Morning Joe - MJ Exclusive: Snap Inc. will follow Meta's lead with stronger protections

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

August 27, 2026 – 6am: Meta agrees to $17B settlement over child safety MJ Exclusive: Snap Inc. plans to follow Meta’s lead with stronger protections The Atlantic: Trump plans to buy midterm ads about his own record New poll shows Trump underwater on major issues CIA Director Ratcliffe makes rare trip to Moscow Trump declares “mission accomplished” in ongoing Iran war The Atlantic: The real reason Trump wants economic sanctions in Iran Deadly Nepal-Tibet mudslide USDA recalls 30,000 pounds of Argentine beef FDA approves pancreatic cancer drug that extends lives   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.

But as far as pricing, the prices are coming down, you know, they came up with that word affordability. And then from the first day, they started using the word affordability. They looked at me, affordability, it was a new word. Nobody ever heard the word. It was a new word that they devised because they're quite good at that. I'll put it a different way. And we've really gotten them down. Now, we have a little bit of an oil.

Don't forget, when I did this, people thought the oil would go to $10 a gallon. of that. But we had to do it. We had to stop them from having a nuclear weapon, and we did. And the prices are coming down very rapidly. And now beef is starting to come down. President Trump, yesterday with his affordability routine amid record high gas and beef prices, suggesting it's not that bad because it could be worse. We're going to go through new reporting on the president's new plan for the midterms. Plus, 23 years after George W. Bush, his mission accomplished moment, President Trump posted his own on truth social using a poorly generated AI image. And as the war with Iran nears the six-month mark, the CIA director made a brief trip to the Kremlin for meetings with one of Tehran's top allies.

We'll be following that. It is a big morning here on Morning, Joe. Good morning and welcome everyone. It's Thursday, August 27th. We begin, Willie, with major news in the social media world. And it's the kind of changes that could be made if all companies get on board that could be life-changing for young people, even life-saving. Yeah, this is the hope that this is the start of something. As you know, as I know, as John knows, this is the issue of the time for parents.

And it is the front-page story in papers across the country, Mika, that MEDA is backing down now. in a multi-state lawsuit claiming it built addictive platforms that are dangerous for children. The company has agreed to pay billions in penalties, a fraction, yes, of the company's total valuation. It does not have to admit wrongdoing. Meta did make some important concessions to its products. MS Now's Nick McCool has details. I'm pleased to announce that Meta has reached an agreement.

This morning, a landmark settlement. Meta agreeing to pay up to $17 billion to settle their case. against dozens of states over claims it built products that are addictive and harmful to kids than misled the public about them. The framework we've negotiated will empower parents to easily manage their children's access to our platforms. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram also agreeing to a series of protections for users under 18, including daily time and nighttime limits, muted notifications during school hours, and hiding like counts on posts. In one sense, those are really impressive stipulations, but on another sense, if you look under the

A lot of them, I'm a little bit worried, are going to be pretty easy to work around. Medist says nearly a third of the settlement, roughly $5 billion, will be withheld unless other social media companies also pay penalties and change their apps. This framework will only work if all our peers join us. Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. Is this social media's big tobacco moment? First word. New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport was one of the lead AGs on the Ks. case. She says the fight for accountability will not stop with META.

Anytime profits are put over the safety of our kids, we're going to act. Critics of the deal say META settled for far less than the hundreds of billions the states were seeking. But Davenport says the agreement secures vital protections much sooner than a verdict would. Meta, meanwhile, gets to end a proceeding that featured potentially damaging testimony before CEO Mark Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand. They got a pretty reasonable settlement here, but they really, got dragged through the dirt in the court of public opinion. I think a lot of people have pretty negative views of META right now. While this deal ends the attorney's general case against META,

thousands of others press on against the company and its industry peers, despite the massive settlement for parents like Victoria Hinks, who blame social media for her daughter's suicide. No amount of money is ever going to bring my beautiful daughter back. I miss her every day. Both sides say META will be independently audited for compliance under the terms of the agreement. Meta's stock was up about 1% yesterday following news of the deal after taking a major hit around the start of the trial. Back to you. MS now is Nick McCool reporting. And Mika, yes, $17 billion, a relative drop in the bucket for META, which is a company that's worth about a trillion and a half dollars. But the details, the concessions that they made hopefully will set a standard now for other companies.

that will follow suit. Well, I think what they're hoping to do is be a leader now in this. That's what we'll be watching for. And there'll be a lot of questions about exactly how this is monitored, how success is assessed. But I can report exclusively this morning that people familiar with the conversations with the AGs

and SNAP will tell me that SNAP will be accepting these new standards shortly, even possibly by Friday. So that's two companies now out of four that really could change the game for young people across the country around the world. And, you know, snap following Meta's lead. Now the question is, what about YouTube and TikTok? Because if all four got on board, Meta says they'll bring, there's a three-hour time limit or, you know, several-hour time limit a day. I think it's two hours, actually, for teens.

but they would bring it down to 60 minutes a day. If all four companies get on board, that would be life-changing, life-saving for teens and young people. But again, exclusively we can say snap on board by Friday. That's what we're hearing from the conversations with the AGs. But the question is, where is YouTube and where is TikTok on this? So joining us now, Attorney General of Massachusetts, it's Andrea Joy Campbell.

Her office was part of the nationwide investigation into Instagram's impact on young people that formed the basis for the initial lawsuit. And what I'd like to start with is the concept that Meta put out there in their statement, which is that for this to really work, other companies need to step up as well. What are you hearing about that possibility? And do you agree that it needs to be a collective set of action? to help make our young people healthier instead of having them become very, very psychologically impacted by social media? First, good early morning, and I'm just really delighted to have been a part of this multi-state effort to hold Bena accountable.

And let's be clear, they didn't come to the table willingly. It was the action of AGs across the country that forced accountability here. We launched our investigation into Instagram in 2021, and then we filed a lawsuit against them in 2023. And earlier this year, Massachusetts led the way with a significant legal decision from our highest court here that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not prohibit them from our lawsuits. That was a game changer in leveraging this work to get them to come to the table, not only to give billions of dollars, of course, in resources to our respective states.

but also to make design changes immediately that would protect our young people. But it is the first step in this, the additional step is making, is just making sure that other platforms also come to the table. We have an ongoing lawsuit against TikTok. And so we're continuing to hold them accountable and will force other platforms to do the same. And what cannot be missed, legislation, including here in Massachusetts, which is pending, is a critical tool to also hold them accountable, to force changes across all platforms.

So Meda says they will be putting these processes and changes into place immediately. I think they're waiting for the judge to sign. But what about these other platforms? Where are you in the litigation? Are they feeling like especially YouTube and TikToks? And Snap appears to be following Meta's lead here. Where are you with those other two platforms? Because to get them all working together,

that's the real change. Absolutely. And this is where advocacy of the public and, of course, AGs comes into play. Our active litigation against TikTok will be a unique opportunity to force them to also bring about protections for our kids. We also have legislation pending here in Massachusetts that can hold all platforms accountable, not just meta. And YouTube is not out of reach either. And so we agree that we have to make sure we're holding all tech companies accountable. And of course, not only through our litigation, but through legislative efforts. And let's be clear, AG's did something that was remarkable.

We acted when Congress couldn't. We, of course, acted when the president is not in any way looking to protect our kids from big tech. And we'll continue that leadership. This is only the first step. And parents and educators and kids should know that. Attorney General, thanks for being on this morning. The next question is enforcement. When you think about Australia's ban last year,

which made international headlines as the first national ban of social media, for kids under 16. Studies recently have shown about 70% of kids in Australia still find a way onto those platforms. They're smart. So how can we ensure that these will actually have teeth and that they will prevent kids of a certain age from being on these platforms for too long every day? We followed what was happening in Australia and when we came forth with these protections, including a new age assurance process to ensure those under 13 or 13 and under cannot use the platform. And then third, I should say under 13 cannot use the platform 13 to 18 that these protections were in place. We will hold them accountable. We have a monitor that we will set up

to ensure compliance over future years. And we will continue to watch this progress in real time. We also recognize the benefit of these platforms to young people, including folks in our LGBTQ plus community. That said, it creates community and relationship for them. But how can we have safe technology while also holding them responsible and accountable for any harms they cause our young people. So this is the first step in what will be ongoing work to hold tech companies accountable for harming our kids. First step in what could be a big movement now that protects kids. And I know a lot of parents, millions of them across the country, are grateful for your leadership and that of other attorneys generals across the country. Attorney General of Massachusetts,

Andrea Joy Campbell, thanks so much for being here this morning. We appreciate it. Thank you. So, John, we can talk about the politics of this, but I think we should talk as parents real quickly. We watch this. Our kids grew up in this era where they are native to this, that the head goes down immediately. When there's a moment of boredom or silence, you go right to the phone. We do our best. You keep the phone in the drawer.

We love that our school doesn't allow phones and schools anymore. All of those things have been helpful. But this has the potential, if enforced correctly, to be a massive swing in the way kids use social media. and therefore protecting their mental health, among other things. It is hurting to see how the sort of conventional wisdom on this has changed in recent years, no doubt. And that the school is a great part of it. I'm glad you highlighted that. But sure, you know, you go on a, like my son plays soccer where we had some road trips.

And at night, everybody at the phone has got to go away, got to go away. And there's grumbling, there's unhappiness, but it's the right thing to do because you're right. There's so often one of our children has a moment to themselves, it's like, bang, it's scrolling aimlessly. And we're tough on this. We limit screen time. We try to limit this social media. But this is helpful. And it's an acknowledgement from a massive company forced to say,

look, we get it. This is a problem. So the hope is this will lead to others down the road. Yes, there's going to be enforcement questions, to be sure. We'll just have to see where the politics of this go next. But Mika, this is a heartening, a heartening change because we have talked on the show for years now about just how damaging, you know, social media can be.

Also, how important it is, frankly, a child, to be bored. Like, that's when you learn to be creative. That's when you think when your imagination runs wild. You want to be able to learn how to interact with people in real life, not just on screens or via messaging. So this is, this feels like an important step, and let's hope we continue down this path.

I mean, there are big questions about how to verify age, especially with much younger people. But anyone with teens and college students knows that it's also the stuff that happens in the middle of the night, 24-hour social, media and the algorithms, which isn't addressed in this, but that they feed into and can lead to, as many have assessed and experts have assessed, depression, anxiety, even suicidal ideation. But here's, I mean, this is really worth framing out here because anyone with a teen or a college student or a young adult in their life knows how difficult this is. Meta's putting out this,

for now, a two-hour daily time limit. turning off access to apps at night as a default, no notifications during school hours, clear prompts and notifications to teens every 15 minutes of continuous screen time, new parental supervision controls so parents can decide how teens use the apps. And again, META is saying they will go down to 60 minutes. Can you imagine a 60-minute limit on social media? That is life-changing in a big way. And the only hope now is, especially with this news on Snap, that YouTube and TikTok follow Meta's lead and step up here for children and young people who are really suffering and need this.

Still ahead on Morning Joe, the president has come up with a new plan to win the midterms by making it all about himself. We'll run through that new reporting from the Atlantic. Plus, we'll preview the president's trip to Texas today, as new polling shows, James Telerico, leading Ken Paxton in several key congressional districts. And as we go to break, a look at the travelers' forecast this morning from Acuweathers, Bernie Rayno. Bernie, how's it looking? Some stormy weather across the northeast and mid-Atlantic today, Mika, you're active with

a forecast, shower anytime. New York City photo if you're Washington, D.C., then some drenching thunderstorms this afternoon. Spotty thunderstorms this afternoon. Buffalo, Pittsburgh, beautiful weather, Chicago, Indy, St. Louis. Texas is hot and dry, drenching thunderstorms this afternoon from Charlotte, Tampa, toward Miami. That's where we're going to have travel delays here this afternoon along much of the East Coast. Not Boston, though, not until tonight. They help you make the best decisions and be more in the know.

Download the ACU weather app today. President Trump promised to bring down prices. You voted for him three times. Are you disappointed in the president? Very disappointed. Very disappointed. Why? Because the prices haven't gone down. I don't know.

I don't know. I just, I'm over it, I think. Over the Trump thing. The Trump wagon, we don't call it. You could talk directly to the president. About the war, about the prices, about the economy. What would you tell them? Stop the bullshit.

Make America great, like you said. That's what I'd say. Well, that was one Trump vote. in Iowa speaking with MS now's Alex Tabit. To that point, a new poll by strengthened numbers and vera site shows President Trump is underwater on every major issue heading into the midterms, even on border security. That was one of his strongest issues in the past. The poll finds Trump's net approval now at minus five.

And yet, President Trump has come up with a simple plan to win the midterm elections. more Trump. That's according to new reporting from the Atlantic. The outlet reports the president gathered top political advisors in the Oval Office this month to discuss how to spend his super PACs $400 million ahead of the midterms before landing on the strategy of focusing on himself, ordering a series of television advertisements about his own record that will serve as a backdrop to the 100, of individual House and Senate contests. People familiar with the discussions tell the Atlantic, and ad blitz is set to be rolled out soon from MAGA, Inc. Joining us now, MS Now Senior White House reporter Von Hilliard,

along with MS Now contributor Mike Barnacle, and presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, John Meacham. Vaughn, I'll just start with your reporting as you follow this out in the field. The president seems to think that he can focus on himself. Let's not underestimate that because they've got a lot of money to spend. And the hubris of the presidency United States leads one to believe that he may actually believe that to be true, saying that if Republicans lose Senate and House races in November, it's not because of him,

but it's because the country doesn't like the Republicans in Congress. This is the part of sort of the isolation of the president inside of the White House right now and the extent to which he is hearing voices like that directly from Alex Tabett. And if you're looking at the coffers and the extent to which the president actually wants to help out Republicans down ballot, it's questionable. And while they are planning this ad blitz, we reported one month ago, literally today, that that $400 million coffer that MAGA Inc. has at Donald Trump's disposal, his own superback, they have spent less than a million dollars. And where did that money go? We went to Darlene Graham,

an intra-party Republican battle. And so when you're looking at the promises, you know, we've been talking repeatedly to folks that are working across the Republican apparatus trying to help these candidates. And the big question is, where is he going to spend the money? And now there's some details here from the Atlantic that he intends to spend it promoting himself. And as he himself posted on True Social yesterday, in part, GOP's only path in November,

defend Trump. Donald Trump believes that to a certain extent, and now he's directing the allies that have the access to that cash to go and spend it that way. So John Meacham, I mean, we see candidates in Senate races, close Senate races across the country. Think James Tala Rico, for example,

in Texas, just hanging Donald Trump around the neck of their opponent, Ken Paxson, has supported everything Donald Trump's ever done, and you see that in races all over the place. Democrats are happy to have Donald Trump at front and center of this conversation over these midterm elections. Donald Trump, of course, does not have the kind of personality that would lend itself to stepping away and saying, you guys are right, I shouldn't be around. He can't help himself. The question is, does it cost perhaps Republicans the Senate this fall? I think one caveat we should state up front is almost everything we've predicted about Donald Trump

since 2015 has proven to be wrong. There are a lot of folks who at various points have declared the phenomena to be running out of gas. It's over. He's gone too far. And here he is. As he himself said in the most honest thing from the inaugural address, in the rotunda on that cold January day.

Can you believe this? You know, which is sort of not a bad way to capture the era. We are such a closely divided country. These are de minimis margins that shift these elections, that we are once again going to be, I think, in more of a turnout battle. I would argue, and again, take a... for what it's worth, you know, this notion of this vast democratic landslide coming feels to me

to be premature, to say the least, if only because we don't live in an era of landslides when you step back from the country itself. These are incredibly close races and districts that are, in fact, competitive. A state like Texas is going to, you know, for a Democrat to win theirs would be a remarkable thing. And President Trump, let's just be honest. has a remarkable capacity for political resurrection. Now, can he transfer that? That's the question you're asking. Don't know.

But if you're Donald Trump, and you've gotten this far by being about Donald Trump, what in your life experience would suggest to you that you do something else? You also, John, could go back to the first inaugural, quoting the poet laureate George W. Bush's assessment of the first inaugural address from Donald Trump back in 2017. So Mike Barnacle, I totally agree with John Meacham. There have been so many times along this road over the last decade

which people say this is the moment everything changes, right? Republicans are turning on them. They're sick of them. They're fed up. We hear the sound bite from the one man, which is true. People are annoyed by the chaos and all the nonsense that he, and they just wanted to get back to work and make prices lower. But people are deeply unhappy with the economy.

He's way underwater among independents. We're not talking about statewide races, not primaries, for the Republican Party. They're sick with what they see in the Iran war. Why are we there? Why are these guys on these ships without food, military men and women? All of those things do add up to. And Republicans will tell you this, not Democrats,

that they'd be just as happy if Donald Trump stayed away from many of these races. Yeah, it's all true. And I don't disagree. I would never dare disagree with Mr. Meacham, Professor Meacham, or with you, Willie. Oh. But I think this is a little different this time.

We are involved in a war that he helped start. The United States helps start that we seemingly can't end or get out of. We are now confronted with a president of the United States who has spent more time vilifying Canada than he has Vladimir Putin and Russia. We have all of that, and as well as the daily obsession with putting his name on things. from libraries to the Kennedy Center to the front of the White House, who knows. So you have all of that. And you also have an administration that almost on a daily basis goes out of its way to remove programs or trim programs aimed at helping middle class people

and people living right at the edge, poor people in this country, with a level of cruelty involved in what they do that is unmatched in my memory. And Jonathan, you cover the White House more or less a lot, okay? But the level of cruelty, planned cruelty in this administration is a shock, I think, to a lot of people. Well, certainly President Trump has always viewed himself

as the president of just his supporters and red states, not blue, and therefore there are cuts. But of course, we should keep in mind there are some of these slashes to programs impact his voters as well. the scene atop this story is just so classic and just so fitting of the moment where Republican strategists

go to the Oval Office suggest to the President's advisors we think the best approach here would be to spend our money to individualize these races because a race in Texas is different than race in Michigan and the like

and Trump's like, nah, just make it about me just flat out, despite their concerns about his low approval ratings about the fact that he's done nothing to address the biggest issues in this country for voters, which is the affordability crisis and Trump's saying no,

I actually have accomplished a lot. People just don't know about it. That's what we're at should be about, Mika. And then he was asked, well, do you want to do some videos, stuff like that? I say, no, I talk about my colleges all the time in speeches. Just use that. So it's about making it about himself, not putting much effort. Only recently, as he started doing any domestic political travel, he'll go to Texas today.

He was in South Carolina last week. But he's not out there much, and we should always keep this in mind. In the Trump era, as dominant as figures he has been, when his name, isn't actually on the ballot, his supporters tend not to come out, at least a piece of them. So that's where Republicans are so anxious about this fall and why Democrats are a favorite to take back at least the House with the Senate being a trutossum. All right. We'll talk about this more. Also, Jonathan will get coming up after a break to your piece about the real reason Trump wants economic sanctions in Iran. We'll be right back

with much more morning, Joe. Beautiful sunrise over Washington, 635 on this Thursday morning. CIA director John Ratcliffe made a rare secretive trip to Moscow this week, marking the first such known trip by a CIA director to the Russian capital since 2021. Two people familiar with the matter tell Politico, Ratcliffe warned Russian officials not to escalate conflict with America's NATO allies, in particular Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in response to Moscow's stalemated invasion of Ukraine. One of those two people and a U.K. official with knowledge of the trip tell the outlift,

Ratcliffe also used the visit to press Russia to reduce its military and economic support for Iran. Kremlin spokesman Demetri Peskov said Ratcliffe did not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin but that Putin was briefed on the talks. President Trump meanwhile

played down the significance of Ratcliffe's trip describing it yesterday to conservative radio host Glenn Beck as quote sort of semi routine, not semi-routine at all. Jonathan Lemire, interesting though that he would spend that kind of capital a CIA director going into Moscow for what many have viewed as a feudal operation, which is to get Russia to step away from Iran.

Perhaps more significant, though, with word that Russia may be trying to test NATO with some kind of a cyber attack or a land incursion into Estonia or Lithuania or Latvia, one of those countries that he's sort of drawing a red line there at least. Yeah, President Trump himself never talks tough with Russia. But there are moments where his administration does. And this was definitely message sent. And it wasn't a subtle visit. Ratcliffe was on an American military aircraft that flew in. Everyone saw it, and that's led to the speculation as to what it was about. And I think there are a few things at play here. Yes, don't assist Iran. We'll see if Putin listens to that. The same message could be sent to Beijing. The White House has not done that. But the bigger issue here is in Europe, where there is a sense with the Ukraine war bog down that Putin may try to instigate something with a NATO country, in part to see what the U.S. response would be. NATO exists only because of Article 5, the mutual defense pact. And if he were to do it. do something with one of these perhaps Baltic states.

And the U.S. didn't rush to the aid. And there's questions whether Trump would. Well, NATO's about over, at least in the sense that we know it now, would become just a European project. The other issue is there's Russia has been behind a number of like small, almost quasi terror incidents in Europe. They're believed to be, including at a German airport, at least in days where there were explosive drones discovered.

There was an attack that was thwarted by officials there. Ukraine believed it was connected to the war. And there's a sense that Ratcliffe was. telling Moscow, hey, knock this off. This can't happen. Now, whether the warning has teeth behind it, we'll see Putin is showing no signs of relenting on the battlefield in Ukraine. There's even again, there's some been chatter that he might revisit the idea of using a tactical nuke there, which of course the U.S. has also knocked, as repeatedly said in the past, you cannot do that. There's a lot here. The biggest, of course, Ukraine would hope that the U.S. would actually

help more with defense. To this point, Trump still seems reluctant. So is there anyone, this is probably a foolish question. Is there anyone around the president of the United States who would step into the Oval Office and say, Mr. President, Russia is not our friend. Putin is not our friend. We've got to rethink a couple of elements of the relationship that we have with the Soviet, with the Russians. There, I mean, there's certainly voices in the administration who are Russia Hawks, Ratcliffe, among them, frankly, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. But in the Trump administration, those voices tend to go quiet. Especially in Trump 2.0, it is a feature, not a bug. that these are just sycophants who are going to do what he wants to do,

who are rarely going to tell him bad news. And we've seen that, we reminded of that again this week with the reporting from the Wall Street Journal about the origins of the Iran War that even some members there who had reservations kept quiet, including Chief of Staff Dan Cain, who seemed overly promised, chairman of joint chief of staff, Dan Cain, who overly promised what the U.S. military could do. J.D. Vance appears to have been the lone voice to say, we shouldn't do this, but then he came around too.

That's what happens here in Trump 2.0. And to this point, you know, there have not been able to really move the president on Ukraine, which is why Europe has had to step up in the way they have. And they have. But, you know, Europe can only do so much compared to the breadth of the United States. Well, speaking of the war with Iran, President Trump portraying it as over, despite the conflict very much continuing as it now approaches its seventh month. The president yesterday posted this AI image on social media showing himself standing between two signs.

One reads, mission not accomplished 2001 to 2021 next to an image of President George W. Bush. The other reads, mission accomplished 2026 next to an image of Iran's former supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. While Khamini was killed at the start of the war, his hardline son has taken his place as leader. And despite the president's declaration in that post, most of the stated objectives for the war, like ensuring Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon remain not accomplished. So Jonathan Lemire, I don't quite get the, excuse me, Jonathan, John Meachon, I don't quite get the sign that's up there. Of course, George W. Bush had the moment on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is back

in the news recently in 2003. There was a mission accomplished banner that was held over his head for a very long time about the Iraq war. I guess he's suggesting that he, President Trump, somehow achieved regime. changed because Khamenei is dead in a way that President George W. Bush, Obama. Oh, by the way, President Trump in his first term and President Biden did not. But what do you see in that image? And by the way, the president just hoping this war will go away. Well, the fact that he's posting artificial images of his heroism as commander in chief,

I think tells you everything you need to know, right? I mean, it's a kind of, it's an invention of and a dispute, an open, ongoing dispute with reality. By the way, reality is undefeated in human events, right? That it's going to win. No matter how, no matter what we do to create a false sense of security and affirmation around ourselves, facts will out. And I think we're in a real Democratic lowercase D crisis here because the Iran war is, to my knowledge, thinking about it, and Barnacle, who's been doing this since Fort McHenry in 2012. So let me tell me if I'm right here. This is a conflict with almost virtually no purchase, no role in the American imagination, right?

Can you, can people picture what's happening? Can you think of an event? You know, it's, it's not something that we're engaged with in a way that a country should be engaged, a democracy, should be engaged when we project power in our name. Compared to what both President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush did with Iraq, with Kuwait in 1990, 91, and Iraq in 2000. 2003. Those were, say what you will, about why we did it, how we did it. It was laid out for the public. And in 2003, the intelligence was wrong. But there was colon pal at the UN. They went to Congress. You know, they told a story not for artificial ego purposes, but a story so that we would be engaged with our blood. treasure. And that has not happened here. Yeah, there was no argument made for it. And it certainly was

not a campaign promise. And again, the American people can see the results of this every time they pump gas, which brings it home to them and reminds them that this happened. Jonathan Lemire, that brings us to the new piece you've co-written for the Atlantic, titled The Real Reason Trump wants economic sanctions in Iran. What is that reason? Well, there is the stated reason, which is that economic sanctions, they believe, could finally force Tehran to the negotiating table in a real way. But the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besson, as he's outlined them, he is yet to actually commit to those important secondary sanctions on places like China, Russia, North Korea that still do business with Tehran. And so far,

Trump does not seem inclined to be tough with them. And look, the military operations, not working. The diplomacy has faltered. Iran is stronger in the region now, including with that's controlled the straight-up moves they've been before. So economic sanctions do make some sense. And the White House can point to evidence they have that the economy in Iran is weak, but of course that regime has proven very resilient. They also have proven to not really care about the plight of their own citizens. But the other reason, just as important, is that this economic pressure is going to take a while. It's going to be slow. It's going to be steady. And it's going to be keep the Iran war, the hope is, fry the White House, out of the headlines. That every time President

Trump takes true social and says he's going to wipe out Iran's civilization, that generates a news cycle. Every time talks fail, that generates a new cycle. This will go slower. And the idea is to push it out of the public's mind ahead of the midterms this fall, to not, to make Iran go from a front page story to inside the paper, if you will. Now, there's a risk to that because if the economic pressure doesn't yield progress, well, prices, especially at the gas pump, probably going to stay pretty high. And that's a concern for Republicans as they seek re-election this fall. But that's the idea here, Vaughn, is that the white part of this is the White House doesn't want to be talking about this anymore. Now, can President Trump be disciplined enough to do so if

he feels humiliated by whatever the hardliners in Tehran do next? We'll see. His track record's not great. But they're really trying as best they can to push this, to memoryhole this war and thinking that'll help this fall. Because this war, has stabbed the godlike image that Donald Trump has wanted the country to believe that he portrays. The world's most powerful man. This war has undercut that standing. And when you look at China, President Xi coming, right? There's a reason that the president hasn't placed those sanctions on China as Scott Besson has threatened for buying Iranian oil. And that is because you are looking at a president of the United States who, after 10 years of playing sort of right,

the idea of this power dynamic of being the victim, representing in 2016 the forgotten man. And then during his first administration, trying to beat back against a deep state that was trying to stop the MAGA movement. And then in 2020, trying to fight back against the pandemic that was trying to kill the golden age, the greatest economy ever. And then in 2022, 2022, 2023, 2024, in the face of indictment, and political persecution, he came roaring back here to fight for Americans. Well, the last 18 months, he's been the one solely in charge. And what we have heard from these voters that are speaking out runs completely in contrast to what we have heard from his voters over the last 10 years.

They repeatedly came to the defense of his tariff and trade war, saying that he was fighting for a better deal, that it would just take some time. He's going to win this for them. That, hey, if he gets into office, he's going to end the Ukraine war because he actually has a relationship with Vladimir Putin. That was a relationship that when the moment came, he would be able to put to good use. Well, he hasn't. And now when you look at the Iran War, there was a great many millions of Americans that

believed that he would be able to stop the regime. He has failed to do that here. And so the president of the United States, there is nobody that he can point the finger at right now because at the forefront of the political candidacies that he ran three straight times was that he was the most powerful man in the world. And it is this war and the Russia war that have completely undercut that image. And he is struggling in real time on how to shape that and how to convince the Americans that it's not his fault. MS now, senior White House reporter Von Hilliard and historian John Meacham. Thank you both very much for coming on the show

this morning. And coming up, as many students across the country, head back to school. Our next is asking, what happened to college? Author Neil Gross joins us to discuss why he believes politics has hurt higher education and talks about whether it's possible to save it. Morning Joe, we'll be right back. Some of the other headlines this morning, rescue teams are searching for hundreds of missing people along the border of Nepal and China after a catastrophic torrent of mud and water tour through community. is there. Videos of the massive tragedy show just how a little time there was for anyone to escape a massive wall of water that pours through the area, burying roads and buildings and leaving a huge

path of destruction in its wake. Nepal says at least 165 people are dead and 8266 are missing after a glacial collapse triggered the deadly flooding. Rescue teams, backed by helicopters are searching the hardest hit areas. More than 100 people have been airlifted to safety with hundreds more missing. Experts say the disaster highlights the growing risks from warming temperatures, destabilizing glaciers across the Himalayas. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued a recall of nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef imported from Argentina after the agency found it had bypassed a required import re-inspection. The meat was sent and sold to distributors in Florida and Texas,

and the recall is classified as a class one, indicating a high or medium risk. This comes amid criticism of President Trump's plan to import foreign beef over the next 90 days in an effort to bring down high prices. And the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for advanced pancreatic cancer. This is big. Researchers are calling it a landmark development in the fight against one of the deadliest forms of cancer. In a key clinical trial, the drug nearly doubled patients' average survival times when taken instead of chemotherapy. Experts note that there isn't a cure, this isn't a cure, but it is the first treatment.

to substantially extend the lives of patients with pancreatic cancer. And coming up, it's been more than seven months since the fatal shootings of Alex Breddy and Renee Good in Minnesota. The Hennepin County Attorney will join us ahead for an update on the investigations into their deaths. Morning Joe is back in a moment.