nation on MS Now, Reverend Al Sharpton. He's a president of the National Action Network. The Rev is for all teams at all times. And senior writer at the dispatch and a columnist at Bloomberg opinion, David Drucker,

and also MS Now National Affairs analyst, John Heilman. He's a partner and chief political columnist at Pock. So first of all, John, let's talk. The worst thing that came out of the weekend is Nika was right. We were all wrong. In my defense, in my newsletter on Friday, I predicted the Seahawks would win because Mika was the only person who picked the Seahawks. And so many times we see that happen.

Her sports knowledge is without parallel. Seattle was the better team. The better team won yesterday. This was a thrashing. The Seattle defense was tremendous. Kenneth Walker, the running back was the MVP, was great. Sam Donald did just enough. And the Patriots, let's be clear.

were terrible. This was a magical season for them. They overachieved. I said that all year long on this show. The future is bright with Coach Frable and with Drake May. But they were terrible yesterday. The coaching was poor. It was conservative early.

And then, you know, they didn't make any adjustments. The Pat's defense did as much as they could to keep them in the game. But Drake May had a bad, bad night. He was missing throws. He was antsy. He turned the ball over. And they, they, were never really in the game. You know, I saw a documentary last week or week before Pablo on

John Elway. And for those who didn't really see John Elway coming to the league, he had absolutely humiliated one Super Bowl after another to such a degree that Denver fans actually started saying, please, please don't win the AFC championship game. We don't want to be humiliated again. And Elway, of course, ends with two. So Drake May. hey, please, everybody just take a deep breath. He's got a long career ahead of him. It would help if he had an offensive line that could block for him. I will say it was really telling a couple of times,

especially with your left, I think it was a left tackle. Will Campbell had a tough night. Literally get literally. Not sure if he technically should play that position ever again. Ever again. He literally got thrown on his back time and time. Again, I will say, though, about the, first of all, Seattle, they snuck up on us all year.

They reminded me last night. They reminded me last night so much of like Indiana, a team that was so complete from bottom to top, a team that was so disciplined in college football. And we have two teams that reminded me a lot of each other. Get no respect at the beginning of the year. But by the end of the year, that's about as complete of a team, just like Indiana as you'd ever want to see. And it's the defense. I mean, the Seahawks, they hired this coach by McDonald, who was the defensive coordinator for the Ravens.

And this is at a time when everyone else wants their offensive guru. We want Sean McVeigh. We want the next great offensive mind. They go defense. And all year, the Seahawks, I mean, look, this has been a season. We set up from the very beginning in which mediocrity has been the rule. In which this game didn't have a touchdown until the fourth quarter. And so on some level, yes, this has been a blah season aesthetically.

But a blah season aesthetically is a defensive dream. Yeah. And this was a team that lost three. games by a total of nine points all year in the Seahawks. And that defense, they didn't, the trenches, right? We foreshadowed this while you got it right. The trenches were where this was decided. And you didn't even need a blitz to get pressure on Drakeman.

Well, you know, it's really, it is true what people were saying about the NFC championship game. That really was the Super Bowl. It's like it was in the late 80s, early 90s. If you won the NFC championship game, that was pretty much the Super Bowl. And that's what we saw here. I will say, I think Patriots have one of the best coaches in the league. He's awesome.

He would say this, though. And I had the same complaint about Alabama over the past couple of years. When you know they're sending seven or eight people, why on the replay am I seeing you send three of your four receivers deep? Do they not know how to call an audible and have somebody do a quick slant? You can't throw 12 screen pads. They're on to that. But if you've got, if you've got your corners blitzing, I did not understand, listen, you know, people

know, oh, he was blitzing all night. A great offensive scheme. It's like, okay, if you blitz in, we're going to go two steps back and burn you. And we're going to do quick, quick out routes. We're going to do quick sland-ins. They just never did it all night. Look at him going, sending him deep. They're sending them deep when he has no chance.

He needs, they needed two-step drop, you know, pass a ball. Yeah, this is a little bit on Josh McDaniels, an offensive coordinator for not making adjustments. They needed to go bigger on the offensive line. Put a sixth line in. Go two tight ends. You know, hot reads to the receiver to Joe, your point, exactly right. Quick outs. Get the ball out of May's hands.

And that's the storyline. And I thought Chris Collinsworth was on this from the beginning last night. Like May had a wonderful season, second in MVP voting. He has struggled these playoffs against. really good defenses. Right. In bad weather, but he was also

making plays with his legs. Last night, the Seahawks took away his running lanes, and he couldn't make adjustments to get the ball out quickly. The Seahawks screwed up the time the clock in his head.

And because they could bring pressure with front four, and they'd bring in the occasional blitz, and they simply couldn't adjust. Yeah, I mean, you know, there is, you can blame Drake May. The older I get, the less I actually blame players,

and I start blaming the coaches and the coaching seems that's certainly in the case with Al Alabama the past couple of years. Their coaches have just not been up to it as far as adjusting. And here, you know, they set Drake, let me say it again. I don't, I don't really care about Drake May. I thought he was going to be a bus coming into the NFL. He had an incredible year this year. But he was set up to fail. Don't set a player up to fail. If you got a kid who is a kid and he's playing in a Super Bowl in his second season, get a scheme again, two, two, two, two, two, two, step, drop, boom, go.

Look, every time they're going deep and they're putting one guy out in the flat. It's an idiotic scheme. It was remarkably impotent. And what a brutal viewing experience for a Patriots fan to watch this quarter after quarter. But the two words, Joe, to prove your point, Sam Darnold, okay? He comes in, he's a bust. I'm seeing ghosts, right? Right, right.

He chokes against the Patriots when he's in New York Jet. and goes to the Vikings. He pilots that offense. People are like, yeah, he's being puppeteered by his coaches. Yeah. And they let him go. Yeah.

And once again, a coaching staff and a scheme puts him into the cockpit and he steers a team to a Super Bowl. And by the way, guess what else? To my point, they don't ask him to do too much.

No. They don't ask him to do more than he can do. It's a model for how to win in the modern NFL that people thought was gone. Yeah. A great defense and a quarterback who's just good enough.

In the, in the olden days, back when I was in my 20s and 30s, the olden days. And before that, they said the formula for winning a Super Bowl was a great defense, a pretty good offense. That's what we saw last night. And, man, it worked well. Not a lot of mistakes. Not a lot.

Yeah, it was, it was dismal. They, the coaches need to go back to the drawing board. But let's just say, congratulations the Patriots. It was an extraordinary season. But this was clearly a superior team and the Rams were superior. Yeah, this was a tough night for the Lemire boys. My son's went to bed, pretty unhappy. But the future is bright.

I do think that. They have the coach and the quarterback. They'll have to improve the offensive line. They've got some needs to address. They give the Seahawks credit. They were a terrific team. They were great last night. They deserved it.

By the way, tell everybody in the Limer family. As an Atlanta falcon fan, Crime me a river. I understand. No one's going to feel bad for the picture. When Jordan Hudson tweets at them, tell them, don't read your mentions. Don't read your mentions.

Speaking of not taking the debate, there were some people on the Magarite that took the bait. Well, 133 million people have watched Bad Bunny go out and just completely own the field, the stage, the country, the world. Lady Gaga comes in. This was a pretty extraordinary statement. Ricky Martin, it was 133 million people watching this instead of alternative. programming where they had a guy performing who, of course, throughout his career, has preached the glories of, and Franklin Graham, I guess, likes this because he said it was a God and Country thing, but a guy who has preached the glories of having sex with underage girls and

setting up escort services atop the four season, cowboy. But here, Bad Bunny came out, and Rev. Yeah, oh, there we go. Young ladies, young ladies, I like them underage. see, some say that statutory kid rock. Enjoying, there's Franklin Graham underneath. You know, the false, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, that's all a sham, all in defense of, of, of a corrupt, corrupt regime, uh, and, and, and, and, and, and, the people in that regime, uh, all, it seems a lot of, uh, uh, it seems, uh, a lot of, uh, and, it seems, uh, a lot of, it seems, of the members of the Epstein class, either members of the Epstein class, as John Ossoff said this weekend, or defenders of the Epstein class and protectors of the Epstein class and protectors of the Epstein files. And that's who Franklin Graham is getting self-righteous for. Yeah, clearly you have

the defenders there, the people that want to look the other way, they want to turn the other page. Yet they want to hold up the moral standard to everyone else. And I think that it just shows who they are. I mean, you have a prayer breakfast, which is traditional and bipartisan, and which used to be a great event. Great event. The president gets up and uses it to attack his enemies. And then later that night puts out this video that he claims he didn't know was there depicting former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The same day that you just had a prayer breakfast. And they wonder why people take of their whole pretension of being moral barometers and religious figures

are less than serious because look how they behave. I think that it is big losers. The Patriots yesterday and the MAGA or Ball or whatever they tried to do as an alternative. I don't know what it was, but I hope they enjoyed it. And David Drucker, the alternative programming didn't work out too well, 133 million people watching Bad Bunny. But I will say it is

that if the intention was to provoke people that support ICE and whatever they're doing in Minneapolis, then mission accomplished. Yeah, I suppose so. My problem, Joe, is I just, I don't get offended very easily. So, yeah, exactly. I don't own any of Bad Bunny's music.

I'm familiar, you know, I know he exists. I'm not the target demographic. But I watch the show because I'm watching the game. And I'm like, that's kind of a good show. It was entertaining. By the way, my high school of Spanish is so rudimentary. I didn't understand a word. The guy said he's speaking too fast.

But I grew up in L.A., Los Angeles. And, you know, in a way, it was a very American show because you grow up in major cities in this country. And they're speaking all sorts of languages because people just got here. By the time they have kids and grandkids, those people don't speak the home language anymore. As is the case for me. I mean, I can listen to Yiddish, but I don't speak it. But, you know, my father spoke broken Yiddish. His mother spoke perfect Yiddish.

So this is just the way America goes. You want to turn into an alternative halftime show? I mean, that's how big the Super Bowl is. You can have an alternative halftime show. Go do it. The other thing I'll say, Joe, right? And this is just, this is capitalism. The growth market for the NFL, they've decided, is international, right?

I mean, next year, they're scheduled to have nine games overseas, regular season games. I mean, Australia, Brazil, Mexico City. There's a new stadium in Mexico City. I'm pretty convinced in my lifetime that there's going to be an inter... NFL franchise in Mexico City at the very least. And the NFL is looking to grow its business. So when the most streamed artists in the world happens to be, you know, an American from Puerto Rico who speaks Spanish as his first language and that's how his music is, you think they're not going to try and hire them for the halftime show? I mean, of course. So, I mean, fine, be angry about it

if you want, but this is not a big deal. No, it's not a big deal unless, of course, you are a bigot and you want to go around saying, we need Americans. I saw so many people over the weekend. American. He is American. In fact, he's more American than dozens of people who performed for the halftime show. And I didn't see people melting down when it was you two or Paul McCartney or other people who weren't born in America, who weren't, you know, American citizens.

John Heilman, though, a couple of things. first of all, for Hispanics who have been called the others, who have been treated like garbage, who the Supreme Court has said can be pulled over and stopped because they look Hispanic or because they have broken accents or because of they work at places where Hispanics and other immigrants work, because of all the racism and the bigotry that's been directed toward them, first of all, this had to be an extraordinary night. say, okay, great. One of the most powerful institutions in America actually recognizes we are Americans. We are Americans. That's the first thing, because there are a lot of people that

somehow couldn't figure that out. Second thing is, the NFL as an institution, is bigger than any other institution in America and clearly does not care. what Donald Trump are the MAGA Wright tweets. They just don't care. They are that big. The MAGA Wright tried to go after the NFL. I heard some people say, oh, we're going to boycott them in 22. Republicans tried to make the NFL an issue.

Guess what? It is bigger than ever, and it'll be bigger than ever next year, too. Well, and Joe, it's not like the people of the NFL were deciding, here's an obscure artist who's in the avant-garde. The NFL is smart enough to look at the guy who is the most streamed artist in the world and say, we have the biggest stage. There's no stage anywhere in the world

at any time in the year where any musician, any group, any artist can command 135 million pairs of eyeballs. And the NFL says, hey, you know what, for our biggest audience anywhere in the world? Let's pick the, what's the safe pick? The safe pick is the guy who's the most streamed, most mainstream artist in the world. That's, in some ways, it's telling Donald Trump and MAGA to go pound sand. But in some ways, it's just given the people what they want.

The data is pretty clear. It's also the case that we've got 60 million, 60 million Spanish speakers in the United States. It's about 45 million. where Spanish is first language, another 20 million or so, where Spanish is a second language. This is not alternative programming. This is not bold, a kind of bold break-with tradition. It's something new. It's the first Super Bowl halftime act who's ever performed entirely in Spanish.

But all this talks about is, all this speaks to is that the NFL understands that its capitalist impulses are firmly in line with the choice it made, and the Magar Right is the force that is on the outside looking in. I will say, on top of everything else, whatever you think of the two last acts of the Super Bowl, whatever you think of Bad Bunny, whatever you think about Kendrick Lamar, they are two of the most exquisitely well-produced halftime shows I've ever seen. I don't know what I expected to see, but the combination of the music and the visuals and what Bad Bunny was singing a Pian to here, which, was to his heritage in a totally inclusive way. Every headline covering this thing was

bad buddies' message of unity. And for all these people who thought, well, he's going to go out there and get political and he's going to say stuff bad ice, no, he did a very mainstream, beautifully produced, call to everything that's good about how America sees its culture. And he shut up his critics in every possible way last night. I mean, I seriously. Obviously, anybody that disagrees with what John said and disagrees that this is about as American of a halftime show is you could have go look at Ronald Reagan's farewell speech to America. And he says it is immigrants. It is new arrivals to this country every day.

It's an America that throws open their arms to America. Ronald Reagan said this. Ronald Reagan said this. Not some left winger. Ronald Reagan last speech to America. He says, that's what will keep America forever young, forever vibrant, and forever ahead of the rest of the world. That's what we have. That's our gift. It's been our gift for over 250 years. And it remains that way. But just to John's point, for people who are freaking out about bad money, Brett Ford, I don't know, you know, while he's counting his,

what was it, Medicaid money, I don't know, just guy is. Okay, that's fine. I don't really. I mean, I don't have bad bunny songs. My kids love bad money. That's fantastic. But this is about as radical as getting the Beatles to play at the first Super Bowl in 1967. Or getting Led Zepp in the Super Bowl in 1975. You're getting the biggest artist in the world. And if you're the NFL and you like capitalism, why not? So I don't know why these socialists hate capitalism so much and they hate it. doing what's best for their bottom line, but they obviously do. I feel sorry for them. Maybe they should read some Nome Chomsky, because this is, you know, this is, this is American capitalism at its best. Yeah, it was purely American, the capitalism and the message. And you're right, he wasn't like the

Grammy speech caddy where he actually talked about ICE, but he didn't need to. It was so, it was subtly political last night. It was indeed, as John Hyland said, inclusive. It was a love letter to Puerto Rico. It was a love letter to all the Americas. And he listed the country to roll call. of nations at the end. And it was, you know, in this moment of February 2026, a message sent, but a message that I think a lot of Americans probably really wanted a message of, it's not about division, it is about unity. Yeah, full disclosure, I did only watch the halftime show. I wasn't watching the whole of the game, so I wasn't there sympathizing with you. Lemire, sorry about that. But look, the politics was the joy. I mean, that, that was it. People had speculated,

would he come in and make some kind of statement like he did before the Grammys? And the statement was there, but the statement was about a celebration of his heritage and all the people of Latin America. I mean, even Erica Kirk couldn't have been offended by this show because the very last moment of that show, what did he do? He reiterated what she had said at her husband's funeral, the only thing more powerful than hate his love. I mean, he could have picked up the phone to her and said, Erica, you agree, don't you?

I mean, it was very hard to have been offended by this show, and he made a point of doing that, and I think that's why it was so incredibly powerful. It was also super clever. I mean, it was like watching a musical, a mini whole Broadway show in the space of 16 minutes with a couple who was actually getting married, the young kid.

I mean, what was not to like? And I think that was deliberate. He went for joy over politics, and in a way that was what made it so successful. And you're so right. In the background, the only thing more powerful than hate is love. What an incredible message.

and sign me. I'm with David Dracker here. I just, he's people that get offended so easily. I just, I just, come on, come on, take a deep breath. You know, it's ridiculous. Still, Adam Morning Joe, the latest of the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie as her family puts out a new video offering to pay for her return. We'll get you updated on this tragic story. Plus, Democrats successfully defend a seat in Louisiana's House of Representatives and the district. Donald Trump were won by double digits in 24, and it wasn't even close.

We'll talk about those results next. And as we go to break, a look at the travelers' forecast this morning from Accuweather's Bernie Raynow. Bernie, how's it looking out there? Joe, it's a frigid start this morning in the Northeast, but a little better this afternoon. Accuether says with sunshine, 29 to Boston, 31 in New York City. How about 40 in Chicago or 39 degrees this afternoon? Plenty of sunshine and warmth across the southern tier of the United States. And if you're doing any traveling, hey, I'll tell you what, no weather-related travel problems today.

We're going to keep you updated on that storm this weekend. Mostly rain in the mid-Atlantic, some snow and ice, Sunday in the Northeast. To help you make the best decisions and be more in the know, download. The accurate weather up today. Today's show anchor Savannah Guthrin, her two siblings, released a new video message over the weekend, pleading for the return of their mother Nancy Guthrie after she was first reported missing more than a week ago now from her Arizona home. In the new video, Savannah addresses her mother's possible kidnapper directly. We received your message and we understand.

We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us. and we will pay. So in that video, you heard Savannah reference a second note reportedly received by investigators. Three officials told NBC News the family's message was directed at that newest communication. At least three news outlets have received a possible ransom note, but no law enforcement agency has actually so far authenticated any of them.

The first note included two deadlines, one for 5 p.m. last Thursday, and another for 5 p.m. today, along with the demand for funds. Joining us now retired FBI Special Agent, Rob Damico, he was a member of the FBI's hostage rescue team and is an MS now in national security and intelligence. Analyst Rob, thank you very much for joining us. What did you make of the latest video that Savannah and her siblings have released?

There's been some people looking at it and saying that her language sounded a little stilted. Are you reading anything into that, into the way this was scripted and delivered? It was odd. It didn't flow naturally. But a lot of times when the family's working with negotiators, and that's usually what happens,

they put in there, this is what you need to say. So sometimes it's not their words. It was very concise. It didn't go into a lot. She didn't address her mom or anything. but there was something off about it, and I still can't really read what it is to me that's so off about it.

A lot of times overseas kidnapping, we have to do this with a non-straight-line communication to the negotiators, to the kidnappers. In the states, it's a bit different. And this group has sent these messages with no way to communicate back, and this is the way to do it through, you know, social media.

video, which does not give the ability for us to, like, talk to the kidnappers. Because normally when you talk to them, you want to talk about the plan to release. And if they talk about something that sounds very detailed in that plan, you can think to yourself, okay, they're really have thought about it. They planned it out. And that means something when you're talking back and forth. This one is almost like a blind, you know, there's probably no proof of life in there. they just demanded an amount, no negotiation back and forth, and it's just to a Bitcoin wallet, which is really tough to do in a large amount, and send it. I've seen a mom mortgage or home and send it to who they thought they had the ability

to release their son, and it wasn't a group, and that money disappears. So it is a chance, and I don't know if that's what she was when she was talking, if that's what you're hearing in our language, that they're going to pay without a proof of life, without ability to ask about the release. So, Rob, here we are over a week into this, terrible for the Guthrie family. Investigators haven't managed to confirm

any of these notes that have been received through news organizations. We haven't had direct contact with anybody. How unusual is this, this stage of a kidnapping? and how concerned are you by the fact that there hasn't been any verification of these notes or any direct communication? I'm very concerned.

I'm very concerned, one on the medical side. At first they released it that her medicine needed to be within 48 hours. I'm hoping this kidnapping group is professional because the professional ones have the ability to get medicines. They have the ability to get doctors to see their victims. So I'm hoping that's the case in this, and they got the medicine. that she needed. But it is kind of odd to have no communications on some of these points. I would hope the two notes that they got had enough in there about the crime scene

to really validate that they were in fact there. The first one, we've heard some things about the location of the eyewatch, where it was left. I'm hoping the second note also had some verification in there about the crime scene that really pointed out that the people who wrote that note, in fact, were at the crime scene, and then you have to just assume that they have the ability to release her if they were, in fact, the ones that took her. Okay. Retired FBI Special Agent Rob DeMico, thank you so much for joining us.

John, so many more questions still, both for investigators, obviously for the Guthrie family, and this is just getting heartbreaking for all of them. We all know Savannah and watching her. I mean, this must be exhausting. It must feel like a nightmare for the family that they can't wake up from. Exhausting and agonizing. We, of course, will keep you posted with any updates that come, and our thoughts and prayers continue to remain with the Guthrie family.

Turning now to some other stories this morning, the White House is responding to rare bipartisan blowback after a video that included a racist clip of the Obama's depicted as monkeys. That video posted on President Trump's social media account on Friday. White House initially brushed off criticism of the video, but after a wave of backlash from his own party, from Republicans, the video was eventually taken down. They remained up on Trump's truth social account for around 12 hours.

Several Republican lawmakers did speak out against the post. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican in the Senate, saying the video is the, quote, most racist thing that he's seen out of the White House. President Trump responded to the backlash while on Air Force One and said he spoke with Senator Scott.

No, I didn't make a mistake. I mean, if I look at a lot of thousands of things, getting up, it was fine. I guess it was a takeoff on the Lion King. And certainly it was a very strong post in terms of voter fraud. Nobody knew that that was in the end. If they would have looked, they would have seen it.

And probably they would have had the sense to take it down. But that was a takeoff of the Lion King. And a lot of people were covered in different positions. But I spoke to Tim Scott. He was great. Tim was a great guy. He understood that 100%. What about the house?

Was your message to the many Americans were? No message. I didn't know about it. So, I mean, it went up. I really have no message. Somebody slipped and missed a very small. By the way, again, the take off on, I guess. I didn't do it, by the way.

This was done by somebody else. This was a re-truth. That was not done by us. So despite some Republicans taking a stand, there were others who attempted to shield the president from criticism. Senator Bill Cassidy, who is facing a tough re-election battle. This is so pathetic. Do we have to read it?

After President Trump endorsed his opponent, actually thanked Trump for moving the video. Well, he thanked Trump. For removing the video and then Donald Trump said, I did nothing wrong. Yeah, no, refusing to admit a mistake. Refusing to admit, I did nothing wrong. It was a takeoff on the Lion King. I've heard that. I did nothing wrong.

And it was very strong on voter security. Yeah. The White House first tried defending the post, which was mostly about inaccurate claims of voter fraud. A lie. All a lie. Definitely a lie. Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt dismissed the backlash as fake outrage. Yeah, bigotry on this level, not fake outrage.

Try again. And it was shifting explanations. Karen Leavitt first dismissed it that it was, as we noted, fake outrage. Then the White House said it was a staffer accidentally put up the clip, although it's well known that only about three people in the White House, the president included, have access to his true social account. And one of them is away on his honeymoon. And then President Trump himself owned it later and said, yeah, I did it. I perhaps didn't look at the whole thing, Rev. But let's just be clear what this is. I mean, they're trying to muddy the water here. This was an extraordinarily racist image. And it was posted by the President of the United States. and he's not going to think he did anything wrong. And he's not going to apologize.

You're dealing with a president that has trafficked, has given real potency to this kind of attitude about race in this country, and he will not back up. Many of us that have challenged him down through the years from his hometown are not surprised. But you would think that at the level he's reached, he would be a little bigger than doing something like this. I mean, this is almost childish if it wasn't so insulting.

And to make up that somebody did it and some low staffer could get in there and do it and no one caught it is as ridiculous as one can see. If you say something and do something that's off color, you apologize. Joe and I talk a lot about how Mrs. King told me, be careful of your language. You shouldn't have said that years ago. You've all corrected and you grow. We've all said stupid things. We've all apologized. Absolutely.

This is not a little stupid thing. stupid thing. This is to unintentionally depict the former President of the United States and the former First Lady who reached the ultimate in terms of American politics. By the way, what is it? By the way, what does it say

also? Barack Obama now has not been in office for almost a decade. And he's still, he doesn't live rent free in Donald Trump's head. He's got the whole presidential suite up there. That's exactly. I still obsessed. And

and doing the most horrific things. I get to say also, this, this broke through, I mean, this finally broke through to some evangelical leaders, to some evangelical Republicans who have turned a blind eye to everything he's done. There's a, I won't say the church, but there's an evangelical church that has, Donald Trump has attended, that Donald Trump's been disappointed, beginning of the church.

The leader, the founder, the preacher all stood up and said, what happened yesterday was not right. What happened yesterday was un-American. What happened yesterday goes against everything we teach here. It did. It was so racist. It was so bigoted that it even forced or shocked, I don't know which word it should be used, evangelical leaders to step up and speak out against it. It did force them or shock them, and I think it's shocked Americans.

So you have Black History Month. He's going to do this to the ultimate black couple in terms of American politics. Right. You're going to divide the country because you don't like the Puerto Rican ancestry of the person that's going to sing or perform at the Super Bowl. Americans, by the way. Americans. American.

More on American. More American than quite a few people I can. name right now, been in America longer than quite a few people. I mean, we're all equally Americans, which of course they don't understand, but Bad Bunny has been an American much longer.

By birth. By birth. But it becomes a presidency of divisiveness and I think people are getting tired of it. He used birth andism to come in to politics. People are saying, wait a minute, you're dividing everybody with racially profiling people on deportations.

But enough is enough. And I think he crystallized it with this video demeaning the Obamas for no reason. Listen, the numbers have just collapsed in a historic manner. The Hispanics that were gained, the working Americans that were gained, the younger voters that were gained, even some male black voters, they more vote from men. That's all gone. Not only is it gone, it's just absolutely cratered and stuff like this is, again, this is not, I just got to explain this again.

This is not owning the lips, Pablo. This is not owning, but that would be, again, I keep saying this. It would be like hitting yourself with a ball peen hammer in the head and going, I'm owning you. I'm going to hit myself again. They keep, this is, these are self-inflicted wounds from which it's hard to see. Even Republicans are saying don't know how they're going to recover. And they keep doing it to themselves and they're thinking their owning lips. No, if you hit yourself in the head with a hammer, you are only owning yourself.

Let me say it like there will be blood. If you hit yourself with a hammer, you should put that hammer under a glass jar and put it on the mantle. But go ahead. It basically, that's my Daniel Daylorist for the day. Yes. I drink your memes. I drink them out. Yes.

But the artwork, such as it is, is yet again, a bleep-posted meme, right? Right. So this is the definition of drinking poison and hoping your opponent dies. Right. This is, I mean, it's just like you are catering to the. It's unbelievable. It's the sub-sub-sub-basement, the fracking level poisoned well. that they're drawing from.

That's the Derek atop the earth that they are mining. In the process, everything else is getting poisoned. And they don't realize it. That's what's happening in Minnesota. It's happening with Bad Bunny in the Super Bowl. That's what's happening on the internet. We say it all the time now. The most Twitter-brained institution we've ever seen is this White House.

And it's not connected to what anybody in normal mainstream life is even vaguely sympathetic to. You know, so crazy about this. This is what I used to accuse Democrats five, six, seven, eight years ago. It would be like, get off of Twitter. That's not the real world. You don't understand just because everybody's patting you on the back. That's not the real world. Blue sky, not the real world.

Threads, not the real world. I go there. I go there to get news. I go there to see what people are saying. But if you're running your campaign, if you're running your party, if you're running your government based on what you see. Running your government. Not just campaigning.

The government, based on what's being said on X, you're in big, big trouble. Meanwhile, interesting thing happened over the weekend at a campaign rally in Atlanta on Saturday. Democratic Senator John Ossoff of Georgia, he broke through. Again, I surprised he broke through. This is a guy who I said when he first got elected. I was like, this guy got elected in Georgia. He looks like an extra to like Warren Baby's Reds. Right?

He looked, he was like, this guy looked like he was in Warren Bady's movies about commies, reds, and he won. Let me tell you something. He was in mid-season form yesterday, John Ossoff of Georgia. And in this speech that caught the attention of so many people and the crowds he's drawing, it's February for God's sake. The crowds he's drawn in Georgia has made this guy who many people thought was going to be maybe the least likely to get reelected, suddenly a favorite.

And he referenced Donald Trump's racist post also pointed out the contrast between what the MAGA movement says it represents. And by the way, those are four pictures of three candidates. One is not like the other two. The other two are Republican candidates on the top, down below, crowds of John Ossoff's. Just massive crowd. But anyway, he was talking about the MAGAM movement says it represents is four different. than the government that's actually in power. Now, many of you are here

because you just can't stand what's being done to our country. You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obama's like a clansman at 1 a.m. You see our government transformed into a tool of one man's personal vengeance and power and enrichment.

You see the president and his family rake in billions. while Americans struggle to make ends meet. Now, you remember, we were told that MAGA was for working class Americans. You remember that? But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It is the wealthiest cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class.

They are the elites they pretend to hate. So prices are up, jobs are going away, Medicaid and school lunches are slashed, nursing homes are getting defunded. If you're Steve Bannon and your pitch, your pitch was Trump for the forgotten man and woman, how do you sell any of this? All right. So, Rev, we always talk about political athletes on this show. Right.

That's a political athlete right there. I don't know what he did in the offseason, but he went from being Drake May last night to Tom Brady against the Falcons. He's like, that is a sharp address. When he came through with the Epstein class, I mean, and, you know, I've been to preach all by life, that was the line. Yep, that was when the A-Men corner woke up. Yeah. Because to identify them, to make them the personification of that is going to be hard for them to undo.

And he did it with a classic pause. He did it right. And it identifies it because it has so many implications. It's who they were hanging out with and who they're trying to cover up. and who they're trying to humiliate everybody else. It had so many meetings. It was right down the middle. It really did.

And David Drucker, I think what, for me at least, what made that line, the Epstein class is running the country, what made that line so powerful is that, well, it actually ends up, looks like it's true. You see the president they're talking and right behind him. There's Howard Lutnik. He said, oh, I'm so shocked and stunned that I never talked to him after 2005, and now we're finding out by the record.

See, live next door to him. He lived next door to him. And he took his kids down to Rape Island, I think it was. I mean, it's just like, is that where they met at the island? They have been there, yes. Yeah, yeah, I'm bringing my kids. We're going to be. So, so, and Lutnik's in the background.

And you look at all the people all around him. They all seem to go back. they all seem to go back to Epstein. So it's one of these things that cuts through. I always wondered, wait, with Monica Lewinsky, I go, wait, we're impeaching him for that? I could name about 10 other things I would have impeached him for before, like selling missile technology to China

because one of his campaign contributors, like, you know, wanted to sell missile technology to China. But here, this Epstein thing is actually cutting through for working Americans because they're still protecting the rich and powerful that hung out around Jeffrey Epstein. And yeah, they're members of the Epstein class that are running his government. Yeah. Look, I think the effectiveness of that line, Joe, is that he took a way. weapon from the opposition, right? I mean, the far right and particularly Trump supporters, they're the ones that initially push the exposure of the Epstein files. And here he takes,

he takes Epstein as a weapon and he redirects it back to the other side. In a way, very reminiscent to me of when Donald Trump was able to take Hillary Clinton's deplorables line and redirect it back at the political opposition. They're saying, I'm a bad. bad guy. And this is what they're saying about you. They're the bad guys. And that's what effective politics often is. I think the broader issue here is how Democrats are able to, in terms of candidates running for office and the party's messaging, how they're able to absorb a lot of the zeitgeist and the sentiment of the political opposition of center-right voters who aren't quite happy with what they're seeing with the administration, who are open to persuasion

and how do you effectively persuade? And what I thought was interesting about the speech from Ossov, who, by the way, Republicans in Georgia will tell you, is a lot stronger than Republicans outside of Georgia realized, although I have to tell you, I've agreed with you initially, I saw the guy elected, and no Democrats really had success in Georgia without Raphael Warnock's momentum, right? So there's going to be a test for us. But he's turned out to be a lot better at this than it initially thought. But the key is here, how do you persuade? So how do you criticize the president?

How do you criticize Republicans in a way that doesn't offend Republican voters? And that's what's so crucial here. And that's what the parties, both sides often mess up, is they go after the opposition in such a way. that the voters on the other side say you're attacking me and you lose the ability to persuade. This was a, at least that portion of the speech that we saw, that shows an ability to persuade because it separates the real bad actors

from rank and file voters and at least you can get a hearing. And I think that's what's so crucial about this. And particularly when you look ahead of 2028, that's what the Republican nominee is going to have to do to win. I mean, the Democratic nominee is going to have to do to win. I mean, that's what both sides have to. to do, but particularly looking at Democrats and recovering from 2024 beyond 26, that's going to be

key. Yeah, I mean, you've got to, you have to have more votes than the person you're running against, and that's going to require that some people who voted for Barack Obama and then voted for Donald Trump and then voted for Joe Biden and then voted for Donald Trump will vote for a Democrat the next time. And by simply insulting everybody that voted for Donald Trump, you're not going to win. And there are some people maybe on the far left that are offended by that. Well, too bad. That's politics. I thought, though, it was pretty brilliant that he made sure he went after both sides. He talked about the Epstein class. And then he talked about tax cuts for billionaires. And he said, Elon Musk and George Soros. They wait, what? What? Oh, wait. He's attacking a Democrat

that funds a lot of Democratic campaigns. And I thought even that was Osop saying, I'm going after both sides. I'm going after both sets of billionaires. And it was, again, top to bottom. It was a pretty fantastic speech from, bluntly, a place or I didn't expect one. Yeah, I think we've come a long way in Democrats' understanding,

or at least in John Ossoff's understanding of how to go after Donald Trump without talking a basket of about a basket of deplorables, right? This was the polar opposite of that. And I thought, I noticed like you, Joe, putting George Soros in there seemed to me pretty key as well. But John Heileman, David Plough had a great piece of the New York Times the other day where he weighed out, he kind of laid out the map for Democrats taking on Republicans, both in the midterms and in 2028. And part of it is how you go after Donald Trump.

And I think the way to do that, as we've been discussing, is without insulting Donald Trump. supporters. But the other part of that is providing the roadmap for how you will do something differently that will make voters lives better. And are we seeing enough of that second part yet from likely Democratic candidates? Well, Katty, I know the piece you're talking about, and I think you know, what David Pluff is trying to say was that a lot of Democrats who were concerned about the viability of the party after the losses in 2024 looked up. up at the end of 2025 and felt like they didn't have to worry about that anymore because the party had done so well in the off-year elections last November. And he was saying, hey, guys, for the long-term stability of the party, for the long-term success of the party, we've got to figure out a positive agenda that is a pretty significant break with where we've been over the course of the last decade or so.

I agree with that. But I'll tell you, that conversation is a conversation not really a conversation for the time we're in now. for 2026. You're still going to have a lot of candidates trying to get through these midterm elections, and that is a congressional election. Where that discussion that Pluff is talking about is going to take place is at the presidential level. And I'll tell you, John Ossoff may be someone who decides to run for president in 28 if he wins this 2026 reelection, soundly enough. But for now, the challenge for Democrats in this election is to do what he did so well there, which is, you know, get over this question of, should we talk about costs or should we talk about

about Donald Trump or should we talk about corruption. He's figured out a way to talk about costs, chaos, and corruption all at the same time and to weave all three of those themes into a single message. I think a lot of Democrats heading into 2028 are looking to people like John Osup to figure out how you can thread all of that together and make a single push.

And he's doing it about as well as anybody right now on the campaign trail in terms of trying to figure out how to prosecute that case against Trump. and the Republican Party right now. Yeah, and more generally toward the Republican Party, who they're defending, who they're not defending. Final thoughts, John?

Yeah, no, I mean, Dassoff, I think, is someone who has gained a lot of political momentum. I think both senators from Georgia, might be looking at 2028 and things go well this week. But I think it's right. I mean, he hit all the notes there.

I thought the Klansman line about the Trump Post was also broke through. You heard the crowd react to that. And the Epstein-class line is something that's going to stick. Because I think that is. Again, because, Because Pablo, we saw Howard Lutnik standing over Donald Trump's right shoulder.

It's pretty on the nose. It's pretty on the nose. Sometimes the playbook is very arcane and it's like, oh, you got to scheme up something creative. This is very in front of our eyes. Like corruption, chaos, billionaires, look up instead of laterally, aim at the money. And there is now, I think, a religion that's there to believe in. And in the Epstein files, thousands upon thousands of references Donald Trump and some of the people closest to him that we learn more each and every day. And using that phrase to paint sort of the elites that are benefiting from everyone else, I think he's going to be an effective line for Democrats.

And I'll tell you, it's speaking of the files for the life of me, I do not understand why there's so many names of so many abhorrent people that have been redacted who sent heinous emails to Jeffrey Epstein about young girls. Why did the Justice Department redact those people's names? They should not be protected. None of them should be protected. The victim should be protected, and everybody else should have their name put out there. John Heilman and David Drucker, thank you both so much. And David, thank you for not being offended. None of us here have a fainting couch.

We greatly appreciate that. And coming up a closer look. But the fainting couches that they have. They, they, they own Washington, D.C. They own the Supreme Court. They own the White House. They own, it is like, they own Congress. They own the House.

They own the Senate. And they still are feverishly building fainting couches to try to find things to be shocked and stunned and deeply said by going, oh, we're all being ignored. They run the world. And they're still building fainting couches. They've not risen to where they are. They don't own where they are.