Morning Joe - Morning Joe 10/10/22

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

Russia unleashes deadly strikes on cities across Ukraine after Crimea bridge attack

The Democratic Party, they have a majority. They could stop this crime today. Some people say, well, they're soft on crime. No, they're not soft on crime. They're pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have.

They want reparation because they think that people that do the crime are owed that. Bullshit! They are not owed that. Bullshit. They're not owed that. Blatant racism and fear mongering that appears to be the end game strategy for Republicans with the midterm elections now one month away. Can you believe what we just heard? We'll talk about it. Plus, explosive new allegations surrounding Herschel Walker's Senate campaign in Georgia. The former star running back urged a woman to have a second abortion, she says, but chose to have their son instead. We'll explain how text messages are now at the center of the story. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Monday, October 10th. we begin with major developments in the war in Ukraine, where overnight multiple explosions rocked the capital city of Kyiv for the first time in four

months. According to the mayor of Kyiv, explosions went off near the center of the city in an area that includes the historic old town, as well as several government offices. The number of casualties is not yet clear. Ukrainian media is also reporting explosions in several other cities, including Lviv, which is seen as a refuge for many people fleeing the fighting. Air raid sirens sounding in every region of Ukraine, except Russia annexed Crimea for four straight hours. Yesterday, Russia also launched a missile attack that hit a

residential building in Zaporizhia, killing at least 13 people and injuring dozens more. At least 10 children were hurt in the attack. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, six missiles were reportedly launched from Russian-occupied areas in the city. The city is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russia illegally claimed to annex. On his Telegram account this morning, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, quote, they are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth. Those attacks could be seen as a retaliatory measure after the sole bridge connecting the Russian mainland to Crimea went up in flames over the weekend, embarrassing Russian leaders and hobbling an important supply chain for Moscow.

According to Russian officials, the massive explosion killed at least three people and is being called a terrorist act by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian government has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack, but one Ukrainian official speaking on the condition of anonymity told The New York Times that Ukraine was behind the explosion. That official added that Ukraine's intelligence services had orchestrated the blast, saying a bomb had been loaded onto a truck that was driven across the bridge. The 12 mile long bridge is seen as an extremely symbolic target. It is the sole connector that physically merges Russia and Crimea. Putin personally oversaw the bridge's opening in 2018. So, Joe, a lot of developments, especially in the last few hours, last 12 hours or so in Ukraine.

Well, a lot of developments. Obviously, we all saw the news overnight. I believe it was Friday night about the bridge being damaged, going going to Crimea. That was a massive bit of news. And now we have a follow up where the Russians are proving once again that they can. And this is this is just the military reality. They can they can launch random acts of terrorism. They just can't win a battle on the battlefield. So if you're Russia, all you can do is try to kill innocent civilians because you don't know how to win a battle on the battlefield let's bring in our nbc news correspondent cal perry who is live in kiev cal uh this is uh it is a bit surprising i mean i obviously

the ukrainians were uh looking uh for for retaliatory strikes from Russia. But you hear about attacks in Lviv and where you are in Kiev. This takes us back six, nine months. What's the latest on the ground there? Yeah. Well, look, for the first time in six months, you have citizens here in Kiev huddled in the subway from incoming fire. There were over 85 rockets, we understand, from the government fired at one time in a volley. That is rockets and drones hitting a dozen cities across the country. The first explosions we heard here were at about 8.15 in the morning, distinct loud explosions from the downtown area. And as you've rightly set up, we heard Vladimir Putin say there would be retaliation for this bridge strike. He said it before the bridge was even struck. He opened this bridge in 2018. So there was the anticipation

that something could happen, but nothing to the level like we've seen here. I can sort of walk you through from the eastern part of the country in the city of Kharkiv, multiple explosions where our team is on the ground there. Here in the capital of Kyiv, at least three separate waves of explosions, Joe, killing at least eight people, wounding a dozen other. In the central city of Rivne, at least five are dead in series, again, a series of explosions there. And as far west as Lviv, as you mentioned, the power is out there at this hour because we understand they hit power structures. That's what's happening here in Kyiv as well. Some of these targets, clearly logistical targets, trying to knock the power out, trying to knock the heat out. But some of these targets are civilian targets. We know of one residential building that was hit, and we understand there are still people trapped in the

rubble at this hour as the security services try to make their way to these sites. It's not clear if this is over. We've heard the mayor of Kiev say that people should be alert for the rest of the day to expect further attacks. Certainly, there's a concern here on the ground that we could see continuing attacks, guys. Cal, any suggestion that there will be retaliation from the Ukrainian government? Are they going to pick out targets symbolic to other ones, symbolic to Vladimir Putin? I don't think there's any question. And when they hit these symbolic targets, the reaction here is never a claim of responsibility. It's always a mocking of the Russians. They mocked Vladimir Putin when they hit that bridge. The real retaliation,

guys, is going to come in the eastern part of the country and the southern part of the country. This is also likely what the Russian president is reacting to. Ukrainian forces are on the move. They're on the move in the east and in the south, and they're moving quickly. At one point last week, we think they moved that conflict line, that line of Russian troops, some eight miles in just four hours. It is partly that which the Russians are reacting to. And Joe, you said it perfectly at the beginning. These battlefield losses are now being shown by the Russians as they lash out continuously on these civilian targets. All right. NBC's Cal Perry, thank you so much. Please be careful there. We greatly appreciate your reporting. With us now from Moscow, NBC News senior international correspondent Keir Simmons. Keir, obviously Vladimir Putin embarrassed

by what's been happening on the battlefield, Russian forces in several areas collapsing, obviously the attack on the bridge linking Russia to Crimea also a humiliation uh we we saw the strikes overnight um what what's happening in Russia right now what's the reaction uh other other than these strikes last night uh to the continued failure of Russian forces on the battlefield well I think we're seeing the reaction from the Kremlin behind me there in Ukraine, where you were just speaking to Carol Perry. We've actually just in the past few minutes, Joe, heard from President Putin, who has described this morning's attacks as retaliation. I think it was clearly coming since last night when we saw President Putin

on television with his lead investigator for that attack on the bridge between Russia and Crimea. Describe it as an act of terrorism. Say that it was an attack on civilian infrastructure. Now, that bridge has actually been used for military supplies. It is also a symbol of power for President Putin and for Russia. And President Putin, now I think you're seeing his response over the weekend after that explosion on the bridge. He appointed a new general, General Serebkin, who is known for his brutality in Syria. Again, this is that general's first message, I think, there in Ukraine. And look, it's quite extraordinary watching Russian television yesterday, Joe, and what you saw was wall-to-wall blanket coverage of the blast on the bridge.

It wasn't hidden. It wasn't not talked about. And what we've been hearing is vocal criticism of not directly of President Putin, but of the military and its campaign. And that, again, stunning, frankly, that is not something you would have seen just a few months ago. Military Russian military bloggers coming out openly and saying the enemy aren't scared of us. Now, that, of course, is extremely dangerous for President Putin, who cannot afford to look weak. And I think this is his way of attempting to look strong. Just think about this. For example, Joe, there are two Putin loyalists, one a Chechen warlord, the other who runs the Wagner Group, Progozhin. Both of them control private

armies. Both of them loyal to President Putin, but criticizing the way the military campaign has been handled. That, again, is unprecedented here in Russia. Frankly, I think President Putin is under pressure in a way he hasn't been in 20 years of his leadership. Kier, could you explain to our viewers the Putin regime, why they may be allowing, why Vladimir Putin may be allowing this dissent? And also, if you could just put things into perspective, I think there's a lot of times because Putin's illiberal and he's an authoritarian leader and he's a strong man, sometimes there is this sort of morphing with Putin's regime, would say Joseph Stalin's or Brezhnev's, when in fact he did allow dissent, as you've said before,

maybe to possibly let steam out. Why now? Why are we hearing these voices of dissent on Russian television now? Well, that's Kremlinology that I can't answer, honestly, Joe. Frankly, what is going on in the Kremlin behind me there and in the upper echelons of Moscow power, if you like, you read the tea leaves, but you never really quite know. But I do think it is important to understand, and we've said this, I think we just said it just last week when we spoke, it is important to understand that there are no liberals around President Putin. There are

hardliners and there are longtime allies and dug into the government, if you like. So it's very important, I think, to recognize that group around President Putin, and there are many of them that have been with him for 20 years, they are all in this together, if you like. And at the same time, those hardliners, they are outspoken from the more radical side, if you like. It would be difficult for President Putin to criticize them. And as you mentioned, he has always allowed dissent in his ranks up to a point. There are those who think that he has thought that it has been useful for his leadership. But we are seeing it in public in a way perhaps we haven't seen certainly since the beginning of what Russia calls its special military operation. I mean, your question is

about where this goes from here. I don't think we know. All right. NBC's Keir Simmons. Thank you so much. Greatly appreciate it. Let's bring right now the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, see how his criminology is doing this morning. The Giants won yesterday. He's still wearing the Sean Connery beard. So perhaps. OK, so so I am curious, is Putin allowing the criticism right now because it's coming from his right? It's coming from the hardliners instead of instead of from pro-democracy forces? Absolutely, Joe. That's his base. He can't turn on his base. So he's allowing them to vent. And what he's doing with these attacks is giving them some of the some of the red meat that they want. I think it's interesting just for a second to take a step back and connect

the dots. What we're seeing, Joe, is Putin adopt what I would call an indirect strategy, as you suggested, he can't prevail on the battlefield. So we're seeing three distinct things going on simultaneously. One is the attacks on Ukraine to break their will. Ukraine is a society that kind of tasted normalcy after months of war. So I think this is psychologically tough on them. Secondly, he wants to break the back of Europe and support for Ukraine through the natural gas shutoffs. And third, he wants to weaken our will through the threats of nuclear escalation. So all of this, again, is an indirect strategy designed to weaken Ukraine, to dilute support for Ukraine, simply because a direct strategy prevailing on the battlefield is something he's tried. And after six months,

I think the evidence is in. He cannot succeed by by going down that path. You know, you can't you don't have to be a military strategist or a graduate of West Point to understand the Russians are going to keep losing on the battlefield. There is a momentum right now. Right now, if you if you look at what's been happening, it does seem that the training that these Ukrainian troops got after 2014 from the United States, a lot of the weapons coming in from the West have just pushed this this to, you know, advantage Ukraine. And it's going to continue that way. With that in mind, where do we go next? Ukraine's going to keep making gains on the battlefield. Is Russia going to be limited to just trying to randomly kill civilians with missile attacks? Well, it's where we were months ago. My guess, the short answer is yes. Now, Russia will be more in defensive positions in the east and the south, less difficult to hold defensive positions than it is to carry out offensive operations. But my short answer to what you just raised is that's one of the reasons I

think this is likely to be a long conflict. That again, there's no basis for peace talks now or for the foreseeable future. Ukraine will gradually make some progress on the battlefield. Russia will do what it can to limit that progress. And more important, again, Russia is going to continue to try to weaken support for Ukraine by going after energy supplies or threatening nukes or now attacking cities. So that's what we're likely to see. I think both sides, in a sense, Joe, can sustain this. This war has been going on since 2014. It's going to go through the winter. It may dial down in intensity, but we all ought to psychologically and politically prepare ourselves for a long struggle. We don't know the extent of the casualties in Kiev. We're hearing that even children, civilians, obviously, any word from the White House at this point, Jonathan Lemire.

They're certainly watching it carefully, but I think there is a sense that this is a display of Putin's limits, that it's a temper tantrum. This is all he can do. These aren't he's not making gains on the battlefront. That's not where these attacks are. He's trying to terrorize civilians. He's indiscriminately bombing civilian infrastructure targets in Kiev, Lviv and elsewhere. And we're seeing Kiev. It's hitting parks. It's hitting a pedestrian only bridge. There's no military or strategic value for these sites other than to cause terror. And if part of his goal here is to try to disrupt the unity of the West, that seems like it's even

in the first few hours backfiring. Just heard from the White House, they've scrambled a G7 call tomorrow that will include Zelensky, a video call. This will be another moment for the Western alliance to double down on their support of Kiev against Moscow. Putin's not able to disrupt that. Well, and the problem is Richard is right. I think most people that look at this say this is going to continue on for quite some time. The problem for Vladimir Putin is the longer this goes, the more Ukrainian land he loses. The more Ukrainian land he loses, the weaker his hand is at home, the less likely is to settle. And suddenly, Mika, we have a situation.

You don't want to be overly dramatic, but has overtones of 1914. I don't know who's creative enough to solve this crisis diplomatically, but this is going actually in a very good direction. If you are supportive of freedom, if you're supportive of the Ukrainians getting their land back. But it just causes a number of problems that actually threaten to destabilize world peace. Well, we're going to be coming back to this story with new updates as we get them. But we need to turn to some explosive developments in politics over the weekend. The woman who says Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker paid for her to have an abortion back in 2009 now claims he urged her to terminate a second

pregnancy two years later. Walker's former girlfriend tells The New York Times that in 2011, she went against the former college football star's wishes and had their now 10-year-old son. So another kid that he didn't recognize, she claims Walker has had little to do with the child since. Aside from sending child support payments and occasional gifts facilitated through Walker's wife, Julie. In a series of recent text messages between Julie Walker and the woman, Walker's wife insists she was unaware of the claims that her husband paid for the first abortion or that he allegedly pushed the woman to have a second abortion as well. These text messages were provided to NBC News by the Walker campaign and after previously saying he did not know the identity of the woman making the claims.

Do you know the woman that is making this allegation? I have no idea, but it is a flat out lie. Have you figured out who it is? Not at all. Walker now tells NBC News that he just learned her identity on Friday. He now acknowledges he fathered a child with the woman, but still denies he paid for her to have an abortion. Still, more Republicans are throwing their support behind Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, the latest being Senators Rick Scott and Tom Cotton, who announced they will travel to the southern state to campaign for Walker tomorrow.

Wow. Wow. In a statement to NBC News, Scott writes in part, it's just Tom Cotton is going. I expect Rick Scott, but Tom Cotton is going to campaign for this guy. Yeah. Mm hmm. Absolutely. So anyhow, writing in part, they picked the wrong Georgian to mess with. I am proud to stand with Herschel Walker and make sure Georgians know that he will always fight to protect them from the forces trying to destroy Georgia values. Just Georgia values.

Just Georgia values. Wait a second. Can I just pop in there? We got to stop saying he has extra kids that he doesn't even recognize or spend time with. I mean, put the abortions aside. Can we just talk about not recognizing a child that you had with a woman and not supporting this child? And by the way, the hypocrisy of Rick Scott. Rick Scott just said, for the people of Georgia, listen up. Rick Scott just said that Georgia values is holding a gun to a woman's head and saying you're going to pull the trigger and kill her. That's what Rick Scott says. Rick Scott says Georgia values is having four children that you abandon. I mean, I think it's four.

Four children that you do not raise. Four that we know so far. Four that you do not raise. He says that Georgia values are are lying. I mean, in real time, we saw on this show when this woman was brought up, Walker lied because she's like she doesn't exist. I don't know who this person is. And then we find out that this person that Walker says on the campaign trail to Georgia voters, Georgia values, a politician lying through his teeth about abortions, a politician lying through his teeth

about children that he's a father of who he's abandoned for children. He says a woman doesn't exist. At the same time, the woman is texting his wife. At the same time, the woman is texting his wife at the same time the woman is talking to the new york times at the same time the woman is saying not only did i have one abortion because he pressured me to do it he wanted me to have a second abortion and i refused to do it so that was the end of our relationship walker says this woman doesn't exist and And yet in 2014, he started paying child support for the child that his girlfriend refused to abort. I think when you see all of this, you see the line going on in real time. You see the abandonment of four children. You understand what Peggy Noonan wrote about this weekend for The Wall Street Journal when she said Republicans don't understand

what's the central crisis for this campaign. It's not the abortions. It's not that he's made mistakes in the past. Peggy says what I think most people say, that we're all humans. We all sin. We all make mistakes. Peggy says, though, that's not the problem. The problem is that he is abandoned for children. And one of those children started all this by coming out saying he refused to be a dad to any of us. He just continued going out there, having sex with other women instead of being our dad. And this is what Rick Scott and this is the Republican. This really is the Republican point at its at its lowest point. I think even more than the access hollywood tape

rick scott talks about georgia values and says he's coming in to endorse a guy who's abandoned four children paid for abortions lied about the abortions, put a gun up to a woman's head, said he was going to kill her. Nevers denied that. But on this campaign, he's just lying through his teeth. And even as Peggy says, even if you put all that to the side, this may be in our lifetime. And I would guess in Peggy's and mine, speaking for myself here, the least the single least qualified candidate for the United States Senate. That I've ever seen win his parties or her party's nomination. And Republicans like Tom Cotton, who's so morally self-righteous, rushing in to go, yes, I'm proud to support this guy, who again, made mistakes. We all made mistakes. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus tells us that that's not the breaking news. The breaking news is he's still lying about the abortions.

He's still lying about the children he abandoned. He's still lying about these women who are saying he abused them are neglected their children. And this is what Rick Scott supports. This is what Tom Cotton supports. This is what the Republican Party of Donald Trump in 2022 supports. I've never seen anything like it. Let's bring in right now political reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Greg Blustein. You know, Greg, I heard a lot of people saying after Access Hollywood taped that that was going to finish Trump. I didn't think so. I just didn't.

I mean, you had a guy who went on Howard Stern and said he wanted to have sex with a dead princess because he liked her skin. So not a lot of people shocked by that. Trump did, though, in a rare act of contrition, apologize for his actions. Herschel Walker's just lying day in and day out. And I just I'm just wondering, are the Republicans going to just fall in line? By the way, just for people that are watching, Greg's a reporter. What I'm saying, I'm characterizing the New York Times reports. I'm characterizing the court papers. Greg is not agreeing with any conclusions that I'm drawing here. I just want to say that because we're on a split screen. But Greg, there is a question, though, that reporters are asking, that you're asking,

will this be a bridge too far that Hershel Walker caught lying on the campaign saying he didn't know who this woman was? And it ends up that he wanted her to have a second abortion, she says, and that there are court documents showing he's paid child support to this woman since 2014. Is that a bridge too far, even for Trump's Republican Party? You know, Joe, there's a number of Republicans who don't believe this at all, who say that it's fake news. There's a number of Republicans who say they believe it, but it's not an issue to them. That control of the Senate is the most important thing, the most paramount factor of their November vote. And there's a smaller number of Republicans who say this is an issue, who are questioning their vote for Republicans,

who are signaling they're going to either withhold their vote from either candidate, either Senator Warnock and Hershel Walker, vote for Warnock or even vote for a third party candidate. But that's a small number. You've got to remember, in Georgia, the last month, you can't turn on a TV screen without hearing Hershel Walker's ex-wife, dramatic footage of her talking about how he threatened to kill her. And so if that wasn't a bridge too far for many of these Republicans, then it's questionable whether this will kind of be the breaking point. We'll see. We don't have that great polling numbers yet from after these Daily Beast and New York Times reports,

but we're going to start getting them this week. So, Greg, strategists have said to me that in some ways this was baked in for Walker. No, we didn't know the specifics. We didn't know about the kids, the abortions. But there was a sense that he certainly was someone who came with a lot of baggage. And we should note some of these accusations come after Walker says he was born again, saved and found grace in his words. How are Democrats approaching this? We know Republicans so far anyway rallying around Walker. What's the Democrat strategy to try to, let's be clear, it's a delicate issue, to try to take advantage of this and press forward in wake of these seismic revelations?

You know, it's really interesting. Democrats are largely steering clear. Senator Warnock on the campaign trail, he's not speaking about it. If he's asked about it, he said, look, these are disturbing. This is part of a pattern of behavior. But as strategists say, when your opponent is lighting himself on fire, you don't bring him the bucket to help him out, right? The Democrats are worried about a boomerang effect. They're worried about intervening too much to give Republicans a new rallying cry to shift this conversation away from all this mess. All right. Reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Greg Blustein, thank you very much.

We'll talk to you again soon, I'm sure. And still ahead on Morning Joe, the prosecutor investigating efforts to interfere with the 2020 election in Georgia wants testimony from top Trump allies. We'll have the latest on the former president's legal fight with DOJ. He's making new claims of executive privilege on folders seized from Mar-a-Lago. Plus, Friday's strong jobs report sent stocks lower and they're still in the red this morning. We'll take a look at the health of the economy ahead of key reports on inflation data this week. You're watching Morning Joe.

We'll be right back. Hey, welcome to Morning Joe. Man, it is October. You can tell it. The sun not out yet. It's 633 in New York City. A beautiful morning. You know, most of my life, I've talked about this a good bit lately, but most of my life I've been hearing from people.

I've been hearing from teachers in middle school, high school. I've been hearing from professors in college that the United States was in collapse. Its economy was going down in the 50s and 60s. The Soviets were going to overtake us in the 70s, 80s. It was Japan. It's been China over the past 20 years. Right now, we had jobs numbers out on Friday. The best jobs numbers match the best job numbers over the past half century. The dollar stronger than at any time in the past half century. You compare the United States economy right now to any economy across the world, any other country, any other leader would take our economy in the second. And yet the stock market keeps falling. Why? One word, inflation. To break down the numbers, let's bring in former Treasury official and Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Ratner. Steve, great job numbers. Great. The dollar is extraordinarily strong.

Our economy, as you and I have both said, relative to the rest of the world, much better than than other countries. At the same time, though, it's I guess because I'm always looking at the positive when it comes to the U.S. economy. I guess the bad news is, at least for the Fed and for people in the market, is our economy is so resilient. Our economy is so strong that the Fed just can't tamp it down. So they're going to have to keep raising interest rates, which, of course, is bad for the stock market. Take us through it. Well, you said in a nutshell, Joe, that's exactly what's going on. But we can start with the jobs numbers, because, as you said, the Democrats have an incredibly strong argument for the fall about what's going on in the sort of real economy in terms of jobs. We had 263,000 jobs created last month. You can see that in the first chart over

on the left in the yellow bar. And that follows three other months and many other months before that, a very strong jobs creation. We have unemployment at the lowest it's been since the 1960s. You can see that in the yellow bar there at three and a half percent. But the problem is that the numbers came in a bit better than expected. You may think that's good news, but it's bad news, which I'll get to in a second. You see the little red bars at the top of the yellow bars showing you that what the expectation was and the fact that both of those numbers came in a bit better. And then the other number which we watch very carefully is how many Americans are actually out in the labor force looking for work or working, so-called labor force participation. And you can see that that ticked

down a little bit last month, contrary to expectations of a remaining flat. And that's bad news because it means Americans are still not coming back into the labor force to the extent we wanted them to and expected them to as the economy recovered. And we can all debate why that is. But fewer Americans in the labor force means more pressure on wages, means more inflation, as I'll talk about in a second. All right. Take us to the next chart. So the next chart gets to the yen. And we talked about the yen. Here's the yang of the situation, which is wages falling behind inflation. And so the yellow in the middle is the difference between wages and inflation. You can see on the left before the pandemic that wages were outpacing inflation.

The economy was doing really well. Americans' real income was going up. And then you can see on the right that inflation, which is the red line, kind of took over and got above the black line, which is wage increases. And so this is that gap in there. That whole yellow area is the extent to which Americans are falling behind because of inflation being higher than wages. The problem is the only way we know to tamp down inflation is to get wage growth to come down a bit. It came down a tiny bit last month, still running at about 5 percent. We generally like that. The problem is that for inflation to get to 2 percent, wage growth has to get down to 3 or 4 percent. So if you're looking at these charts at home, let's keep that chart up for a second, because if you're like me, sometimes when you see charts and numbers and two axes,

you know, things start to blur for me. I'm a simple guy. But a good way to look at this is you see that yellow starting in May of 21? That yellow represents pain. Pain for working class Americans, pain for middle class Americans who see their wages going up, which is the black line, but not as fast as inflation, which is the red line. So despite the fact they're making more money, that yellow represents the gulf between the money they're making in wages and how fast prices are going up. And that at the end of the day, Steve, that ends up really, really bad news for middle class Americans, for working class Americans. And also go to the third chart to show it's also bad for their

retirement. It's also bad for investments. It's also bad for people that are invested in the stock market. So what happened on Friday, Joe, is as soon as those numbers hit, the market reacted because they were, as I said, on the for the most part, better than expected. So what happened? The expectation for the next Fed meeting later this month jumped. The odds of a 75 basis point or 0.75 percent in the vernacular increase in interest rates jumped from 88 percent, that's that black line to the left, all the way up to 95 percent. In other words, a virtual certainty will get a fourth increase of three quarters of a percentage point. The problem is that higher interest rates are the enemy of the

stock market, because when you have interest rates going up, it means Americans can turn to bonds and other kinds of fixed income investments and earn more income, and then they come out of the stock market. And so you can see the S&P immediately rolled over the futures at 830 when the news hit. And then they just kept going down, ended the day down about 2.8 percent. And they're expected to open up, open down, excuse me, slightly today. But we felt a lot of pain on Friday. And this is exactly what has been ailing the stock market for some months now. And should in the future, too, right, Steve? I mean, interest rates continuing to go up for quite some time. The stock market's still a very volatile place

until inflation's tamped down, right? Sure, and interest rates are probably going to keep going up. I think many of us believe that the Fed's job in getting inflation down is tougher than the market thinks it is. And that means more interest rate increases. I'm not here to predict the stock market, but history would tell you it's not great for the

stock market. Yep. Steve Ratner, thank you very much. We'll be talking with you about this a lot in the coming weeks and months coming up. We're going to have the latest from Ukraine as the country's capital is hit with its first major attack overnight in months. Plus, Donald Trump spent the weekend ranting about the FBI's search of his country club. Meanwhile, a Republican senator who took the stage with the former president made racist comments, very blatant racist comments at that rally. We'll have more on all of that ahead on Morning Joe. Touchdown! Gotta get back here more often. And we will. Here's Allen.

Gotta go deep to Davis. He pulled it in! Incredible catch! Incredible is right! It's in the hands of Kyle Duggar and he will take it all the way for a New England defensive touchdown. Uzama the tight end on the move with a couple backs and a fake by Wilson

and a block by Uzama. And downfield they go. This is the rookie running back hole. There's a block downfield by Berrios. Still on his feet. Dragging defenders down to the one. Pollard. Right up the middle. Tony Pollard. Breaking one. Pollard right up the middle.

Tony Pollard breaking free. Pollard cuts back. Pollard all the way. Touchdown, Dallas. The boys, who would have believed it? The Cowboys doing well despite some early season injuries. Those were just some of the top plays from around the NFL yesterday. We're going to talk to Richard Haas about one of those,

a play out of London by the Giants. But let's go right now to Baltimore for a thrilling ending to Sunday night football. The Bengals, remember, in the Super Bowl last year, were down six points with just two minutes to go when Joe Burrow scored a QB sneak to tie the game. Then on the extra point, the ball went over the upright. It meant it was good, giving the Bengals a late lead, but they just, they have way too much time on the clock for Lamar Jackson. He had three big rushes to get Baltimore into field position. For 43, Nick Moore snaps it. Jordan Stout holds it. Justin Tucker wins it for Baltimore.

One of the best kickers in the history of the league. Guess what he does? He comes through in the clutch, gave the Ravens a badly needed win. They're 3-2 in Cincinnati, who was the, you know, the rags to riches story last year. Back in the cellar, they're 2-3. Let's move now from football to baseball. And the final game. Oh, man, this is painful.

This is painful, Mika. Final game of the wild card weekend. Granted slowly to third. Manny charges his. Now plays the hop. Throw to first is in time. And the Padres have not only captured the moment they have captured the wild card series and it's on San Diego Padres eliminated the New York Mets last

night thanks to a dominant pitching performance from Joe Musgrove this guy had his ears checked had his had everything else checked by the umpires he He was glistening. And also his spin rate, by the way, was up to like 8,000 rotations per second. I mean, it was crazy. I'm not exactly sure how he got that much better in one night. Neither did the Mets. But he threw seven scoreless innings, gave up only one hit, something that's never been done before in an elimination game. And the Padres now headed back to California in the series with the L.A. Dodgers. Here's a look at the other matchups in the division series. The Phillies, who swept the Cardinals. I can't believe it. They're taking on the Braves, probably the hottest team along with the Dodgers up there. The Seattle Mariners absolutely shocked the Blue Jays. An ugly, ugly loss for the

Blue Jays. They gave up a seven-run lead. They're going to be facing the Houston Astros after that incredible comeback Saturday. And the Cleveland Guardians, still hard to say, Guardians, will be in New York to take on the Yankees. All eight teams play tomorrow, starting with the Phillies and the Braves at 1 Eastern. You get used to Cleveland Indians, and it's something. But they are a great team. You looked at how Cleveland did. And the Guardians pitching Jonathan Lemire. Let's just go through all of this really quickly. The Guardians pitching on the weekend, just absolutely stellar. It also

reminded us of just how bad, just how bad the Boston Red Sox are. Oh, yeah. The Guardians have about 10 pitchers who are better out of their bullpen than anyone the Red Sox are. Oh, yeah. The Guardians have about 10 pitchers who are better out of their bullpen than anyone the Red Sox have. It was extraordinary. They basically played three full games because the Saturday game went 15 innings. And the Guardians gave up one, one run to the Rays throughout that stretch. So that's the recipe if they're going to upset the Yankees. They've got power arms.

They've got one of the best managers in baseball, our old friend, Terry Francona. That should be a good series. But I'll say, Joe, if there's any Mets fans in your life, they deserve a hug this morning. This would look like it was going to be a magical season for them. And 10 days ago, it all went away. They got swept by the Braves. And now this pretty disheartening series against the Padres. Lots of questions now about their offseason. What a disappointment in the way this year ended for the Mets. Yeah, it was really ugly. I hated to see it.

But, you know, you can never blame one person for the loss of a series. But let's go ahead and blame Scherzer. He got paid a lot of money. He just did not deliver down the stretch. DeGrom also had problems down the stretch, but his pitching performance, pretty incredible. DeGrom did not have his stuff. There was something off.

His slider wasn't close. He couldn't get him chasing, but that guy gutted through it. He really did. And got the win. But Scherzer, just not strong down the stretch. When he was their prized offseason acquisition, and he scuffled down the win. But Scherzer, just not strong down the stretch. No, when he was their prized offseason acquisition and he scuffled down the stretch, he just simply didn't have it in game one.

He gave up a bunch of home runs, including to Trent Grisham, who was hitting under 200. Took him deep early, set the tone. Manny Machado hit a ball about 1,000 miles an hour out to left field. And it just, it's a tough year. Now DeGrom's a free agent, and the Mets have a lot of questions to do.

But it was a great weekend of baseball, Joe, I will say. That Marriott's comeback, you touched on it. What a fun young team. They came back and stunned what I thought was a really good Blue Jays squad. A great Blue Jays team. And then the Phillies. I mean, the Cardinals here, outside of the Braves, were probably the hottest team in baseball down the stretch.

And the Phillies, this shows you the recipe for playoff success. They have two aces. They have Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola. They have two guys who can top the rotation, who can win games by themselves. And that's why they're dangerous now going into Atlanta. Braves are the better team. But if those two guys are clicking again, Phillies could make another upset. I must say, though, a lot of great games, but also a lot of little league style pitching walk after walk after Cardinals just absolutely blew the first game

meltdown with a lack of control. The Mets, we saw Adovino. I think we're we're glad he didn't stay in Boston. He just absolutely made a mess of game two. They got through it, but we'll see what happens. And Richard Haas, you can talk about the Yankees if you want to, but how you think they match up with the Guardians. But you'd probably rather talk about the Giants right now. The Giants looking good, and can you believe it? The Giants and the Jets looking really good. New York football.

Who would have thought? Who'd have thought? The Giants are the most injured team in football, yet somehow they prevailed. I thought the performance of their beleaguered quarterback, much criticized quarterback, Daniel Jones, was extraordinary yesterday. Just impressive. Obviously, Saquon Barkley just gifted this year. Fantastic to watch. The Giants are doing much better than expected. The Knicks,

by the way, Joe, undefeated in the preseason. Oh, come on. Come on, Richard. Come on. Yankees up tomorrow night. It's the Knicks. Just come on. Come on. Show some love. Show some love. You're so critical. Man.

You guys need to spend more time in New York. You got to feel the love here. Man. You guys need to spend more time in New York. You got to feel the love here. Okay. You know what? I'm still stuck on the Mets loss. My daughter is going to be so sad. Oh, it was so, it was ugly, Mika. It was just ugly.

101 wins and then boom. I'll tell you what though. They have an owner. They have an owner that's not going to sit still until the Mets win a World Series. So if you're a Mets fan, celebrate the 101 wins and understand your owner is going to patch the holes up and they're going to be even better next year. We'll see. All right. Still ahead, the Reverend Al Sharpton joins us after what we saw, this sort of racist word salad from Senator Tommy Tuberville over the weekend, conflating the issues of reparations for descendants of slavery and crime. Morning Joe is back in just a moment.